Romans 1

Paul is not ashamed of the gospel at Rome, the head of the world. Wesley: to the world it is folly and weakness, yet it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth—the great and gloriously powerful means of saving all who accept salvation in God’s own way. Jew first, then Greek: the offer is ordered, not narrowed.

The passage carries a sincere, universal power: the gospel actually saves everyone who believes. “Everyone who believes” is not a code for a hidden list; it is the living condition of the power. Grace enables believing; it does not make the word a private instrument that never meant the neighbor who refuses. The Jew’s priority is historical honor, not a smaller mercy.

Calvin: Paul anticipates the world’s taunts and eulogizes the gospel so Rome will not find the cross contemptible. God puts forth his power to save in vocal preaching, not a secret revelation only. Yet he works not effectually in all, but only where the Spirit, the inward Teacher, illuminates the heart. The gospel is offered to all for their salvation; the power of it appears not everywhere.

“Everyone who believes” names those in whom the Spirit makes the word effectual. The offer is wide—Jew first, then Greek, no rank or nation fenced off. The salvation is God’s power, not the hearer’s contribution. Those who refuse find in the same gospel a proof of ruin; Christ offered as Savior will be Judge.

In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. Wesley: when treating of justification, Paul means the righteousness of faith—called God’s because He found out and prepared, reveals and gives, approves and crowns it; here, the whole benefit of God through Christ for a sinner’s salvation. From faith to faith: a gradual series of still clearer and clearer promises. Habakkuk’s sentence: he shall obtain the favour of God, and continue therein by believing.

Wesleyan Arminians hear righteousness revealed to faith as living trust, not a wage and not a bare ticket. “From faith to faith” is the life of trust beginning and going on. The righteous live by faith: they obtain God’s favor by believing and continue in it by believing. Faith is enabled by grace; it remains the gospel’s condition, not a meritorious work. Do not flatten this into a righteousness that never meets an act of trust.

Calvin: if we seek salvation—life with God—righteousness must first be sought, by which being reconciled we obtain that life which consists only in his favor. This righteousness, approved before God’s tribunal, is revealed in the gospel; hence the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It is offered by the gospel and received by faith. From faith to faith: as faith advances, the righteousness of God increases in us and its possession is confirmed. Main hinge of the letter: we are justified by faith through the mercy of God alone.

The righteousness revealed is God’s—imputed, approved at his bar—not our improvement counted as if it were. Faith is the instrument that receives it, itself depending entirely on mercy. Habakkuk proves that life before God is by faith, not by the law’s works. “From faith to faith” is the believer’s daily progress in receiving what God has already provided, not a ladder of clearer self-righteousness.