#19. Romans 1:17 - A Brief Study on Prepositions, And More About Faith
Part II: The Conduct of Humanity
For in [the evangel] God’s righteousness is being revealed, out of faith into faith…
When it comes to God, righteousness and faith go hand in hand. He can’t display His righteous characteristics without displaying His faith. His righteousness is incomprehensible to us apart from a realization of His faithfulness, which He displays in Christ during His Son’s death at Golgotha. The righteousness that is being revealed is sourced in the faith of Christ – as Christ is the Image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15.) Yet the ones who receive this righteousness (being you and me,) do so in belief, not in evidential, concrete facts (no, I don’t have an original carving of the Ten Commandments hanging on my living room wall. They were too heavy for me to lift, so I left them in my closet.)
This helps us understand faith a little better, having considered its definition back in Rom. 1:8-9. It is a channel – a means by which a point is established. It is not Christ’s faith that carried Him through such a traumatic ordeal on the cross, but God Who enabled Him to do so. The faith Christ has is the manifested evidence to this fact – not the cause of anything, but the effect. In other words, if there were no righteousness to convey, then there would be no reason for faith to be a theme!
This verse shows us how faith is used to effect this – the overarching process that occurs. For generations, scholars have taken to studying the word ‘faith’ itself as a means to understanding it in a passage. In truth, there are two words that come into play right before these words are conveyed. These two words are so important that they need their own standalone paragraph:
Two Greek prepositions.
The Greek prepositions in Scripture nullify much of our own reasoning on hundreds of different Scriptural topics. They have been referenced in my study before, but I really want to dwell on them for a bit. We are ever apt to seek God in spectacular accomplishment, grand declarations, or in establishing a sweeping utopia. We look at the big words in Scripture (as well we should,) but we never look at the tiny, connective words in the text (as well we should.) I will be repeating this important theme multiple times throughout this study – the small words are just as important as the big words. Even words such as “of” and “then” and “for” and “in” have a crucial place in Scripture, as these words have the ability to clarify God’s doctrine, and expose the false ones.
The example is here, in Romans 1:17. This verse gives us a brief clause that gives us the ability to study two critical prepositions which will play a major role throughout Romans. The first one, ek, is, literally, “OUT-OF.” The word is usually translated “of,” for the sake of English readability, but we would do well to recall its transliteration every time we read the word. In each and every use, you can see that the passage is typically enhanced in conveying its thought.
The second preposition in view here is eis, which the Concordant Version translates as “for.” This translation, in my opinion, loses a bit of the gravitas of the literal term, meaning “INTO.” We have seen this word appear four times prior in Romans so far (1:1, 1:5, 1:11, 1:16.) I will, throughout this entire study, be translating this word “into” as “into.” I will be treating all prepositions that appear this way, in all my study in Scripture – one uniform use of the preposition, that you may see for yourself that they can function perfectly fine when directly translated this way.
These are four separate words. There are two prepositions, and two nouns. If any of these words are removed, we lose the direct thought that the apostle was trying to convey. A few will take this phrase and reshape it to simply mean “righteousness revealed by faith.” Yet this mutilates the careful placement of the original text! Throughout my study of the Greek, I have yet to find a proper English equivalent for the word “by.”
Let’s take a brief break and consider this. The word ‘by’ is used in many translations (including our CLV, which we saw thrice in 1:4, 1:7, and later in this very verse,) but all three uses are separate prepositions which have literal definitions that can be understood apart from any change. Ek is used in 1:4 and 1:17, meaning “OUT-OF.” The word “by” in Rom. 1:7 is not translating an individual word, but highlighting a unique inflection on the word “God.” This use of “by” in 1:7 is another (individual instance of a) disagreement that I have with the Concordant version, as I wish they had kept the word as ‘of,’ here. It’s a small note, but something I will return to on a much more important topic in Romans 3.
Anyway, four separate words to consider in Rom. 1:17, guys, not two. We don’t need to lump things together. The text is dense enough – no lumping is necessary. Don’t lump the text. It makes ass out of… well, you get it.
We can further understand what Paul is saying by studying the unique inflections on each use of ‘faith,’ here. In English, the word ‘faith’ is used twice and a new Christian sect gets created over it. In Greek, however, it is much easier to apprehend what’s going on, and thus much harder to shove our own beliefs into the text.
As we studied in Rom. 1:8, the word ‘faith’ is pistis. Each time it is used here, it is given unique inflection to denote its property and indicate its placement in the sentence. The first use of ‘faith’ in Rom. 1:17 is pisteos. This word is written in the genitive case, which is “the case used for a noun, pronoun, or adjective to show description” (blue letter bible.) Thus we see that the faith is describing the manner in which the righteousness is revealed.
The second use of faith, however, is pistin. The suffix is different from the first use of ‘faith,’ showing that the word is written in the accusative case, which is “the case used for a noun or pronoun that is a direct object.” (blue letter bible) We, ladies and gentlemen, are the direct object to whom the righteousness of God is revealed to. The fact that one faith is descriptive, and the other is in relation to a direct object indicates clearly that there is a transference here from one to another. This is lost if we lump the text (so let’s not lump the text.)
The only clear explanation seems to be that the revelation is out of Christ’s faith, into our faith. This process – God’s revelation, through Christ’s faith, into our faith (God, Christ, man – the divine order) – is comprehensive, but not explicit (very similar to Rom. 1:16.) We will have to study all of Romans to fully grasp what this means. The goal is to further highlight the beautiful cohesion to Romans. The comparison will be fully unveiled to us in Romans 3:21-26, and when we reach this passage which unveils the evangel of God, I will be pointing out the parallel between that passage and this one.
With all of the evidence considered, now, being the Greek itself, its explicit context, and the understanding that this pattern will be the core of the evangel itself, we can finally consider the meaning of “out of faith, into faith.” There is no longer a misunderstanding between us and God concerning the cause of salvation, which had already been displayed to us during our study of Romans 1:16. It is God’s power to reveal His righteousness through His Son’s faith into our faith.
To
quote Dean Hough, in U.R. Vol. 93, p. 77–
“Our faith could never be
the source of a revelation of divine righteousness. The righteousness of God is
made known by means of Christ’s perfect faith and His unparalleled faithfulness
in dying for our sake, for the sake of unrighteous enemies and irreverent
sinners.”
We were born into irreverence and unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18) – hence the lack of divine revelation in our belief. The divine righteousness can only be manifested by a Divine Being. We are not divine – we are undoubtedly mortal. We will be thoroughly proven unrighteous in the coming chapters of Romans. We are weak. Insufferable twats, to put it lightly.
How, then, can some say that they are saved because they have faith in Christ? How does their faith reveal a divine righteousness of God if they manifested their own faith? The doctrine of free will spurs such a discordant mindset, instilling cognitive dissonance in the belief system of billions. They recognize that faith is something man enacts, but fail to note that faith is something only Christ inaugurates and perfects (Heb. 12:2.) Christ, then, is the only reason that man can enact said faith!! If you were able to find it within yourself to manifest this salvific faith, then there is no need for Christ’s faith.
The doctrine of free will, then, causes one to inadvertently take credit for God’s salvific work. How often have you heard someone say, “I’m saved because I believe?” They are quite literally saying that the result of their salvation was their decision to accept the Lord into their heart. To them, salvation occurs when they make their decision, and at no other juncture. This effectively disregards Christ’s sacrifice, and forces man to pridefully take credit for “being saved.” It is “cognitive dissonance” because, while they say they are saved because of “Christ alone,” they will turn around and claim that they are saved because of their acceptance. These two statements are irreconcilable. They do not mesh together in any way; it’s either one or the other. Your acceptance, or God’s power into salvation?
Any doctrine that detracts from Christ’s accomplished work on the cross is wrong and should be discarded. The very premise of Paul’s fervent favor of the evangel dictates that God is the Source, and not us. Our belief is not the cause of the evangel – nor is our belief the cause of our apprehension of the evangel. There are many that don’t believe the evangel that understand it, and there are many that do believe the evangel unwillingly. Even Satan himself would not be able to deny the saving power of the evangel, as disdainful as he may be.
Those that say, “I am saved because I have faith in Christ,” are ignorant to the simple reality that salvation is not rooted in our willingness to accept Christ, but rooted in God’s choice to draw us in. These folk inadvertently prove God’s point in the following verses, by revealing themselves to be the very ungodly that need saving.
However, this does not mean we don’t matter at all, here! May it not be coming to that! Man’s cooperation is very much necessary for salvation into belief (how can we know we are saved if we are not believing?) I will clarify: I said salvation is not rooted in our willingness to accept Christ. Rooted. Sourced. Caused by. You are not saved “because you believe.” You are saved because Christ died, was entombed, and was resurrected. Whether you believe it or not, the reality is thus: Christ died, was entombed, and was resurrected. Your belief is effectual.
But this does not make your belief insignificant. The evangel is getting to you, and getting through to you, on God’s time (1 Tim. 2:4, 4:10, 6:13, 1 Cor. 15:22-24.) The evangel itself was, physically speaking, written by a man. The goal is not to dismiss man’s part, but recontextualize it. Paul plans on doing the same thing. In order to do it, he must spend 1:18-3:20 completely decimating the moral grandstanding that we all do, and force us to come to grips with our inadequacies. We must be humbled to receive the truth. In that, most of us are not willing recipients of the truth – least of all those who believe that they are.
But don’t you hear it? The battle that was clearly fought between your flesh and God’s spirit? The human heart was a battleground post-Adam, and pre-Christ. Belief today is not the end of a war, but the fragrant odor of Christ’s victory (2 Cor. 2:14-15.) This makes your belief critical, as God undoubtedly seeks to display His righteousness through that belief.
God,
Christ, man. You are still a part of this divine order. That God’s
authority is supreme does not nullify your individuality or personality, and
this is a complete assumption brought about by those who prefer their “acceptance”
over God’s power. The truth is all the same: any faith you have in God
is rooted and grounded in His own. He displayed His faith in its
highest and fullest expression at the cross. This was not a challenge; He
didn’t say, “Now you do this same kind of faith!” He didn’t say it,
because you can’t. He’s God, and you’re not. Instead, He took that faith
that He manifested at the cross (and we will get into the “how’s” and “why’s”
of this) and planted it like a seed in your heart, through the evangel. It
is not your choice as to whether or not it grows. It is His to nurture, and He
says He planted this seed in all (Rom. 1:16.)
* * *
Faith is the method – the channel – by which we receive grace. This faith shows itself to be sourced in God, and not in us. Paul will later state that it is graciously granted to us to be believing on Christ (Phil. 1:29.) In order to grant someone permission over something, you must own that thing to grant them access. If God does not own the faith, then God cannot grant the faith to an individual.
We can see this
in the example of Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples. When Thomas required
physical proof of Jesus’ arrival, and was humbled by His arrival, Jesus
did not say, “Well, Thomas, I’m sorry, but it looks like you didn’t gather
enough faith, here! Try and find some more, and maybe I won’t roast you in the
word of God next time.” Instead, He says–
“Seeing that you have seen Me, you have believed. Happy are
those who are not perceiving and believe.”
God made an example out of Thomas’ unbelief. Thomas’ unbelief was obviously not a fluke, or Jesus could not have explained this to the rest of the disciples. The unbelief was rooted in Thomas’ perception, and Thomas was shocked to realize his own disbelief.
It is not that signs are unimportant by any measure, of course (the world is a theater – 1 Cor. 4:9.) But faith and perception are juxtaposed in Scripture, particularly in Paul’s letters (2 Cor. 5:7.) Faith is a method that is inconceivable to the five senses. To presume that these five senses will somehow match the faith that God imparts is ridiculous – yet many look for signs in the Christian church to prove their faith.
Yeah, what’s the deal with that? Need a sign for salvation? Get baptized! Need proof you’re saved? Recite the Lord’s prayer again! Having doubts? Watch the preacher man cast out this demon! Need a spiritual booster? Eat this Styrofoam and drink this grape juice!
Ugh.
Jesus, can you repeat yourself? I don’t think they heard You.
“Happy are those who are not perceiving and believe.”
Mmmmm. Riiiiight. I see, now. They are happy because
the happy God imparts the measure of faith on His terms
(Rom. 12:2, 1 Tim. 1:11.) It is revealed on God’s end, and discovered
on man’s end. You could, in truth, recontextualize the divine order to read
God>Christ<man. Paul does this very thing in 1 Tim. 2:5–
For there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind
– a Man, Christ Jesus.
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