1:17
“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith”. There are many ways in which “the righteousness of God” has been interpreted. These include:
Righteousness of God is taken as a genitive of source, so it means that God’s righteousness is conferred upon people who believe. It is dealing with how an unrighteous people can be made righteous.
It is taken as a possessive genitive, so the righteousness that is part of God’s character is revealed. This idea is part of the new perspective approach. The Old Testament presents a big problem. God has chosen the nation of Israel, He has made all sorts of amazing promises to Israel, yet Israel was a disaster, repeatedly disobeying God and failing to trust Him. How could God possibly be righteous? Either He has to fail to honour the promises made, or He has to bless an unworthy people. The gospel shows how this dilemma is resolved, how the righteousness of God is demonstrated and maintained.
It is taken as a subjective genitive. God reveals how He is going to save people, how he is going to make them righteous.
In fact, there is no need to choose between the three, and there are areas of commonality between all three. God is revealed to be just and righteous, and we are made righteous.
And this righteousness is from faith to faith, and this too is subject to various interpretations. The most common is to take it as meaning that faith is the means of attaining God’s salvation, faith is the only basis for salvation, sola fides. Another view is to see it as a progression, faith for the Jews, then faith for the Gentiles. Yet another view takes it as progressing from faith on God’s part to faith on our part. Paul then quotes Hab 2:4, “the righteous shall live by faith”, which emphasises our part. So it would seem most likely that the necessity of faith in our part, or the effectiveness of faith on our part is the focus of what Paul means.
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