FROM FAITH UNTO FAITH (7)

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also the Greek, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Rom. 1:16-17)
This is the full text from which our subject is taken: “From faith to faith.” It is “from faith” that was once delivered (Jude 3) to our faith; that we believe. One is objective, never subject to change; while the second, our personal faith is subjective and is necessarily subject to change. The more we learn of the Bible the greater our faith; the more we learn, the greater our faith has grown, as Peter wrote his last inspired words: “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Too him be glory both now and for ever” (2 Pet. 3:18). It is a requirement that our “faith” grow, if we are to be pleasing to God. All that I write is in the vein of pleasing our God!
First, as we continue to look at Galatians chapter three. The “faith” is not a word pointing at our personal faith, but the faith by which we are saved, when we obey the gospel. Therefore: “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through (the, frw) faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed” (verse 8). The word, “through faith”, refers to “the faith” once delivered to the saints as Jude wrote. Second, “So then they which be of faith,” refers to “the faith” once delivered to the saints as Jude wrote. And they are “blessed with faithful Abraham” (verse 9). Once more the words “faith” refers to the faith, the written faith! And this is the way to be blessed with faithful Abraham (verse 9). Third, “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, It is evident: for, The just shall live by faith” (verse 11). Here Paul wrote “the just,” which is the same as “The just shall live by faith,” of Romans chapter one verse seventeen: “The just shall live by (the, frw) faith” Then, the apostle writes: “And the law is not of (the, frw) faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them” (Gal 3: 12). Here the words are “the law (of Moses, frw) is not of (the, frw) faith but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.” If one is going to live by the old law, he is bound to do all of it, not just a part of it! No one living today, follows all of it, no, not even the Jews in Israel!! The blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive “the promise of the Spirit through (the, frw) faith” (verse 14). It is here, that Paul pointed out, that those who receive “the promise of the Spirit,” which is a reference to the promise God made in Genesis, generally speaking, this is a reference to “the promise” God made to Abraham, that through his seed would all, both Hebrews and Gentiles, receive the promise God made to Abraham. This is seen when Paul wrote in verse fourteen: “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit” which the Gentiles’ could now receive by “the faith!” Now, notice what the apostle writes: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made!”
Now, turning our attention to verse eighteen, which reads: “For if the inheritance be of the law, It is no more of promise but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” The inheritance” is what God promised Abraham and it is received through the gospel, which is “God’s power unto salvation.” (Rom. 1:16) and it is “from the faith to faith.”
Here let us conclude by saying, that “from (the, frw) faith to faith (our personal faith, our personal belief). The argument is that salvation is through Christ by means of “the faith.” This is the same as we wrote in the last article. Therefore, “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” God is elevating Christ, the gospel, the “faith!”
We shall continue this study in the next article if it is God’s will!