How to understand “from faith to faith” in Romans 1:17

4 min readJun 10, 2021

Question: how should we understand the phrase “from faith to faith” in Romans 1:17. What does this mean?

English:

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17 NKJV)

ESV: from faith for faith (footnote: “OR ‘beginning and ending in faith’”)
NASB: from faith to faith (footnote: “by faith to faith”)
NIV: by faith from first to last

Greek text:

δικαιοσύνη γὰρ θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ ἀποκαλύπτεται ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν, καθὼς γέγραπται· ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ⸆ ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται. (Romans 1:17 NA28)

Notice the phrase ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν — how does this connect to the other ἐκ πίστεως quoted from Habakkuk?

The only textual variant here: insertion of μου in this phrase: ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ⸆ ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται.

Greek Search

Search Parameters

I did a search for similar contructions in my Accordance Bible Software using the following parameters:

Inflected form ἐκ
followed by noun
followed by inflected form εἰς
followed by noun

Both nouns must agree in lexical form, and all should occur within 1–6 words of each other. This allows some room for flexbility and ensures I do not overlook a reference.

The search contained the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (LXX Ralphs) and the Greek New Testament (NA28)

Results of Greek search

Old Testament

Gen. 50:24. ἐκ τῆς γῆς ταύτης εἰς τὴν γῆν “from this land unto the land…”
Ex. 33:1. ἐκ τῆς γῆς ταύτης εἰς τὴν γῆν, “From the land of Egypt to the land. . .”
Num. 28:14. ἐκ τῆς γῆς ταύτης εἰς τὴν γῆν “From this month unto the months of the year.” (each month thoruhgout the months of the year). This seems to be a pretty close parallel to the kind of thing that occurs in Romans 1:17!
Josh. 22:32. ἐκ γῆς Γαλααδ εἰς γῆν Χανααν. “From the land of Gilead unto the land of Canaan”
1 Chr. 27:1. ἐκ μηνὸς εἰς πάντας τοὺς μῆνας τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ. “From a month unto all the months of the year”
Psa. 83:8. ἐκ δυνάμεως εἰς δύναμιν. “From strength to strength”
Prov. 27:24. ἐκ γενεᾶς εἰς γενεάν. From generation to generation (unto all generations)

My copy of the LXX also contains Sirach, which is not part of the Bible. 36:26; 41:10

Ezek. 12:3. ἐκ τοῦ τόπου σου εἰς ἕτερον τόπον ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν “from your place unto another place before them.”
Ezek. 20:6. ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἣν ἡτοίμασα αὐτοῖς, “from Egypt unto the land which I prepare for you.”

New Testament

Rom. 1:17. ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν. “From faith unto faith.”
2 Cor. 2:16. ἐκ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον […] ἐκ ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν. “From death unto death”; “From life unto life.”

Grouping the Greek searches

Land movement (from the land of -blank- to the land of -blank-). The two nouns are different nouns representing movement from one location to the next (Gen 50:24; Ex 33:1; Josh 22:32; Ezek. 12:3; Ezekiel 20:6)
Time frame / scope. The two nouns are the same noun indicating a span of time. (Num. 28:14 — “from month to month”; 1 Chr. 27:1; Prov 27:24 — “from generation to generation”)
A character trait, ability, or description. (Psa. 83:8 — “from strength to strength”)

Hebrew Search

While this is the only place this construction happens in the Greek translation of the OT, the Hebrew construction of the min (מִן) preposition followed by the el ( אֶל־) preposition is somewhat common.

Search parameters

[particle prep]• @מ* •<WITHIN 2 Words>• •<FOLLOWED BY>• =אֶל

Results of the Hebrew Search

The Hebrew search turned up quite a few examples. I had to wade through a lot of hits (92 hits in 44 verses) and found the following relevant examples:

Numbers 20:14 ‏מִקָּדֵשׁ אֶל־מֶלֶךְ From Kadesh to the king of Edom. Location; direction. Doesn’t seem connected.
Numbers 30:15 ‏מִיּוֹם אֶל־יוֹם From day to day.
Numbers 36:7 ‏מִמַּטֶּה אֶל־מַטֶּה From tribe to tribe
Jeremiah 9:2. ‏מֵרָעָה אֶל־רָעָה From evil to evil.
Jeremiah 25:32. ‏מִגּוֹי אֶל־גּוֹי From nation to nation.
Jeremiah 48:11. ‏מִכְּלִי אֶל־כֶּלִי From vessel to vessel.
Jeremiah 50:6. ‏ מֵהַר אֶל־גִּבְעָהFrom mountain to hill
Ezekiel 40:23. ‏מִשַּׁעַר אֶל־שַׁעַר From gateway to gateway. This is repeated verbatim in Ezekiel 40:26.
1 Chronicles 16:20. ‏וּמִמַּמְלָכָה אֶל־עַם אַחֵר From one kingdom to another people. (transfer, change)
Psalm 84:8/7 ‏מֵחַיִל אֶל־חָיִל From strength to strength
Psalm 105:13. ‏מִגּוֹי אֶל־גּוֹי From one nation to another and ‏מִמַּמְלָכָה אֶל־עַם from one kingdom to another. See also 1 Chron 16:20 for this construction.
Psalm 144:13. ‏מִזַּן אֶל־זַן from kind to kind (“all kinds”)
Job 18:18 ‏מֵאוֹר אֶל־חֹשֶׁךְ From light to darkness / transition, movement.
Ezra 9:11. ‏מִפֶּה אֶל־פֶּה From one end to another.
1 Chron 9:25. ‏מֵעֵת אֶל־עֵת From time to time.
1 Chron 16:23. ‏מִיּוֹם־אֶל־יוֹם From day to day.
1 Chron 17:5. ‏מֵאֹהֶל אֶל־אֹהֶל From tent to tent.

Analysis

It looks like the closest analogy to this Romans 1:17 construction — “from faith to faith” (ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν) — is the Greek construction of Psalm 83:8 (in English, 84:7) — “from strength to strength” and the Jeremiah 9:2 (English, 9:3) construction “from evil to evil.” Both “strength” and “evil” are not physical objects (like cities, kingdoms, vessels, etc.)

Hebrew: מֵחַיִל אֶל־חָיִל; using the Hebrew word חַיִל; power, faculty; capacity for “strength”
A man of חַיִל was a man of strength or wealth.
In Psalm 84, this is describing the man who finds his strength (עֹז) in God.
The meaning of this phrase seems to mean thoroughly strong — strong from every side; completely and thoroughly made of strength.

Jeremiah 9:2 (9:3 in English) also provides an interesting parallel:

“And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:3 NKJV)

It seems to indicate that they are engaged in the whole sphere of evil.

So it might be with the faith of salvaiton in Romans 1:17 — it involves faith from start to finish: it begins in faith and ends in faith; it is wholy and completely of faith.