The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel out of faith and to faith (1:17), meaning that as long as we have the faith, we have the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God comes out of our faith and to our faith. Do not say that you have no faith. As long as you call on the name of the Lord Jesus, He is rich to you. When you call, “O Lord Jesus,” He is your faith. Perhaps you will say you have no feeling that you believe. In response to this, I will tell you what happened to me over 40 years ago when I read a book about the assurance of salvation. This book said strongly that as long as we believe we are saved. Immediately I asked myself, “Have you believed? Do you have faith?” I began to doubt. For some days I was bothered about this and I was unable to eat and sleep well. I did not have the feeling that I believed. After I had been troubled for days, the Lord was merciful to me and helped me. The Lord said, “Stupid man, approach this question from another angle and ask yourself, ‘Do you not believe?’ Try your best not to believe.” I tried not to believe in Jesus, but I was unable to do it. I simply could not stop believing in Him. This was the proof that I had the faith. If you feel that you have no faith, try to stop believing. As long as you are unable to cease believing, that proves you have the faith. Praise the Lord! We all have the faith. Provided we have this faith, God’s righteousness is revealed out of this faith and to this faith. Although you may make every attempt to cast away your faith, you cannot do it because faith has come into you. Within you there is something that the Bible calls “the faith.” As long as you have the faith, you have the righteousness of God.
To say that the righteousness of God is revealed does not mean that it had no prior existence. It simply means that, although it had been in existence previously, it had not been revealed or made visible. For anything that can be revealed must exist already. This righteousness of God is revealed out of faith and to faith.
Let me illustrate by holding a lovely calendar before your eyes. This calendar has been in existence for some time, but is just now being revealed to you. How is it revealed? It is revealed out of your sight and to your sight. If you were blind, the calendar could not be revealed to you, for the revelation of the calendar is out of your sight and to your sight. God’s righteousness exists and has existed for ages. Since we believe in Jesus, we have the faith, and this faith is our spiritual sight. Out of this faith and to this faith the righteousness of God is revealed. Therefore, the righteousness of God is revealed out of faith and to faith in the gospel. Praise the Lord!
The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel that the just may have life and live by faith (1:17). The Greek word rendered “live” in this verse means both “to live” and “have life.” The Chinese version translates it “to have life.” Young’s Concordance also tells us that the Greek word means to live and to have life. This verse is a quotation from Habakkuk 2:4, a verse which has been quoted three times in the New Testament. It is found in Hebrews 10:38 where, according to the context, it means the just shall live by faith. In Galatians 3:11 it means the just shall have life by faith because the context of Galatians 3 says that the law cannot give life to people (Gal. 3:21), that people can only have life by faith. Thus, in Galatians 3 it is not a question of living; it is a matter of having life. Romans 1:17 includes both of these meanings—to have life and to live. Therefore, we may translate the verse this way, “The just shall have life and live by faith.”
This short sentence is a brief extract of the whole book of Romans. The book of Romans has three sections. The first section covers the issue of justification, showing us how to be righteous, how to be just, in the eyes of God. The second section tells us how to have life by being justified unto life (5:18). The way to have death is to be condemned by God; the way to have life is to be justified by Him. Then the third section tells us how to live. After we have received this life, we need to live it out mainly by practicing the Body life. The last section of Romans, from chapter 12 through the end of chapter 16, deals with our living. We mainly need to have the church life. The local churches are the main part of our living as revealed in chapter 16. Therefore, the entire book of Romans covers three things: being just, having life, and living properly. Praise the Lord! We all have been justified and we all have received the divine life. Now we are living out this life mainly in the Body, in the local church. This is the way to live by the divine life. The just shall have life and live by faith.