ROMANS 1:16-17 ‘The Just Live By Faith’

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

This should be the end of the chapter. It is the final part of his introduction to the topic – the Gospel.

TEXT

‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.’ (Romans 1:16)

• Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Ie. It is powerful and can move anyone, but only through God. Although most think it foolish (trusting in works is much more believable), it is the power of God!
• For those who believe, ie. Salvation comes from believing (‘faith’), not works.

‘For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."’ (Romans 1:17)

• Righteousness of God revealed: so in it (the Gospel) we see God’s righteousness, both His right plan and the fact that it is justice for Him to save us! Also, the righteousness has now been revealed to us so that we can own it!
• Faith to faith: His right plan is now concluded, or completed, in His Son so the Gospel is a conclusion of a massive history of the story of redemption (although we still have glorification to go in heaven!), so faith to faith could mean from the beginning of faith to the end of faith. Also, faith to faith could imply that His righteousness is revealed individually from person to person – your faith doesn’t affect another’s faith (well it might affect it, but not create or destroy it!). His righteousness in us is a vey personal thing.
• ‘Just shall live by faith’: Habakkuk contains this phrase but with ‘his faith’ instead of just ‘faith’. This gives a more ‘continuous’ feel to the phrase – the just shall live by his faith. Every moment is a step of faith, life is lived by faith. Whereas the phrase in Romans has a more discrete air, it has the idea that to have life we need to have faith (ie. Salvation comes by faith). Both are true and work together! Justice and faith are here linked inextricably – it implies that to live justly (without fault) we need to have faith in God rather than doing those right things! (This is easy for Christians to understand, but just think how revolutionary it is!)

SUMMARY

Paul states his main topic and thesis, and shows he is unashamed of it, which implies that he is very sure of its truth and accuracy and power. The topic is that the Gospel is powerful, based on faith, for everyone, and provides ‘justification’.

WHAT DO I LEARN?

The Gospel is made powerful through God, and I must remember that when evangelizing. Praise God for His beautiful plan of redemption!