经文研读
Romans 1:17 — The Righteousness of God Revealed by Faith
Romans 1:17 states that in the gospel God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, and the righteous shall live by faith.
经文
- 17.因 為 神 的 義 正 在 這 福 音 上 顯 明 出 來 ； 這 義 是 本 於 信 ， 以 致 於 信 。 如 經 上 所 記 ： 義 人 必 因 信 得 生 。For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.
这段经文的意思
The verse supplies the reason for Paul's statement in 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. Within the gospel itself a righteousness of God is revealed, and the way it is revealed is described by the phrase from faith unto faith. The movement is not from law or from merit to faith, but faith to faith: the righteousness God provides is both received and continually exercised through believing.
The second half of the verse appeals to Scripture: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith. By anchoring the gospel's saving power in a written text, Paul shows that what is happening in the preaching of Christ to Jew and Greek is the fulfillment of a pattern God had already disclosed. The gospel is therefore presented as consistent with, not contrary to, the prior witness of the scriptures.
Because the gospel reveals righteousness from faith to faith, it requires no human credential beyond faith itself, and it produces the particular kind of life named in the closing line: the righteous do not merely obtain a status but live by faith. The whole verse ties what the gospel is (a revelation of God's righteousness) to how it is received (by faith) and what it produces (a life lived by faith).
背景
Romans 1:16–17 forms a tightly linked unit. Verse 16 names the gospel as God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, Jew first and also Greek; verse 17 then explains why this confidence is appropriate — because the gospel reveals God's righteousness by faith. What precedes the target verse therefore prepares the reader to see 1:17 not as a stand-alone definition but as the grounding of the claim that the gospel saves.
After verse 17 the chapter turns to the revelation of God's wrath from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness (1:18), and the rendering of humanity without excuse through general revelation (1:19–20). The righteousness revealed in the gospel in 1:17 is thus contrasted with the wrath revealed against those who suppress the truth — two revelations that frame the letter's later argument about justification and condemnation.
原文关键词
- G1343 δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē) covers both the character of being righteous and the act of declaring/justifying righteous; the provided definition highlights the forensic sense 'justification', which fits Paul's argument that a righteousness from God is revealed in the gospel.
- G4102 πίστις (pistis) here covers persuasion, moral conviction of religious truth, and reliance upon Christ for salvation; its repetition (ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν) shows that faith is both the source and the ongoing sphere in which God's righteousness is known.
- G0601 ἀποκαλύπτεται (apokalyptetai) is present passive: the righteousness is being unveiled or uncovered; the passive voice fits Paul's claim that God himself is the one revealing this righteousness through the gospel preached.
常见问题
What does 'from faith unto faith' mean?
It describes the righteousness of God as revealed along a continuous axis of faith: faith is both the starting point from which the revelation proceeds and the stage to which it leads. The phrase does not name two kinds of faith, but faith as the entire environment in which God's righteousness is known.
Whose words is Paul quoting in 'the righteous shall live by faith'?
The verse explicitly presents the line as Scripture: as it is written. The text of Romans 1:17 itself supplies this attribution; no further identification is given within the provided passage.
Does Romans 1:17 distinguish the righteousness of God from the righteousness of believers?
The verse calls this righteousness 'of God', locating its origin in God rather than in human effort. From this starting point it derives a corresponding human reality: the righteous shall live by faith. The distinction between God's righteousness given and the life of the righteous lived by faith is therefore present in the verse itself, even though the precise theological elaboration belongs to the rest of the letter.