If one verse sums up the entire letter of Romans, it is Romans 1:17: “For in it God’s righteousness is being revealed from faith to faith. Just as it is written: ‘But the righteous by faith shall live’.”
The “it” (autô) in this verse refers back to the gospel that Paul is not ashamed of in Romans 1:16. The gospel Paul proclaims is about Jesus, the Messianic Son of David and Son of God who rose again by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 1:3–4). God’s righteousness is being revealed in this gospel, and that righteousness is associated with the “righteous-by-faith” person who lives, cited from Habakkuk 2:4. Although God’s righteousness may be understood as an attribute of God, here it appears to be a saving righteousness, among other things.
What is perhaps most difficult to understand in this verse is the phrase “from faith to faith” (ek pisteos eis pistin). In my view, “from trust to trust” is the better translation, but since almost all Bible versions use “faith” instead of “trust,” I will defer to using faith in this article. What does “from faith to faith” mean?
“From faith to faith”: What does it modify?
Since the phrase’s contribution to the surrounding words clues us in on what it might mean, we should first determine what its function is in this verse. Is it serving adverbially with the verb “revealed,” or is it functioning adjectively with “righteousness”? The latter is more likely.
First, it makes better sense to understand the phrase adjectivally with righteousness. That is because in every instance in which Paul uses the phrase ek pisteos (“by/from/based-on faith”) in his letters, some form of righteousness is connected with it in the immediate context (Rom 1:17; 3:26, 30; 4:16 [cf. 4:3, 5, 9, 11, 13]; 5:1; 9:30–32; 10:6; Gal 2:16; 3:6–9, 11–12; 3:22–24; 5:5). The only exception still has a cognate of righteousness nearby (Rom 14:23 cf. 14:17).
Second, other New Testament instances of ek pisteos also connect it with righteous terminology: Hebrews 10:38 and James 2:24. Murray J. Harris gets the translation right: “For in it [the gospel] a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is based on faith and leads to faith, just as it stands written, ‘The righteous person will live by faith.’” (Harris, Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament; Zondervan, 2012: 107. Italics mine).
“From faith to faith” and its connection with Habakkuk 2:4
Nevertheless, ek pisteos (“by/from/based-on faith”) is primarily connected not with what precedes but what follows it in Romans 1:17b. The conjunction “just as” (kathos) links the phrase with the quote from Habakkuk 2:4 that follows. In other words, “from faith to faith” (ek pisteos eis pistin) is further explained by the quote, “the righteous by/from/based-on faith shall live.” The same phrase, ek pisteos, appears in both!
This, I suggest, means for Paul in Romans 1:16–17 that:
- This righteousness comes from God
- It is revealed in the gospel Paul and other apostles proclaim
- This righteousness brings salvation
- This salvation is offered to both Jews and Greeks
- It is received ek pisteos (“by/from/based-on faith”). I prefer to translate this as “on the basis of trust”
- This faith leads to more faith (in agreement with Harris, Prepositions, How it does so will be explained below)
- This faith is bound up with the ability to live and keep on living
Roman Faith: A Contextual Reading
The subject of faith seems clear enough contextually—it is the “Jew” and “Greek” who believe. They are the ones who have faith (Rom 1:16). Although some interpreters argue that Christ is the subject of faith (with pistis understood as “faithfulness”), Christ is nowhere mentioned in Rom 1:16–17.*
We should not interpret “the righteous-by-faith” person from Habakkuk 2:4 as Christ. When Christ is mentioned Rom 1:1–16, it is not in relation to his own faith or faithfulness. There is no reason for Paul’s Roman auditors to assume Christ is being mentioned here in 1:17.
On the contrary, the only way the Romans would seem to have understood faith here would be as their own faith or that of other human beings like them. In Romans 1:1–16, every instance of faith and belief pertains to their own faith or Paul’s or that of the Jew and Greek (1:5, 8, 12, 16).**
“From faith to faith”: The corporate dimension
A way to understand “from faith to faith” would be to attribute it to the “Jew” the first half of the phrase (“from faith…”) and to the “Greek” the second half of phrase (“…to faith”).*** This would be in keeping with the context of the gospel spreading from the “Jew first,” and then the “Greek” (Rom 1:16).
The subjects seem correct, though perhaps more precisely, the “Jew” and “Greek” here matches with the generic person who is the righteous-by-faith person in Habakkuk 2:4. In the original context of Habakkuk, this person is an Israelite. In Romans 1:17, however, Paul has this person standing in not only for the Jew (representing Israel) but also the Greek (representing gentile nations).
Paul implies that the spread of salvific righteousness is from Israel to the nations. His own missionary career exemplifies this. In Romans 15:19 his gospel proclamation started in Jerusalem with the Jews (Israel). And from there he travelled to other nations as far as Illyricum, proclaiming the gospel among gentiles. We can speak of this as the corporate dimension of the phrase “from faith to faith”—from the faith of Israel (Jews) to the faith of the nations (gentiles).
“From faith to faith”: The individual dimension
Even so, I suspect that this phrase’s ambiguity is deliberate. Perhaps a double entendre is meant. If so, then Paul may also be presenting “from faith to faith” in an individual way, too. “From faith to faith” may thus refer to each believer’s personal transformation before God.
Throughout Romans, Paul wants to stress a dimension of faith related to righteousness that is very personable, relational, and transformative. Faith pertains to every Jew and gentile’s relationship with God in Christ through the Spirit. This comes out especially in Romans 5–8. If I am on track here, then “from faith to faith” expresses both the beginning and continuity of the individual believer’s walk of faith in righteousness—a progressive “faith to faith” that intensifies.
Faith is what justifies (or “righteouses”) the convert when he or she first believes the gospel, and continuing in faith is what keeps that same person in righteousness throughout life’s journey. The faithful person is to continue in obedience until that person experiences the full realization of what it means to be an image-bearer of Christ at the end of the age (Romans 8:29–30).
In short, the believer is to live by faith, and living by faith results in eternal life. This characterizes the righteous-by-faith person in Habakkuk 2:4 who shall live.
Confirming our reading of “from faith to faith”
Perhaps the best way to interpret “from faith to faith” is in relation to its immediate context. We have already demonstrated this. A second way to help us interpret the phrase is by comparing it with how Paul uses the same Greek construction elsewhere.
Where else does Paul use the construction ek + a term + eis + the same term? We find it in 2 Corinthians 2:16: “from death to death” and “from life to life.” These are both time-oriented progressions that intensify. For the ones who are perishing, “death” progresses from temporary to eternal death. For the ones who are being saved, “life” progresses from new spiritual life to eternal life.
Also, another close parallel is Paul’s use of “from glory to glory” in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (though here the prepositions are apo + eis rather than ek + eis). This construction, too, almost surely is one of progression and intensity.
These cross-references confirm for us that “from faith to faith” in Roman 1:17 may likewise be about progression, growth, and intensity that anticipates eternal life.
Conclusion
Here’s a summary of thoughts about “from faith to faith” (ek pisteos eis pistin) in Romans 1:17:
- The revelation of God’s righteousness originates from the gospel.
- Among other things, this righteousness is a saving righteousness.
- The phrase “from faith to faith” is attached to righteousness; this is virtually the case for ek pisteos whenever Paul uses it.
- The phrase ek pisteos originates from Paul’s quote of Habakkuk 2:4.
- The way Paul uses Habakkuk 2:4 refers not to Christ’s faith(fulness) nor God’s, but to the Israelite’s faith that Paul extends to both Jew and Greek.
- “From faith to faith” seems to be deliberately ambiguous, and thus it may have more than one meaning.
- Corporately, it may refer to a righteousness based on Jewish faith that extends to Gentile faith. It is a faith from Israel to the nations.
- Individually, it may refer to a righteousness received by faith that keeps on growing as the believing person continues to live by faith and obedience. The end result is complete transformation into the image of Christ.
Are you living “from faith to faith”?
Notes
* The King James Version includes “Christ” in Rom 1:16, but that is only because it depends on later Greek manuscripts. The oldest and most reliable manuscripts (Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, papyri 26, etc.) do not include Christ’s name. It also makes more sense that a copyist (almost surely a Christian) would include the name “Christ” than for a copyist to omit the name “Christ” if it were originally in the Greek manuscript that the copyist possessed.
** See B. J. Oropeza, “Justification by Faith in Christ or Faithfulness of Christ? Updating the ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ Debate in Light of Paul’s Use of Scripture,” Journal of Theological Studies 72 (2021) 102–24, here 121.
*** See B.J. Oropeza, Jews, Gentiles, and the Opponents of Paul (Cascade, 2012), 149–50.
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