From Faith to Faith

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith, Romans 1:17.

What makes the Apostle Paul's writing so unique is that he was tasked by God to make the Gentiles understand all of the scriptures previously written and how they harmonize with the faith of Jesus Christ. No other writer quotes the Old Testament as much as Paul does. People who are looking to him to reiterate major themes of the gospels will be disappointed. That was not his job.

Instead, he explains the faith of Christ and demonstrates that he is merely applying the faith of Christ to those things already written in the law and in the prophets. The gospels are different, they are written that you might believe. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name, John 20:31.

All of Paul's epistles are written to those who already believe. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 1:7. That isn't written to prospective believers who need to be convinced of hell or the virgin birth. It is written to those who believe and who need to understand the mechanics of what God has done for them.

We are told that God made Jesus Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. That is often read by people as if Paul said, God put forth Jesus Christ as a propitiation if you have faith in his blood. You are not the subject of that passage. God is. He is declaring his righteousness through his faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.

He knew that for every sinner that he ever pardoned he could not be accused of doing wrong. He believed that because of the blood of Jesus Christ, he could make Jesus Christ to be the Mercy Seat (propitiation) where any sinner could be pardoned. Through his faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, he declares his righteousness and proves that he is just, and that he can justify all who believe in Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Romans 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

There is a transition. The Apostle Paul more than any other writer understood that transition and explained it to those believers who read his writings. The word of God transitioned from the faith of God in the blood of Jesus Christ by which all Old Testament saints lived, to the faith of Jesus Christ which he had in the promises of God and by which we believe. Paul explains that.

We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak, 2nd Corinthians 4:13. What spirit of faith is this? It is the faith of Jesus Christ whereby he knew that God the Father would not leave his soul in hell. It is his faith as written in Psalm 116.

Psalms 116:3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

Psalms 116:4 Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.

Psalms 116:5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

Psalms 116:6 The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

Psalms 116:7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.

Psalms 116:8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

Psalms 116:9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

Psalms 116:10 I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:

You can choose to be like many who cover their ears and crouch in a corner refusing to believe that Psalm 116 is written about Jesus Christ and pretend that it is written about the psalmist himself. Whoever it is written about felt the pains of hell and was continually falling in the bottomless pit. (Unless you're blind to the fact that the earth is a sphere and that to be in the center of it as it turned would put you in a bottomless pit.) Whoever that psalm is about experienced those things.

Why was Jesus Christ different from any other person who awoke in hell? He had an unbreakable promise from the Father that he would live forever. It is he who believed and therefor spoke. To believe on Jesus Christ means that God saw you as a repentant sinner and in saving you gave you the faith of Jesus Christ.

The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. From the faith of the Father in the blood of Jesus Christ, to the faith of Jesus Christ in the promise of the Father. Therein is eternal life. It was impossible for death to hold Jesus Christ, and because I have that same spirit of faith, it is impossible for death to hold me.