Charles Ellicott Commentary Romans 1:17

"For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith." — Romans 1:17 (ASV)

The gospel attains its end, the salvation of the believer, by revealing the righteousness of God, that is, the plan or process He designed for people to become just or righteous in His sight. The essential part on humanity's side, the beginning and end of that plan, is Faith. Authority for this was found in the Old Testament, where it is said, The just shall live by faith.

The righteousness of God.—This does not mean, as might perhaps be supposed, an attribute of the divine nature—as if the essential righteousness of God were first made known through the gospel. St. Paul goes on to show in Romans 1:19-20, that at least this much of God's nature might be known without any supernatural revelation. "Of God" means in the present instance "which proceeds from God." And the "righteousness" which thus "proceeds from God" is that condition of righteousness in humanity into which a person enters by participation in the Messianic kingdom.

The whole object of the Messiah's coming was to make people "righteous" before God. This was done more especially by Christ's death on the cross, which, as we learn from Romans 3:24-26, had the effect of making God "propitious" towards people. The benefit of this act is secured to all who make good their claim to be considered members of the Messianic kingdom by loyal adherence to the Messiah. Such persons are treated as if they were "righteous," though the righteousness thus attributed to them is not any actual merit of their own, but an ideal condition in which they are placed by God. This is the well-known doctrine of justification by faith. (See Excursus A: On the Meaning of the word Righteousness in the Epistle to the Romans, and Excursus E: On the Doctrine of Justification by Faith and Imputed Righteousness.)

Revealed.—God's purpose of thus justifying people is being revealed or declared in the gospel. It is revealed theoretically in the express statements of the way in which a person may be justified. It is revealed practically in the heartfelt acceptance of those statements and the change of life they involved. To the Romans, the moment of revelation was when they first heard the gospel. St. Paul wishes them to know the full significance—the philosophy, as it might be called—of what they had heard.

From faith to faith.—It is by faith that a person first takes hold of the gospel, and its latest product is a heightened and intensified faith. Apart from faith, the gospel remains null and void for the individual. It is not realised. But when it has been once realised and taken home to the person's self, its tendency is to confirm and strengthen the very faculty by which it was apprehended. It does what the disciples prayed for when they said, Lord, increase our faith (Luke 17:5).

The just shall live by faith.—These words are part of the consolatory answer which the prophet Habakkuk receives in the stress of the Chaldean invasion. Though his irresistible hosts sweep over the land, the righteous person who puts their trust in God shall live. Perhaps St. Paul intended the words "by faith" to be taken with "the just" rather than as they stand in the English version. "The just by faith," or "The person whose righteousness is based on faith," shall live.

The Apostle uses the word "faith" in his own distinctive and pregnant sense. But this is naturally led up to by the way it was used by Habakkuk. The intense personal trust and reliance which Jewish people felt in the God of their ancestors is directed by the Christian to Christ, and is further developed into an active energy of devotion.

"Faith," as understood by St. Paul, is not merely head-belief, a purely intellectual process such as that of which St. James spoke when he said, the devils also believe and tremble; neither is it merely "trust," a passive dependence upon an Unseen Power. Instead, it is a further stage of feeling developed out of these: a current of emotion setting strongly in the direction of its object, an ardent and vital apprehension of that object, and a firm and loyal attachment to it. (See Excursus B: On the Meaning of the word Faith.)