Romans 1:16-17

The Theme of the Epistle.

Paul is ready to preach at Rome also, because he is not ashamed of the gospel;
and he is not ashamed of the gospel, because of its character (Rom_1:16). The
whole Epistle, to the end of chap. 11, is an expansion of the latter part of
Rom_1:16. The gospel is to every one, for every one needs it (chaps, Rom_1:18
Rom_3:20); it is to every one that believeth, for this is the one way (chaps,
Rom_3:21 to Rom_4:25); it is Gods power unto salvation, for thus salvation is
accomplished (chaps, Rom_5:1Rom_8:39); it is to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek, for the rejection of it by the Jews is but temporary (chaps. 9-11).
In Rom_1:17 it is further explained how the gospel is Gods power unto
salvation. It is a revelation of Gods righteousness (of a righteousness coming
from Him), and that too by faith, as had already been set forth in the Old
Testament These verses therefore contain the fundamental truths of Gods plan
of salvation.
Of the gospel. The message itself which he proclaims, not the work of
proclaiming it. The word gospel (evangelium) means the good tidings of salvation
by Jesus Christ. Hence it is not merely a set of ideas, or a code of morals, but
certain facts which are told that men may believe on Him in whom they centre
(Rom_1:3-4), and thus believing live through and in Him. The reference to Christ
is so obvious that the phrase of Christ was added. It is to be omitted, according
to the testimony of the mass of ancient authorities. Paul knew no other gospel
than the gospel of (i.e., about) Christ; comp. Gal_1:6-9.
For. The reason for not being ashamed is the nature of the gospel.
Gods power. The article is not found in the Greek, but the idea is made definite
by the word Gods. It comes from Him, belongs to Him, in and through it He
works efficaciously. By awaking repentance, faith, comfort, love, peace, joy,
courage in life and death, hope, etc., the gospel manifests itself as power, as a
mighty potency, and that of God, whose revelation and work the gospel is
(Meyer). Writing to Rome, the city of worldly power, he calls the gospel Gods
power; writing to Corinth, the city of worldly wisdom, he calls the gospel Gods
wisdom (1Co_2:7, etc.).
Unto salvation. This includes both redemption from sin and positive privilege; a
share in the eternal glory of the Messiahs kingdom. Salvation includes more
than moral improvement or continued happiness; it is, on its positive side, the

equivalent of life, in its full New Testament sense.

To every one, not to the Jew alone (see next clause). The subsequent argument
(Rom_1:18 to Rom_3:20) shows that every one needs this power unto salvation;
guilt being universal.
Believeth. This is the subjective condition of the gospel salvation; faith lays hold
of what the gospel presents. There may be a contrast to Jewish legalism,as in
the subsequent discussion (Rom_3:21 to Rom_4:25). Comp. Rom_1:17.
To the Jew first. First in time, but including more than this. First, in having a
prior claim, as the covenanted people of God: first, therefore, in the season of its
offer, but not in the condition of its recipients after its acceptance (Wordsworth).
In chaps. 9-11 this priority of the Jews is discussed in view of the general rejection
of the gospel by that people.
And also to the Greek. Greek is here equivalent to Gentile; comp. Act_14:1;
and 1Co_10:32, where the E. V. translates Gentiles. Greek and Barbarian
(Rom_1:14), was a national distinction used by the Greeks; Jew and Greek, a
religious one used by the Jews; in both cases including all mankind.

Romans 1:17
For. The proof of Rom_1:16, especially of the assertion that the gospel is the
power of God unto salvation,
Therein; in the gospel.
Gods righteousness. The word righteous, so frequent in the Old Testament, is
used of conformity to law, equivalent to holy, perfect. It is applied absolutely to
God alone, and the entire family of similar terms has a religious significance.
Righteousness, when used of man, means conformity to the holy will and law of
God, as the ultimate standard of right; when used of God, it expresses one of His
attributes, essentially the same with His holiness and goodness, as manifested in
His dealings with His creatures, especially with men. Closely allied with these
words is another, meaning to declare or pronounce one righteous, expressed in
English by the word justify, derived from the Latin equivalent of righteous. It is
unfortunate that the correspondence cannot be preserved. In this verse Gods
righteousness, in itself, might mean: (1) a righteousness which belongs to God;
(2) a righteousness which comes from God; (3) a righteousness which He

approves. But the discussion in chaps. 3, 4, leaves no room for doubting that the
correct meaning is (2), a righteousness of which God is the author, and that too
His free gift, so that it is reckoned to the believer (chap. Rom_3:21-25). But while
this is to be insisted upon as the prominent thought, it must be borne in mind: (a)
That neither here nor elsewhere is righteousness exactly equivalent to
justification, or Gods method of justification, (b) That this revelation of
righteousness from God, by imputation, grows out of the righteousness which
belongs to God; in the gospel He reveals His own righteousness by revealing that
He is just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus (chap. Rom_3:26);
nothing shows His righteousness so plainly as the death of Christ for our
Redemption, (c) Hence this righteousness from God, freely reckoned to the
believer, necessarily leads to a change of character in the sinner who believes, so
that the righteousness imputed becomes righteousness inwrought. This is
necessarily the case: because when God accounts a man righteous, He is pledged
to make him so; because faith which lays hold on this imputed righteousness
brings the justified man into living fellowship with Jesus Christ, who gives him the
Holy Spirit; and because on the human side this method of pardon and
reconciliation affords motives for well-doing, which that Holy Spirit uses to fulfil
the pledge God makes of sanctifying the believer. It has been found that a denial
of the fundamental sense (righteousness from God, imputed by Him) leads to a
practical obscuration of both the other senses; while God has been proven
righteous and man made righteous by the maintenance of the truth that in the
gospel He reveals a righteousness which He puts to the account of the believer.
Revealed. The present tense indicates continued action: it is being revealed, it is
continuously proclaimed and made known. In the Old Testament it was promised
and prepared for, but first made known fully in the gospel.
From faith to faith. This is to be joined with revealed, not with righteousness.
The righteousness is revealed from faith as the starting-point, and to faith as its
aim, continually producing new faith. This is substantially the generally accepted
explanation. (It is improper to refer from faith to Gods faithfulness.) The gospel
makes known constantly that faith on Christ is the subjective cause of the
righteousness from God, the condition of its imputation, the organ which
appropriates it; and it further makes known that thus faith is produced; faith is
the beginning and end, the vital principle is ever the same. Faith, in the New
Testament, has well-nigh invariably the subjective sense, not what is believed, but
believing. It includes knowledge and belief, assent and surrender, appropriation
and application; and hence cannot be limited to a purely intellectual credence.
As it if written. By this passage (Hab_2:4), Paul would show that this revelation of

righteousness from God, from faith and to faith, is in accordance with the Old
Testament Scripture, and hence according to the divine plan.
The righteous. The rendering just obliterates the verbal correspondence with
righteousness. Paul here refers to one who possesses the righteousness from
God, If this were not the case the quotation would lack point.
Shall live by faith; or, the righteous by faith shall live. The former view of the
connection agrees better with the original prophecy of Habakkuk, where faith is
equivalent to faithfulness (both having the same fundamental idea of trust in
God). The latter, however, is accepted by some, on the Sound that Paul, in this
case, is seeking to prove from the Old Testament, not a life by faith, but the
revelation of righteousness by faith. (By here is the same word as that rendered
from in the preceding clause.) In any case, Paul clearly holds that if the righteous
man truly lives, it is because he has been accounted righteous by faith; comp.
Gal_3:11, where the same passage is quoted. In favor of the connection live by
faith, we may urge the greater emphasis which falls upon by faith, in accordance
with the order of the Greek.
We add a paraphrase of these important verses: To you Romans also I am ready
to preach, for even in your imperial city I would not be ashamed of the gospel.
How can I be ashamed of it before any sinful man, since it is that through and in
which Gods power works so as to save men, all of whom are sinful, and any one
of whom can be thus saved when he believes
whether he be of Gods ancient people, to whom it was first preached, or of the
Gentiles. It is Gods power unto salvation because it brings to sinful men
righteousness which comes from God, given freely by Him, so that they are
accounted righteous (and made righteous because He so accounts them); and
this, not by any impossible way, but revealed from faith as its starting-point and
faith as its terminal point: whatever of righteousness man has comes by faith.
And this was Gods way, predicted already in the Old Testament, for He there
says: The man who is declared righteous lives by faith (or, the man who is
righteous by faith lives).
Romans 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
Romans 1:16-18
Paul here enters upon a large discourse of justification, in the latter part of this
chapter laying down his thesis, and, in order to the proof of it, describing the
deplorable condition of the Gentile world. His transition is very handsome, and
like an orator: he was ready to preach the gospel at Rome, though a place where
the gospel was run down by those that called themselves the wits; for, saith he, I
am not ashamed of it, Rom_1:16. There is a great deal in the gospel which such a
man as Paul might be tempted to be ashamed of, especially that he whose
gospel it is was a man hanged upon a tree, that the doctrine of it was plain, had
little in it to set it off among scholars, the professors of it were mean and
despised, and every where spoken against; yet Paul was not ashamed to own it. I
reckon him a Christian indeed that is neither ashamed of the gospel nor a shame
to it. The reason of this bold profession, taken from the nature and excellency of
the gospel, introduces his dissertation.
I. The proposition, Rom_1:16, Rom_1:17. The excellency of the gospel lies in
this, that it reveals to us,
1. The salvation of believers as the end: It is the power of God unto salvation.
Paul is not ashamed of the gospel, how mean and contemptible soever it may

appear to a carnal eye; for the power of God works by it the salvation of all that
believe; it shows us the way of salvation (Act_16:17), and is the great charter by
which salvation is conveyed and made over to us. But, (1.) It is through the power
of God; without that power the gospel is but a dead letter; the revelation of the
gospel is the revelation of the arm of the Lord (Isa_53:1), as power went along
with the word of Christ to heal diseases. (2.) It is to those, and those only, that
believe. Believing interests us in the gospel salvation; to others it is hidden. The
medicine prepared will not cure the patient if it be not taken. - To the Jew first.
The lost sheep of the house of Israel had the first offer made them, both by Christ
and his apostles. You first (Act_3:26), but upon their refusal the apostles turned to
the Gentiles, Act_13:46. Jews and Gentiles now stand upon the same level, both
equally miserable without a Saviour, and both equally welcome to the Saviour,
Col_3:11. Such doctrine as this was surprising to the Jews, who had hitherto been
the peculiar people, and had looked with scorn upon the Gentile world; but the
long-expected Messiah proves a light to enlighten the Gentiles, as well as the
glory of his people Israel.
2. The justification of believers as the way (Rom_1:17): For therein, that is, in this
gospel, which Paul so much triumphs in, is the righteousness of God revealed. Our
misery and ruin being the product and consequent of our iniquity, that which will
show us the way of salvation must needs show us the way of justification, and
this the gospel does. The gospel makes known a righteousness. While God is a
just and holy God, and we are guilty sinners, it is necessary we should have a
righteousness wherein to appear before him; and, blessed be God, there is such a
righteousness brought in by Messiah the prince (Dan_9:24) and revealed in the
gospel; a righteousness, that is, a gracious method of reconciliation and
acceptance, notwithstanding the guilt of our sins. This evangelical righteousness,
(1.) Is called the righteousness of God; it is of God's appointing, of God's
approving and accepting. It is so called to cut off all pretensions to a
righteousness resulting from the merit of our own works. It is the righteousness
of Christ, who is God, resulting from a satisfaction of infinite value. (2.) It is said to
be from faith to faith, from the faithfulness of God revealing to the faith of man
receiving (so some); from the faith of dependence upon God, and dealing with
him immediately, as Adam before the fall, to the faith of dependence upon a
Mediator, and so dealing with God (so others); from the first faith, by which we
are put into a justified state, to after faith, by which we live, and are continued in
that state: and the faith that justifies us is no less than our taking Christ for our
Saviour, and becoming true Christians, according to the tenour of the baptismal
covenant; from faith engrafting us into Christ, to faith deriving virtue from him as
our root: both implied in the next words, The just shall live by faith. Just by faith,
there is faith justifying us; live by faith, there is faith maintaining us; and so there

is a righteousness from faith to faith. Faith is all in all, both in the beginning and
progress of a Christian life. It is not from faith to works, as if faith put us into a
justified state, and then works preserved and maintained us in it, but it is all along
from faith to faith, as 2Co_3:18, from glory to glory; it is increasing, continuing,
persevering faith, faith pressing forward, and getting ground of unbelief. To show
that this is no novel upstart doctrine, he quotes for it that famous scripture in the
Old Testament, so often mentioned in the New (Hab_2:4): The just shall live by
faith. Being justified by faith he shall live by it both the life of grace and of glory.
The prophet there had placed himself upon the watch-tower, expecting some
extraordinary discoveries (Rom_1:1), and the discovery was of the certainty of the
appearance of the promised Messiah in the fulness of time, not withstanding
seeming delays. This is there called the vision, by way of eminence, as elsewhere
the promise; and while that time is coming, as well as when it has come, the just
shall live by faith. Thus is the evangelical righteousness from faith to faith - from
Old Testament faith in a Christ to come to New Testament faith in a Christ
already come.
II. The proof of this proposition, that both Jews and Gentiles stand in need of a
righteousness wherein to appear before God, and that neither the one nor the
other have nay of their own to plead. Justification must be either by faith or
works. It cannot be by works, which he proves at large by describing the works
both of Jews and Gentiles; and therefore he concludes it must be by faith,
Rom_3:20, Rom_3:28. The apostle, like a skilful surgeon, before he applies the
plaster, searches the wound - endeavours first to convince of guilt and wrath, and
then to show the way of salvation. This makes the gospel the more welcome. We
must first see the righteousness of God condemning, and then the righteousness
of God justifying will appear worthy of all acceptation. In general (Rom_1:18), the
wrath of God is revealed. The light of nature and the light of the law reveal the
wrath of God from sin to sin. It is well for us that the gospel reveals the justifying
righteousness of God from faith to faith. The antithesis is observable. Here is,
1. The sinfulness of man described; he reduceth it to two heads, ungodliness
and unrighteousness; ungodliness against the laws of the first table,
unrighteousness against those of the second.
2. The cause of that sinfulness, and that is, holding the truth in unrighteousness.
Some communes notitae, some ideas they had of the being of God, and of the
difference of good and evil; but they held them in unrighteousness, that is, they
knew and professed them in a consistency with their wicked courses. They held
the truth as a captive or prisoner, that it should not influence them, as otherwise
it would. An unrighteous wicked heart is the dungeon in which many a good
truth is detained and buried. Holding fast the form of sound words in faith and
love is the root of all religion (2Ti_1:13), but holding it fast in unrighteousness is

the root of all sin.

3. The displeasure of God against it: The wrath of God is revealed from heaven;
not only in the written word, which is given by inspiration of God (the Gentiles had
not that), but in the providences of God, his judgments executed upon sinners,
which do not spring out of the dust, or fall out by chance, nor are they to be
ascribed to second causes, but they are a revelation from heaven. Or wrath from
heaven is revealed; it is not the wrath of a man like ourselves, but wrath from
heaven, therefore the more terrible and the more unavoidable.