1:17 {6} For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from {z} faith to faith: {7} as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
(6) The confirmation of the former proposition: we are taught in the gospel that we are instituted before God by faith, which increases daily, and therefore also saved.
(z) From faith, which increases daily.
(7) The proof of the first as well as of the second proposition, out of Habakkuk, who attributes and gives to faith both justice and life before God.
1:17 For in this. In the gospel. It reveals
the righteousness of God. This might mean (1) God's personal righteousness; (2) a righteousness acceptable to God; or, (3) a righteousness bestowed by God. The last is its sense in the Epistle to the Romans. The obedient believer in Christ is forgiven and clothed with Christ's righteousness. See Ro 3:21-25.
From faith to faith. This clause has caused much discussion. The generally received view is thus stated by Dr. Schaff:
The righteousness is revealed from faith, or through means of faith, in order to produce faith in others.''
It is revealed to us by believing (faith), and the duty of the believer is to extend the gospel, or to extend the faith. Says Dr. Schaff,
Believing includes knowledge and belief, assent and surrender, appropriation and application.''
As it is written. See Hab 2:4. The Old Testament had predicted this system of righteousness by faith, for the prophet had said, The just shall live by faith. See also Heb 10:38,39.
The just. Those who have been forgiven and justified by the gospel.
1:17 The righteousness of God - This expression sometimes means God's eternal, essential righteousness, which includes both justice and mercy, and is eminently shown in condemning sin, and yet justifying the sinner. Sometimes it means that righteousness by which a man, through the gift of God, is made and is righteous; and that, both by receiving Christ through faith, and by a conformity to the essential righteousness of God. St. Paul, when treating of justification, means hereby the righteousness of faith; therefore called the righteousness of God, because God found out and prepared, reveals and gives, approves and crowns it. In this verse the expression means, the whole benefit of God through Christ for the salvation of a sinner. Is revealed - Mention is made here, and Rom 1:18, of a twofold revelation, - of wrath and of righteousness: the former, little known to nature, is revealed by the law; the latter, wholly unknown to nature, by the gospel. That goes before, and prepares the way; this follows. Each, the apostle says, is revealed at the present time, in opposition to the times of ignorance. From faith to faith - By a gradual series of still clearer and clearer promises. As it is written - St. Paul had just laid down three propositions: Righteousness is by faith, Rom 1:17: Salvation is by righteousness, Rom 1:16: Both to the Jews and to the gentiles, Rom 1:16. Now all these are confirmed by that single sentence, The just shall live by faith - Which was primarily spoken of those who preserved their lives, when the Chaldeans besieged Jerusalem, by believing the declarations of God, and acting according to them. Here it means, He shall obtain the favour of God, and continue therein by believing. Hab 2:4
1:16,17 In these verses the apostle opens the design of the whole epistle, in which he brings forward a charge of sinfulness against all flesh; declares the only method of deliverance from condemnation, by faith in the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ; and then builds upon it purity of heart, grateful obedience, and earnest desires to improve in all those Christian graces and tempers, which nothing but a lively faith in Christ can bring forth. God is a just and holy God, and we are guilty sinners. It is necessary that we have a righteousness to appear in before him: there is such a righteousness brought in by the Messiah, and made known in the gospel; a gracious method of acceptance, notwithstanding the guilt of our sins. It is the righteousness of Christ, who is God, coming from a satisfaction of infinite value. Faith is all in all, both in the beginning and progress of Christian life. It is not from faith to works, as if faith put us into a justified state, and then works kept us in it; but it is all along from faith to faith; it is faith pressing forward, and gaining the victory over unbelief.
