"For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith;
as it is written, 'But the righteous man shall live by faith.'"
Romans 1:17

To better understand the beginning of our text today, allow me to point out that "For in it" refers to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us read the previous verse (v.16): "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

What I have learned from our text today is that the Gospel tells us how we, sinners as we are, can be declared righteous before God; and it tells how God, who is righteous, can justify sinful people.

What is righteousness? Righteousness is an aspect of God's character, His standard of behavior, and His provision for justifying sinners.

The way for sinners to become righteous before God is revealed in the Gospel. We would not know about this righteousness were it not for the Gospel. "When God declares us righteous, we have been made right with Him."

Now, then, what is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What is the Good News? Ah, thank you for asking. The Good News is that there is salvation and justification for all who choose to believe God loved us and sent His only begotten Son to come and take human form, that He lived a sanctified life pleasing to His Father, and that He alone was worthy to redeem us from our sins and that His salvation is offered to all who choose to believe this Gospel.

All you and I have to do is believe, accept, and live by it.

Then we go from "faith to faith." What does THAT mean? Paul is describing the development of faith from the beginning of our Christian walk to its maturity.

Our faith starts when we believe and accept the fact that Jesus Christ took our sins upon himself, took the punishment we deserved and made us righteous before God.

It means that from the point of believing, we go one step at a time as we learn more of Him and grow in the knowledge of the Gospel. As we mature in the Lord, we learn to trust in Him; we know, by faith, that He can sustain us in times of trials; we know, by faith, that He can heal us, if that is His will.

I am not a Bible scholar, so please be patient with me. This is what it means, at least to me: We grow, or SHOULD grow, in the knowledge of the Word and in faith. But, of course, to grow we need nourishment.

Every living thing needs nourishment; and, what is the nourishment for a Christian? Why, the Word, of course. As the plants grow from sprout to sprout and branch to branch, we Christians grow from faith to faith.

As we grow, we learn that even if we do not see the answer to our prayers in our lifetime, our prayer was still heard by God and He knows when to answer (or not), but we still go from "faith to faith" believing He is sovereign and knows we are not ashamed of the Gospel for in it we find salvation.

Thank you, Father, for this wonderful day and for the Good News, which is readily available to us. In the name of Jesus our Lord, we pray. Amen.

Have a great, faithful day.

I love you in Christ,

Daniel Leal