'From faith to faith' and Paul's use of Habakkuk 2:4 (Romans 1:17)

Says God's righteousness is revealed ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν (ek pisteōs eis pistin, "from faith to faith," 1:17). Uncertain The sense of the phrase. The main options are these (note.language.Rom.1.17.ek-pisteos-eis-pistin): 1. Intensive. "By faith from start to finish," the BSB rendering (compare ἐκ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, "from death to death," 2 Cor 2:16). On this reading faith is the only channel of God's righteousness. 2. From God's faithfulness to human faith. 3. From the faith of preachers to the faith of hearers (compare 10:14–17). 4. Growth in faith.

The team prefers (1). It is the simplest reading of the idiom, and it suits the stress on "everyone who believes" (1:16) and on "by faith" in the citation that follows. Option (2) is attractive because of 3:3, but in 1:16–17 every other use of the word is human believing.

Says Paul cites Hab 2:4 in the form Ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται, "The righteous will live by faith" (BSB). Says The Hebrew reads וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶֽה (vetsaddiq be'emunato yikhyeh), "but the righteous by his faithfulness will live." The noun בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ is built on emunah, "steadiness, faithfulness, reliance" (note.language.Rom.1.17.hab-2-4-emunah; xref.Rom.1.17.Hab.2.4.heb). The Swete LXX, checked on the scan, reads ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεώς μου ζήσεται, "the righteous will live by my faithfulness." Codex A is widely reported to read ὁ δὲ δίκαιός μου ἐκ πίστεως, "my righteous one … by faith" (by reference; not checked against an apparatus); Swete's apparatus records only "δίκαιος] + μου A", and Heb 10:38 follows the order of A (note.language.Rom.1.17.hab-2-4-forms; note.textual.Rom.1.17.hab-2-4-pronoun; xref.Rom.1.17.Heb.10.38.heb). Implies Paul omits the pronoun of both the MT ("his") and the LXX ("my"). This lets the citation focus on faith as the way the righteous person lives. It is not a mistranslation. Faithfulness in the Hebrew is the steady trust that holds to God's word, as the vision of 2:2–3 required ("though it lingers, wait for it," BSB; note.language.Rom.1.17.hab-2-3-vision-waiting; xref.Rom.1.17.Hab.2.3.heb). The proud man who is "not upright" (2:4a) is the contrast. The righteous person depends on God, and that dependence is what Paul calls faith (note.language.Rom.1.17.paul-hab-2-4).

Uncertain Whether "by faith" modifies "the righteous" ("the one who is righteous by faith will live") or "will live" ("the righteous will live by faith"). The Hebrew accents and the LXX connect it with the verb, while Paul's argument, which defines who is righteous (1:17; 3:21–4:25; 5:1), suits the first. Paul's Greek allows both, and the meanings converge: the righteous person lives as a righteous person through faith. The team keeps the BSB rendering.

Implies Paul uses the same verse in Gal 3:11 to show that no one is justified by the law, which points to the same reading of it (xref.Rom.1.17.Gal.3.11.heb). Abraham's "faith credited as righteousness" (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:3) is the pattern behind both passages. The verbs are וְהֶאֱמִן (vehe'emin, "he believed") and וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ (vayyakhsheveha, "and he credited it"), and the noun is צְדָקָֽה (tsedaqah, "righteousness") (xref.Rom.1.17.Gen.15.6.heb). The Qumran pesher on Hab 2:4 applies the verse to those who keep the Law and are faithful to the Teacher of Righteousness (1QpHab VII 17–VIII 3), which shows that the verse was already read as a key text, though with a different meaning.