Section 3
of God is a gospel of sonship. The central aim of God's gospel is to produce many sons conformed to His Son (8:29). His only begotten Son is a pat tern, a model, for the producing of the many sons. Romans 1:3 and 4 describe this model, whereas Romans 8 reveals the mass production. Eventually, the only begotten Son—the model— will become the Firstborn among many broth ers—the mass production.
As the model, Christ has two natures: the nature according to the flesh and the nature according to the Spirit of holiness. "Holiness" in verse 4 refers to the essence, the substance, of God. Before His incarnation, Christ did not have humanity, the nature according to the flesh. Through incarnation He put on human nature. However, when He put on human nature, He did not lose the divine nature. Thus, when He was on earth, He was a mystery. According to His outward appearance, He was altogether a human being. But many of the things He said and did were extraordinary, things which no ordinary human being could possibly say or do. For exam ple, in the Gospel of John the Lord said that He was the life and that He was the truth (14:6). He also said, "I am the light" (8:12), and, "I am the bread of life" (6:35). Furthermore, He said that