Hebrew Word Study – Faith to Faith – Himanutha’ Lahimanutha’ הימנות להימנות  Hei Yod Mem Nun Vav Taw    Lamed Hei Yod Mem Nun Vav Taw

​

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.”

What does it mean “faith to faith?” The exact meaning of this has been debated for centuries with several explanations. So once again old Chaim Bentorah is not going to give the right explanation just his own opinion, please take that as such.

Some translators render this as a paraphrase like the NIV and say: “Righteousness that is by faith from first to last.” That is to say that from the first day we become righteous through Christ Jesus we begin a journey of faith that will last until the culmination of our faith when we pass from this earth and enter heaven.  From start to finish we must live this life by faith.  But that is saying there is an end to faith. Will we need faith after we enter the realm of God?  That sort of depends on your definition of faith.  If faith simply means believing in a God you cannot see, then yes, I suppose once we get to heaven, we no longer need faith.  Hence, I suppose that is an appropriate way to look at this faith to faith business. I have no problem with that.  Yet, I am not sure that is what Paul is really referring to here. 

Some translations render this as faith for faith.  This is to imply that faith is a maturing process, we grow in our faith, and as we grow we exchange our simple childlike faith for a more mature faith. That makes sense but somehow I hate the idea of giving up a childlike faith. There is a certain beauty in that. I am not sure,  I think Paul could have put that in more understandable language. 

Commentators either ignore this obvious question or try to explain it by saying that it is just saying that on a human level the beginning and end of the plan of man is faith. I am not sure what the commentator meant by that. Karl Barth explained it by saying that “Salvation comes from God’s faith (or faithfulness) to our faith.”  In other words, salvation is accomplished through God’s faithfulness which came first through his Son Jesus Christ, and then with our faith in response, we enter salvation.  That’s cool, I like that. he’s right.

Some commentators suggest that Paul being an evangelist had a sort of missionary statement in this that we pass our faith onto another person who enters faith. Now that makes sense, he’s right. Uh, he’s right and he’s right, they both can’t be right?  I say why not? Who says Paul did not have multiple understandings in mind?

A more popular understanding is that faith is progressive. Now with this, you can keep that childlike faith but you can also grow in the development of that faith.  In other words, there are degrees of faith like that ever-increasing glory business Paul talks about in II Corinthians 3:18. 

All these are very reasonable and appropriate answers and I would not reject any of them. However, old Chaim Bentorah with his Ph.D. in Archaeology sees another possibility. The words faith to faith is an idiomatic expression. You see Paul is writing this letter to the Romans about 57 AD. At this time Rome had around 67 different gods and goddesses in the Roman pantheon and many more demigods who ruled over a particular dominion, profession, or class of people.  Not to mention that the Caesar himself claimed to be a god. So, when you have a new Caesar you have a new god and to stay politically correct it was not unusual to bounce from god to god, religion to religion, or in Aramaic, that is faith to faith. It could also be rendered as a pledge to pledge, loyalty to loyalty.  People adapted a god or a faith to fit their personal agenda and when the agenda changes so does the god. 

Paul is making a play on words here indicating the church in Roman were made up of converts from other religions or faiths. They moved from their pagan faith to faith in God Jehovah. The big difference in the move from pagan gods to the God Jehovah is that when you moved from a pagan god to another pagan god it carried a personal agenda but when you moved from a pagan god to the God Jehovah that moves brought you into righteousness.  The righteous live by that faith in God Jehovah. 

The word himanutha’ in Aramaic is really the word for a religion although the root of the word ‘aman is the word for faith. We do the same today when we ask what religion someone is we often ask what faith are you? We talk of people of different faith but what we mean is religion.  Paul is telling the Christians of Rome that their faith in Jehovah, although is a new religion for them, it is far different than all their other religions. No change in government, political standing, business standing, class standing will affect their Christian faith.  There is no agenda behind the Christian faith other than to serve the one true living God and to live a righteous life. 

You know, we tend to forget that about our faith. We go to God or attend church for the same reasons the Romans followed their gods when it was convenient for them. They would worship many gods when it was convenient to their lifestyle.  Not unlike Christians who worship Jehovah on Sundays when it is convenient to show you are a good person.  Then afterward they will worship their god of entertainment like a good football game or movie.  Then they worship their god of pleasure like a good party where they get themselves a little tipsy or drunk. During the week they may worship the god of pride as they struggle for that promotion or to be the number one sales rep. 

Paul is reminding us that when we accepted Jesus as our Savior we moved from faith (in pagan gods) to faith in God Jehovah and we do not go back to those other gods for the God Jehovah is served in righteousness. 

Hi there! Thank you for reading this Daily Word Study. Can I ask a favor? Share this Daily Word Study with your friends on Facebook and Twitter by clicking one of the icons below.

Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!