Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Concerning ... It would have been better if the order in which the words of this and the following verse stand in the original had been followed in our version, as they are in nearly every other-thus: 'Concerning His Son, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, [even] Jesus Christ our Lord.'
Concerning his Son. Does this mean that the Gospel itself, or that the promise of it in the Old Testament, was "Concerning his Son?" Most critics, probably, say the latter; but (with Calvin, Bengel, Olshausen, Lange, etc.) we think the former the more natural-that the grand Burden of the Gospel of God is His own Son, whose glorious Person the apostle now proceeds to unfold.
Which was made of the seed of David. As that was the predicted Messianic line (2 Samuel 7:12, etc.; Psalms 89:1-52 passim; Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 55:3; Jeremiah 23:5), Jesus of Nazareth behoved to come of it, if He was to have any just claim to be "the Christ of God" (see Matthew 22:42; John 7:42). Accordingly this is grandly dwelt on in the angelic annunciation of His birth by the angel to the blessed Virgin (Luke 1:32), while the descent of His legal father also from David was emphatically recognized to himself by the same angel (Matthew 1:20; see Luke 1:27); and His birth at the royal city was announced to the shepherds as one of the most notable circumstances of this great event (Luke 2:11). The apostles were at pains to bring this claim of Jesus of Nazareth to be their predicted Messiah under the notice of their countrymen, in their earliest pleadings with them (Acts 2:30-32; Acts 13:22-23; 2 Timothy 2:8).
According to the flesh - that is (beyond all reasonable doubt), 'according to His human nature: compare John 1:14, "The Word was made flesh" (or 'became man'); Romans 9:5, "of whom, as concerning the flesh" х kata (G2596) sarka (G4561)], or 'in respect of His human nature,' "Christ came;" 1 John 4:2-3, "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh" (or 'in true humanity'). But this sense will more clearly appear to be the only true one by what follows.