Romans 1:16 - Meaning and Application

Paul now begins a full discussion of justification, meaning how sinners are made right with God. In the latter part of this chapter, he states his main point and then proves it by describing the sad condition of the Gentile world. His move into the subject is smooth and skillful, like a trained speaker.

He was ready to preach the gospel in Rome, even though many people there mocked it and prided themselves on their own wit. Still, he says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel” (Romans 1:16). There is much in the gospel that could have made a person like Paul feel ashamed. Its Savior was a man who was hung on a tree, its message was plain rather than flashy, its followers were poor and despised, and people everywhere spoke against it. Yet Paul was not ashamed to own it. We may fairly call a person a true Christian who is neither ashamed of the gospel nor a disgrace to it.

His bold statement is based on the nature and worth of the gospel itself. That leads into his argument. The gospel is excellent because it reveals, first, the salvation of believers as its end. It is “the power of God unto salvation.” Paul is not ashamed of something that may seem weak or low to the natural eye, because God’s power works through it to save everyone who believes. The gospel shows us the way of salvation (Acts 16:17), and it is the great gift by which salvation is offered to us.

But this power is from God. Without God’s power, the gospel would be only a dead letter. The giving of the gospel is the revealing of God’s arm, his active saving power (Isaiah 53:1). Just as Christ’s word went with power to heal diseases, so God’s power goes with the gospel. This salvation is for those who believe, and for them only. Believing brings us into the saving benefit of the gospel; to others, it remains hidden. Prepared medicine will not heal a patient unless it is taken.

The gospel was offered “to the Jew first.” The lost sheep of the house of Israel were given the first offer, both by Christ and by his apostles. “You first” (Acts 3:26), but when they refused, the apostles turned to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). Now Jews and Gentiles stand on the same level. Both are equally lost without a Savior, and both are equally welcome to him (Colossians 3:11). This was a surprise to the Jews, who had long been treated as God’s special people and had looked down on the Gentile world. But the long-awaited Messiah proves to be a light for the Gentiles as well as the glory of Israel.

The gospel also reveals the righteousness of God as the way of salvation (Romans 1:17). Our misery and ruin came from our sin, so the message that shows us salvation must also show us how we can be justified, that is, declared right with God. The gospel does this. It makes known a righteousness, a right standing before God. Since God is holy and just, and we are guilty sinners, we need a righteousness in which to stand before him. Blessed be God, such a righteousness has been brought in by Messiah the Prince (Daniel 9:24) and is revealed in the gospel, a gracious way of reconciliation and acceptance despite the guilt of our sins.

This gospel righteousness is called the righteousness of God. It is God’s way, God’s approval, and God’s acceptance. It is named this way to rule out any claim that our own works earn it. It is the righteousness of Christ, who is God, and it comes from a satisfaction of infinite worth. Some explain the phrase “from faith to faith” as the faithfulness of God revealing salvation to the faith of man receiving it. Others take it to mean moving from dependence on ourselves before the fall to dependence on a Mediator, one who stands between God and us. Still others understand it as from the first faith that puts us into a justified state to the continuing faith by which we live and remain in that state.

In any case, the meaning is clear: the just shall live by faith. Faith justifies us, and faith also sustains us. So there is a righteousness from faith to faith. Faith is central at the beginning of Christian life and throughout it. It is not from faith to works, as if faith got us started and works kept us going. It is always from faith to faith, as in 2 Corinthians 3:18, from glory to glory. Faith grows, continues, perseveres, and keeps pressing forward against unbelief.

To show that this is not a new idea, Paul quotes the well-known Old Testament verse from Habakkuk 2:4, “The just shall live by faith.” The one who is justified by faith will live by it, both in the life of grace now and in the life of glory to come. In Habakkuk’s setting, the prophet had taken his place on the watchtower, expecting some special revelation (Romans 1:1). What he received was the assurance that the promised Messiah would appear in God’s appointed time, despite what seemed like delay. That revelation is called “the vision,” just as elsewhere it is called the promise. While that time was still coming, and even after it had come, the just would live by faith. So the gospel righteousness is from faith to faith, from Old Testament faith in a Christ who was still to come to New Testament faith in Christ who has come.

Paul then moves to the proof of this claim, that both Jews and Gentiles need a righteousness by which they can stand before God, and that neither group has one of its own. Justification must be by faith or by works. It cannot be by works, as he will prove by describing the sins of both Jews and Gentiles. So he concludes that it must be by faith (Romans 3:20, Romans 3:28). Like a skilled doctor, he examines the wound before applying the healing salve. He first works to convince people of guilt and the need for judgment, and then he shows them the way of salvation. That makes the gospel more welcome.

In general, Paul says, the wrath of God is revealed (Romans 1:18). The light of nature and the light of the law both reveal God’s anger against sin. It is a great mercy that the gospel reveals God’s justifying righteousness from faith to faith. The contrast is striking. Here Paul describes the sinfulness of man under two headings, ungodliness and unrighteousness. Ungodliness breaks the duties of the first table of the law, those that concern our duty toward God. Unrighteousness breaks the duties of the second table, those that concern our duty toward other people. He also gives the cause of this sinfulness, which is holding the truth in unrighteousness.

Some of the things they knew about God and the difference between good and evil were clear to them. But they held that truth in unrighteousness, meaning they knew it and even admitted it while still living in sin. They kept the truth like a captive or prisoner, so it would not shape their lives as it should have. A sinful heart is like a dungeon where many good truths are kept locked up and buried.

Holding firmly to the pattern of sound words in faith and love is the root of true religion (2 Timothy 1:13). But holding truth while living unrighteously is the root of all sin.

God’s displeasure against this is also shown clearly. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven, not only in the written word, which is given by the inspiration of God and which the Gentiles did not have, but also in God’s dealings with people. His judgments on sinners do not rise from the ground or happen by accident, and they are not to be blamed on secondary causes. They are a revelation from heaven.

This is wrath from heaven. It is not the anger of someone like us, but the anger of God from above, and so it is far more fearful and impossible to escape.