For in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
All Commentaries on Romans 1:17 Go To Romans 1
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Whoever has become righteous through faith will live, not just in this life but in the one to come as well. Paul does not merely hint at this but adds something else along with it, viz., that such a life will be bright and glorious. For since it is possible to be saved yet still be ashamed (as, for example, criminals whose crimes have been remitted by imperial clemency), Paul adds “righteousness” here so that no one may think like this about salvation. This righteousness is not ours but belongs to God, and in saying this Paul hints to us that it is abundantly available and easy to obtain. For we do not get it by toil and labor but by believing. Then, since his statement does not seem credible, if the adulterer and homosexual, the graverobber and the magician are not only to be suddenly set free from punishment but to be made righteous, and righteous with the righteousness of God, Paul backs up his assertion from the Old Testament. … He sends the hearer back to the dispensations of God which took place in the Old Testament … showing that both the righteous and the sinners were justified by faith even then. For since what God gives transcends reason, it is only reasonable that we need faith to understand it.
