1. The use of 'spirit of holiness' in connexion with Christ (in ver. 4). Here it is put in antithesis to 'the flesh,' i.e. Christ as He appeared to the outward eye in His natural manhood; and describes, vaguely and without further definition, the higher nature of which, behind {51} His visible manhood, men became conscious[5]. Elsewhere 'spirit' is more exactly used to describe (1) the human spirit in us or in Christ[6]; (2) disembodied persons or angels or devils[7]; (3) the Holy Ghost[8]; (4) the being of God[9]; (5) generally what has will and consciousness, as opposed to the merely external, the 'flesh' or the 'letter[10].' Sometimes, as in 2 Cor. iii. 17, it is hard to feel sure about the exact shade of meaning. 2. We have here, in a very brief compass, St. Paul's conception of 'Christian evidences.' He begins from Christ, 'according to the flesh.' 'And why,' asks Chrysostom, 'did he not begin from the higher side? Because Matthew also, Luke and Mark, begin from the lower. One who would lead others upwards must begin from below. And this was in fact the divine method. First they saw Him (Christ) as man on the earth, and then perceived Him to be God.' It was, in other words, through the {52} experience of His manhood that they arrived at His Godhead. And the evidence of His divine sonship was in part miraculous; but it was not mere miracle. It was miracle 'according to a spirit of holiness.' It was miracle filled with spiritual and moral meaning. It was a resurrection vindicating perfect righteousness. 3. The phrase 'the resurrection of the dead' is translated more exactly by Wiclif 'agenrisynge of dead _men_! Christ's resurrection is the great example of what is to be general. 4. The obedience of faith exactly describes the human faculty as it showed itself in St. Paul himself at his conversion. With him to believe was, without any possibility of question, to obey Him whom he believed, and St. Paul knows no faith which does not involve a like obedience; cf. xv. 18; xvi. 26; 1 Pet. i. 2. [1] Acts xxiii. 26. [2] The salutation of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, the earliest epistle, is the most nearly formal. Those to the Romans and to Titus are the fullest and richest. [3] Num. vi. 25, 26; see Hort, _First Ep. of Peter_, p. 25. [4] 2 Tim. ii. 8. [5] Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 16, 'justified in the spirit,' where the use is approximately the same. [6] See 1 Thess. v. 23; 1 Cor. v. 5; James ii. 26; Matt. v. 3; xxvi. 41; 1 Pet. iii. 18; Mark viii. 12. [7] Luke xxiv. 39; Heb. xii. 23; i. 14; Matt. viii. 16, &c. [8] Matt. iii. 16; Luke x. 21, R.V. &c. [9] John iv. 24. [10] John vi. 63; Rom. ii. 29; 2 Cor. iii. 6. {53} CHAPTER I. 8-17. _St. Paul's introduction._