No 12

(Habakkuk 2:4b)

“…the just shall live by his faith” . This passage was written by Habakkuk in troublous times for Israel. If it sounds familiar, well you’re right, because it appears three times in the New Testament and has three very distinct meanings. Habakkuk was a pre-exilic prophet and was considering what God had just told him regarding the punishment of the Jews. He became quite worried about the nation of Israel but then realized “…..we shall not die” (Hab 1:12).

The first time we see this passage in the New Testament is in Romans 1:17. Here Paul begins to speak about “…the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom 1:16). The implication is “the just shall live by faith”; we are justified by Christ; we are in the world and it is in a mess but we are justified and are ready for anything, come what may.

The next time we see this passage is in Galatians 3:11. The Galatians had obvious problems regarding their position in Christ because Paul had just finished saying to them “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal 3:3). In other words, the Galatians thought they could live the Christian faith by the flesh. The emphasis here is “the just shall live by faith”. Our lives, just as the Galatians must be faith driven; otherwise, why did Christ have to pay such a huge price? (See study # 193). Christ had to spill His blood to save us.

The last time we see this passage is in Hebrews 10:38 where the writer introduces us to the chapter on many of the Old Testament saints (he left many out) who had trusted God by their faith. Hebrews 11 is sometimes called the Hall of Fame of faith and we see names such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the list goes on. The accent here is “the just shall live by faith”. Not only did God save us but He gave us the faith to believe in Him “…it is the gift of God:” (Eph 2:8b).