Faith for Faith

I recently began a new personal study of the book of Romans. About half way into chapter 1, beginning in verse 16, Paul comments on the righteous living by faith. His often quoted words from verses 16 and 17 are:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" (ESV)

Being familiar with the passage, I read through verse 16 nodding in agreement with Paul about the purpose of the gospel message. It is God's power and the most frequent vehicle (I would guess) that God uses to introduce Himself and His Son to mankind for the purpose of salvation. But where I lingered during my study time that day was on verse 17, specifically the beginning: "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith..."(emphasis mine). What exactly does that mean? (Note: this phrase is also translated "from faith to faith," "by faith for faith," and "by faith to faith.")

Regardless of the translation, the idea conveyed is that it takes faith to to see God's righteousness revealed in the gospel, and God's revelation is given for the purpose of increasing our faith. In other words, it takes faith to believe and the more we believe (of God's total self disclosure), the more faith we have.

How is your faith? Are you able to see God's righteousness in the gospel or do you struggle with believing God is who He said He is? If you ask, God will strengthen you in your faith so that you can see Him from faith for faith.