For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
In its setting it declares readiness to preach without shame the good news as God's power to save everyone who believes, Jew and Gentile alike, who receives Christ as personal Saviour. Growing from faith to faith means moving from present trust to fuller, stronger and more assured confidence, ever pressing onward and upward in the truth of God's cause. The righteous live by a constant, saving and working trust rather than by sight or mere profession, looking to Jesus, feeding daily on His Word, and depending on God morning and evening for strength. It teaches that pardon and peace come not by human works, ceremonies or penances but by continual faith in Christ's merits and cleansing blood, casting away self-righteousness and taking hold of God's strength. Such genuine faith works by love and purifies the soul, showing itself in obedience, sacrifice for the needy, unselfish service and Christlike character, and it grows as it is shared with others in dark places.
Words and Gospel Context
For therein the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel, and this belongs to readiness to preach that gospel at Rome without shame as the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. It is equally able to save Jews and Gentiles who believe and accept Christ as personal Saviour, with the same message of Christ for both. Those who have saving faith feel debtor to Greeks and Barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise, and are ready to preach unashamed because it is that power unto salvation.
From faith to faith means from present faith to a fuller and increased understanding of that faith. It is constantly aspiring and pressing onward and upward from faith to greater faith, going from grace to grace in straight paths without retrograding. In that advance believers grow in strength and assurance and confidence in the righteousness and truth of God's cause as they carry forward His work.
The just shall live by faith means the righteous live by a constant, saving, continual, growing, living and working faith, and not by sight nor by superficial profession. Living by faith is looking to Jesus, strengthening faith in the Word by studying it and practicing its teachings and keeping the Word and truth ever before the mind as food for the soul. It is daily dependence on God for strength and provision, praying in the morning for strength to labor through the day and refusing to rest without assurance of being heard, laboring through the day in the strength God gives, praying again at night, and working in the Lord's strength rather than one's own.
The verse must be read with the whole first chapter until its particular meaning is grasped and given in its full force, with careful attention to what follows. What may be known of God being manifest is to be particularly understood, because God has shown it unto them. That includes that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness and suppress it.
The gospel therein runs through the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It was revealed in all the prophecies of the first advent of Christ as Saviour of men, and in every act of the old dispensation to turn men away from sin or to bring them forgiveness with reference to the Saviour to come as the steppingstone by which man is exalted. It does not separate Christ from the Father and His law, for Christ came to die because not a precept of His Father's law, the foundation of His government in heaven and on earth, could be altered to excuse man in his fallen condition. Placing the righteousness of Christ distinctly and constantly before the sinner as his only hope of salvation, distinctly in the law, reveals God in His true character and reveals the law as holy and just and good.
Justification Through Christ Alone
Salvation is not gained by human works but by constant faith in the merits of Christ, not through religious acts, ceremonies, penances or indulgences but through faith in the power of His blood to cleanse from sin. The just live by faith, which means casting away own righteousness and accepting the righteousness of Christ by taking hold of God's strength and making peace with Him. This truth guides repentant, sin-burdened sinners into the way of life and brings pardon and peace, bringing light and songs of praise into the darkened heart in place of weary, hopeless struggling to attain perfection before a holy, pure, exalted God who seems afar off, and so ends hopelessness and despair.
The words turned Luther from trusting in religious acts and ceremonies to relying on Christ when, as a penitent seeking an indulgence by climbing Pilate's staircase on his knees in Rome, he heard them. Spoken to him there, they exposed trust in penances, ceremonies and indulgences as fallacy and delusion, brought shame and horror for practicing them, opened his eyes to the errors of the papacy, and turned his heart away from Rome toward separation from the papal church. The same truth of justification by faith had been held by Paul and Augustine and preached by Huss a century earlier, and it was upheld and taught by Luther. When that preached truth is rejected and burned, judgment will surely visit the world for it.
The doctrine is precious and not new, but was buried under the rubbish of error and has now been rescued by diligent, persevering effort and placed in the framework of truth. The righteousness of God revealed therein is the righteousness of Christ received by faith, not produced by human rule and force. Ignoring it comes from a spirit and life experience contrary to it that chooses rule upon rule instead. Those who ignore it misrepresent God's parental character of goodness, mercy and love, give opportunity for sharp dealing and oppression, drive souls to view God as a hard master and turn from truth, and set up forced obedience to human prescriptions that overrides sympathy, tender compassion, mercy, justice and love and treads moral influence and personal responsibility underfoot.
Faith Lived and Shared
Genuine faith is not superficial profession but a saving, continual, growing faith that works by love, purifies the soul, shows itself in works, and cooperates continually with God in salvation without drawing back from His standard. It grows in earnestness with corresponding works, enduring trial for truth, making sacrifices to help those in need, and giving self unreservedly to unselfish service. Those who have it do not act like the world but reproduce Christ's character and testify to the Father's attributes, placing all capabilities and powers at God's service in reverence for grace received. As faith in God grows, believers see the invisible God more clearly and are strengthened to obey, and are counted among the obedient.
The verse calls for ministers who preach the Word to be sanctified through belief of the truth, for churches to have a thorough work done in them, and for every family to be converted so that truth believed sanctifies the heart through sanctifying grace in the home life. Those who make the Word their daily guide do not retrograde but keep moving forward, going from grace to grace and from glory to greater glory. Going from faith to faith means moving upward and onward and making straight paths for the feet, and parents must live this way to lead children in safe paths. This life requires earnest effort to conquer through freely given grace, putting away pride, malice, covetousness and injustice and putting on kindness, love and generosity.
Faith is to be acted, not merely professed, by living unashamed of the gospel as the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Those who have it feel debtor to Greeks and Barbarians, to the wise and unwise, and are ready to preach. Those who have received light must impart it by giving the message of righteousness by faith to the world and going forth into the dark places of the earth to convert from error to truth. Giving it transforms character, makes personal light grow clearer and clearer, and brings added grace for every grace imparted because God works with the givers, while failure to communicate it leaves many to go down into the grave in error.
Mere knowledge of the truth will not cleanse from iniquity, and mere profession will not make a Christian without earnest effort and careful examination of the evidence in the life. Where an unchristian spirit is shown, or the heart is destitute of the Spirit and rich grace of God, there is no treasure in the earthen vessel and no oil in the vessel with the lamp, and reconversion is needed to stand in the day of final reward. Those who sin and refuse to repent, holding the truth in unrighteousness under the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, must not be retained on church books or in fellowship lest the saints be held accountable for evil deeds. This home and personal work cannot be neglected without guilt.
In its setting it declares readiness to preach without shame the good news as God's power to save everyone who believes, Jew and Gentile alike, who receives Christ as personal Saviour. Growing from faith to faith means moving from present trust to fuller, stronger and more assured confidence, ever pressing onward and upward in the truth of God's cause. The righteous live by a constant, saving and working trust rather than by sight or mere profession, looking to Jesus, feeding daily on His Word, and depending on God morning and evening for strength. It teaches that pardon and peace come not by human works, ceremonies or penances but by continual faith in Christ's merits and cleansing blood, casting away self-righteousness and taking hold of God's strength. Such genuine faith works by love and purifies the soul, showing itself in obedience, sacrifice for the needy, unselfish service and Christlike character, and it grows as it is shared with others in dark places.
Words and Gospel Context
For therein the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel, and this belongs to readiness to preach that gospel at Rome without shame as the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. It is equally able to save Jews and Gentiles who believe and accept Christ as personal Saviour, with the same message of Christ for both. Those who have saving faith feel debtor to Greeks and Barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise, and are ready to preach unashamed because it is that power unto salvation.
From faith to faith means from present faith to a fuller and increased understanding of that faith. It is constantly aspiring and pressing onward and upward from faith to greater faith, going from grace to grace in straight paths without retrograding. In that advance believers grow in strength and assurance and confidence in the righteousness and truth of God's cause as they carry forward His work.
The just shall live by faith means the righteous live by a constant, saving, continual, growing, living and working faith, and not by sight nor by superficial profession. Living by faith is looking to Jesus, strengthening faith in the Word by studying it and practicing its teachings and keeping the Word and truth ever before the mind as food for the soul. It is daily dependence on God for strength and provision, praying in the morning for strength to labor through the day and refusing to rest without assurance of being heard, laboring through the day in the strength God gives, praying again at night, and working in the Lord's strength rather than one's own.
The verse must be read with the whole first chapter until its particular meaning is grasped and given in its full force, with careful attention to what follows. What may be known of God being manifest is to be particularly understood, because God has shown it unto them. That includes that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness and suppress it.
The gospel therein runs through the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It was revealed in all the prophecies of the first advent of Christ as Saviour of men, and in every act of the old dispensation to turn men away from sin or to bring them forgiveness with reference to the Saviour to come as the steppingstone by which man is exalted. It does not separate Christ from the Father and His law, for Christ came to die because not a precept of His Father's law, the foundation of His government in heaven and on earth, could be altered to excuse man in his fallen condition. Placing the righteousness of Christ distinctly and constantly before the sinner as his only hope of salvation, distinctly in the law, reveals God in His true character and reveals the law as holy and just and good.
Justification Through Christ Alone
Salvation is not gained by human works but by constant faith in the merits of Christ, not through religious acts, ceremonies, penances or indulgences but through faith in the power of His blood to cleanse from sin. The just live by faith, which means casting away own righteousness and accepting the righteousness of Christ by taking hold of God's strength and making peace with Him. This truth guides repentant, sin-burdened sinners into the way of life and brings pardon and peace, bringing light and songs of praise into the darkened heart in place of weary, hopeless struggling to attain perfection before a holy, pure, exalted God who seems afar off, and so ends hopelessness and despair.
The words turned Luther from trusting in religious acts and ceremonies to relying on Christ when, as a penitent seeking an indulgence by climbing Pilate's staircase on his knees in Rome, he heard them. Spoken to him there, they exposed trust in penances, ceremonies and indulgences as fallacy and delusion, brought shame and horror for practicing them, opened his eyes to the errors of the papacy, and turned his heart away from Rome toward separation from the papal church. The same truth of justification by faith had been held by Paul and Augustine and preached by Huss a century earlier, and it was upheld and taught by Luther. When that preached truth is rejected and burned, judgment will surely visit the world for it.
The doctrine is precious and not new, but was buried under the rubbish of error and has now been rescued by diligent, persevering effort and placed in the framework of truth. The righteousness of God revealed therein is the righteousness of Christ received by faith, not produced by human rule and force. Ignoring it comes from a spirit and life experience contrary to it that chooses rule upon rule instead. Those who ignore it misrepresent God's parental character of goodness, mercy and love, give opportunity for sharp dealing and oppression, drive souls to view God as a hard master and turn from truth, and set up forced obedience to human prescriptions that overrides sympathy, tender compassion, mercy, justice and love and treads moral influence and personal responsibility underfoot.
Faith Lived and Shared
Genuine faith is not superficial profession but a saving, continual, growing faith that works by love, purifies the soul, shows itself in works, and cooperates continually with God in salvation without drawing back from His standard. It grows in earnestness with corresponding works, enduring trial for truth, making sacrifices to help those in need, and giving self unreservedly to unselfish service. Those who have it do not act like the world but reproduce Christ's character and testify to the Father's attributes, placing all capabilities and powers at God's service in reverence for grace received. As faith in God grows, believers see the invisible God more clearly and are strengthened to obey, and are counted among the obedient.
The verse calls for ministers who preach the Word to be sanctified through belief of the truth, for churches to have a thorough work done in them, and for every family to be converted so that truth believed sanctifies the heart through sanctifying grace in the home life. Those who make the Word their daily guide do not retrograde but keep moving forward, going from grace to grace and from glory to greater glory. Going from faith to faith means moving upward and onward and making straight paths for the feet, and parents must live this way to lead children in safe paths. This life requires earnest effort to conquer through freely given grace, putting away pride, malice, covetousness and injustice and putting on kindness, love and generosity.
Faith is to be acted, not merely professed, by living unashamed of the gospel as the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Those who have it feel debtor to Greeks and Barbarians, to the wise and unwise, and are ready to preach. Those who have received light must impart it by giving the message of righteousness by faith to the world and going forth into the dark places of the earth to convert from error to truth. Giving it transforms character, makes personal light grow clearer and clearer, and brings added grace for every grace imparted because God works with the givers, while failure to communicate it leaves many to go down into the grave in error.
Mere knowledge of the truth will not cleanse from iniquity, and mere profession will not make a Christian without earnest effort and careful examination of the evidence in the life. Where an unchristian spirit is shown, or the heart is destitute of the Spirit and rich grace of God, there is no treasure in the earthen vessel and no oil in the vessel with the lamp, and reconversion is needed to stand in the day of final reward. Those who sin and refuse to repent, holding the truth in unrighteousness under the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, must not be retained on church books or in fellowship lest the saints be held accountable for evil deeds. This home and personal work cannot be neglected without guilt.