Devotion #6: The Righteous Shall Live by Faith
A very common quote in the church is, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17, NKJV). It is a great phrase to slap on your accent wall, decorate in your living room, and blast out on your Facebook page. However, what is the actual context of the phrase? What is the intended meaning of it? Do you hold to it as being a true, life-changing sentence in your life?
Romans 1:16–17 says, “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.’”
Very few people understand that Paul is quoting Habakkuk in this passage. Seriously, when was the last time you heard a preacher teach from Habakkuk? In Habakkuk 2:4, God is the One who says, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
The context in Habakkuk is rooted in the cries of the prophet. God is answering Habakkuk’s complaints against God. He cries out to God with words like, “How long should I cry out for help, and you not hear me?” Habakkuk makes bold complaints like, “So the Law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted” (Habakkuk 1:4). Habakkuk doubles down, complaining to God in Habakkuk 1:12–13, “Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”
I am not so sure I would be so bold to question God the way Habakkuk does. I would be lying, though, if I said I never had those thoughts myself. God, where are You? How do You allow the evil to get away with so much? Is there any actual justice that we can see? Why do You not do something? Why does it seem like You are so quiet? It is in these very real and very hard questions that God answers, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Habakkuk 2:2–4 adds, “And the LORD answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end - it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.’”
Kenneth Barker explained, “The righteous are those courageous enough to accept God’s word of promise in a world dominated by the horrors of Babylonian power described in the preceding verses. To look for salvation in a world dominated by persecution requires faithfulness.”
So powerful is God’s answer to Habakkuk that Paul uses it in several of his letters. We find it written to the Roman church (Romans 1:17), to the church in Galatia (Galatians 3:11), and by the author of Hebrews (Hebrews 10:38).
I love how God, in Habakkuk, is pointing to the future, “It will surely come; it will not delay.” Paul, in Romans, points to the conclusion. “It is the power of God for everyone who believes,” and “the righteousness of God is revealed.” No longer are we waiting. No longer do we await the appointed time because it has been revealed to us through the cross of Jesus Christ and the work He accomplished there with the shedding of His blood. If you really want to complain about injustice, consider the injustice Jesus went through for your sins and my sins there at the cross.
The conclusion is Jesus! It is what God pointed Habakkuk to in understanding that in a broken world full of sin, there is only one hope. It is the righteousness of His Son, Jesus!