Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. The just man is the righteous man — the man who is right — right with God, with man, with his environments, with himself. Faith is what keeps a man right in every department of life. A man can only live rightly as he lives by faith. I. On what may be called HIS SECULAR SIDE. 1. Intellectually. Faith is necessary to mental soundness, and to efficient mental work. First principles must be taken for granted; results of previous workers must be accepted. To be ever digging foundations and discussing axioms not only wastes time, but unsettles and enervates the mind, and incapacitates it for healthy work. The just thinker works from established conclusions to first results. 2. Commercially. All business would be at a standstill but for faith — faith in self, faith in others, faith in success. The distrustful man is unjust to himself and all concerned, and eventually dies in bankruptcy. 3. Domestically. Family life is dead where the members distrust each other, but flourishes in full vigour when there is honest and implicit faith between husband and wife, etc. 4. Politically. Where there is no faith in principles, but only a scramble after place and power, political injustice supervenes and political life dies. II. HIS SPIRITUAL SIDE. 1. As a religious character. (1) Faith makes a man right. (2) Faith keeps him right. 2. As a Christian worker. His is preeminently a work of faith, and only as such can he rightly perform it. He requires faith which — (1) Lays hold of Divine strength. (2) Supports him in the midst of discouragements. (3) Relies on the Divine promise. (4) Confidently anticipates future results. 3. As a Bible student. Faith — (1) Accepts its mysteries without questioning. (2) Transunites its truths into spiritual food. Without faith he is both unjust to the Bible and to himself. Instead of the Word of life it becometh the letter which killeth. 4. As an immortal being. Faith links the future with the present, makes both one, and sets the believer right with both. (J. W. Burn.) Parallel Verses KJV: For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. |
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