Romans 1:16-17 is the thesis for this letter. Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because the gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. But then Paul continues by saying that in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. Romans 1:17 has so much written about it as people try to understand what Paul is teaching. What is the righteousness of God? What does it mean that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith? What does it mean that the righteous live by faith? How does this all work together for our faith? So open your copies of God’s word to Romans 1:17 and we will begin by considering the righteousness of God.
The Gospel Reveals the Righteousness of God (Romans 1:17)
Paul proclaims that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. But what does this mean? What is the righteousness of God and how is it revealed in the gospel? The righteousness of God has two directions that need to be considered. The righteousness of God refers to God’s own righteousness and how he makes sinful people be in the right. You can see these two directions in prophets and the Psalms.
Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory. (Isaiah 46:12-13 ESV)
Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. (Isaiah 51:4-5 ESV)
1 Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The LORD has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. 3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. (Psalm 98:1-3 ESV)
Notice that the Lord has made known his salvation and revealed his righteousness. The righteousness of God and the salvation of God are permanently bound together. The righteousness of God means that he will save his people. But we must also notice the reason God has revealed his righteousness and salvation in verse 3. God has remember his own steadfast love and faithfulness. God’s faithful and steadfast love to keep his promises. God’s righteous to save (make people righteous) is because of his own righteous character. Remember that God made a very important promise to Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. The question is how would God fulfill this promise to bless the world through Abraham? How is God going to save the world when the world is full of sin and separated from God? The gospel reveals how God would be faithful to faithless people. The gospel proclaims that your God reigns and he has conquered sin and death through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is worth noting that this will be fully explored in the upcoming chapters of Romans.
From Faith To Faith (Romans 1:17)
This sets up the explanation the apostle Paul gives “from faith to faith.” The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, or, from faith for faith. Both are possible readings and you can see this reflected in different translations and their footnotes. We noted back in verse 5 that Paul says that is gospel work is to “bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among the nations.” The NIV interprets the phrase, “from faith to faith” to mean the righteousness of God is obtained completely by our faith, from first to last. That is we are made right before God completely (from first to last) by faith. Some have read this to mean that we live a life of faith from start to finish (see NLT and BSB translations). But I think the better answer is to keep the righteousness of God as it is used in the Psalms and in the Prophets as our meaning here. That is, God’s faithfulness is the reason we are to be faithful to him. God’s faithfulness to his promises to bless and save the world is the reason we have faith in him. God’s righteousness is what makes us right before him. So I think the ESV has the point here when it reads that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. The Common English Bible reads, “from faithfulness for faith.”
When we look at the picture of God working through Israel and the nations we see that this was a key message from God. The people of Israel were completely unfaithful. The nations were certainly unfaithful to the Lord. But God did not revoke his promises nor cast away his plan to bless the world. Instead, God remained faithful and remained righteous to his plan and promises in spite of the response of the world and his own people. Think about how wonderful and powerful this truth is. Think about times where as a parent you have said or done something for your children or you have said or done something for other people only to have that person completely reject your kindness. Maybe they do not appreciate what you have done. Maybe they do not understand the importance of what you have done. Maybe, in spite of your kindness, they just treat you badly and do not listen to you. Whatever the case, we are tempted to retract our promises and retract our kindness. If you are going to act like that, then never mind! But God did not nullify his promises or remove his kindness. Rather, he remained faithful to his promises because of his own righteousness. The apostle Paul’s quotation now bolsters this explanation.
The Righteous Shall Live By Faith (Romans 1:17)
The apostle Paul quotes from the prophecy of Habakkuk to prove his point about the righteousness of God. His quotation that the righteous shall live by faith comes from Habakkuk 2:4. The context of Habakkuk’s prophecy is important to understanding the meaning of this quotation. Habakkuk is a prophet with a complaint. He questions how long God is not going to act when all that he sees in his society is sin, strife, destruction, and violence. God gives an answer that he is going to judge these the people for these sins by sending the Babylonians as his instrument of judgment. But this answer is confusing to Habakkuk. Habakkuk does not understand how God could use a wicked nation like the Babylonians as an instrument of justice on God’s people. God’s response is powerful and is the context of this quotation. “Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4 NASB).
This message is critically important. It is so important that Habakkuk 2:4 is quoted three times in the New Testament. This is a central foundation for being a disciple of Jesus. God’s faithfulness is why we trust and are faithful to God. The righteous do not live by trusting in themselves. The righteous do not live by trusting in their own wisdom. The righteous do not live by following their own ways and doing what is right in their own eyes. The righteous live by trusting in God. God’s message was very simple to Habakkuk. You have to trust me. You have to have full faith in me and in my righteousness. The righteousness of God is how we trust him. The righteous trust God and do not depend on their own understanding. So if God says something or does something that defies our understanding, we still trust in God because he is righteous. The proud are those who will not trust in the Lord. The righteous trust God even when life does not make sense. Habakkuk was being challenged to trust God when life did not make sense.
Living By Faith
So here is our key point. The righteous do not have a moment of faith but live their lives by faith. We do not live our lives trusting in ourselves with occasional moments where we trust God. We do not trust God for a moment when we come to him for salvation but then go back to trusting in ourselves. The righteous live by faith. Every aspect of their lives show trust in God. Every day is trusting in God. Every year is trusting in God. Every minute is trusting in God. Every decision is trusting in God. We are trusting God to save us. We are trusting God to help us. We are trusting God to care for us. We are trusting God to provide for us. We are trusting God in our jobs, in our families, in our relationships, and in every single area of life. We trust God. The righteous live by faith. The apostle Paul said that this means that we do not walk by what we see (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:7). We do not walk by sight but by trusting in our heavenly Father. We do not have a minute of faith. We live by faith.
Now the New Testament says that the righteous live by faith in two other places that I want to bring into our lesson for our applications. There are things in life that challenge our ability to live by faith. Listen to how Paul uses this quote in Galatians 3.
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3:10-11 ESV)
One of the ways we fail to live by faith is by failing to believe that God would save us in spite of our sins. We can be tempted look at the laws we are keeping and do not see that we need to depend on the grace and mercy of God. So since we do certain things and are not as bad as others, we think we are saved. But we are looking at ourselves rather than the righteousness of God. Or we can be tempted to not believe we are saved because we see our sins and do not trust in the righteousness of God. Either way, we are looking at what we have done rather than looking at what God has accomplished for us through the resurrection of Jesus. If we trust in ourselves, then we are going to quit when we see our failures. If we trust in ourselves, then we are going to be proud because we are doing some righteous acts. But living by faith means we understand that we are wholly unworthy of God’s faithfulness and righteousness. Therefore, all that we do in this life will be for him because he stayed faithful to us. We love, serve, and obey the Lord because he has been so good, so loving, and so faithful to us.
The other place where the righteous live by faith is quoted is in Hebrews 10.
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:35-39 ESV)
Living by faith means that when we are suffering and life is hard, we still trust in the Lord by living for him. Living by faith means doing the will of God when it is hard. We do not trust in ourselves but rely upon God to be our fortress and our refuge. The writer of Hebrews explains that living by faith means not shrinking back. Living by faith means that we do not give up when life explodes. Living by faith means having the endurance to not grow weary in doing good but continuing to do the will of God so that we can receive what has been promised. We stay faithful to God because we are looking at his faithfulness to us. Friends, God is faithful to us. He has proved it to us over and over again. The good news is that God has shown us his faithfulness and asks us to be faithful to him.