“I’m looking for any insight you might have about the meaning of ‘from faith to faith’ in Romans 1.”

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16,17).

The reason Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel of salvation is that it reveals the righteousness of God. That is, the gospel of “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:1-4) reveals how God doesn’t unrighteously sweep our sins under the rug and sneak us in the back door of heaven when the devil isn’t looking. He can righteously save us because His Son died to pay for our sins.

Then when we believe the gospel of salvation, God faithfully saves “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord” (Rom. 10:13). If you’re wondering why He has to say that, and why He might be tempted to do otherwise, it is because of the kind of people who sometimes call upon Him! You or I might have second thoughts about saving the likes of men like Saul of Tarsus or Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer cannibal who is said to have believed the gospel before he died. But God faithfully saves all who put their faith in Christ.

And that’s how the gospel is the power of God unto salvation “from faith to faith.” The word “faith” can mean faithfulness, as it does in Romans 3:3. So Romans 1:17 is saying that salvation flows from God’s faithfulness to save anyone to any who put their faith in Christ—from His faith to our faith. That’s how a man’s “soul which… is not upright” or righteous (Hab. 2:4) can be made righteous (2 Cor. 5:21), and then “the just shall live” have eternal life—“by his faith.”

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.