Living by Faith
by Mihran Kulhanjian
My dear Friends,
Who said "the just shall live by his faith" and what does it mean? It was roughly 600 years before Jesus' birth that the prophet Habakkuk questioned God about why He does not do anything about the wicked in Judah. Many idolatrous kings, weak and evil, one after another ruled over Judah creating years of violence, immorality and unrighteousness. They turned away from God. It was a time of apostasy. Habakkuk pled to God to save the nation. The answer he got from God was not exactly the one he wanted.
God answered Habakkuk saying: "the just shall live by his faith."
In Habakkuk 2:2-4 we see God's full answer:
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.
What is God saying here? He is working on it, wait and see. First, He tells Habakkuk to write the vision down, so all will know. Second, it shall be applied. Third, it's for a specific time in the future. Fourth, wait on Lord, for it will be. Fifth, the lost sinners , the proud are separated from God, but the just [righteous] shall live by his faith. God is saying "Have faith." There are two types of people; the lost, who do not believe in God [Yahweh, the God of the Abraham]. They are the proud who falsely believe they have it all worked out and don't need God. And then there are the believers, the saved; the people who are justified by faith in God. The faithful in God are justified . The faithful are made righteous through their faith. The Lord is saying "Trust Me." God responds to Habakkuk simply with "the just shall live by his faith." This is a simple, straight forward response anyone could remember.
What does God mean by saying "the just shall live by his faith?" The theme of The Book of Habakkuk is faith. This is a basic theme of the Bible, of all scripture. God chose Israel. He will not go back on His word, but God says to Habakkuk He will chasten His people and make them captives of Babylon because of their evil. The Babylonians were more wicked than Judah, yet God would use them to punish Judah. Habakkuk did not like God's answer. Why would God do it this way by the Babylonians? But God also said the Babylonians would be destroyed later. And they were destroyed by the Medes and Persians about one hundred years later, in 539 B C:. We read this in Habakkuk 2:8:
Because you have plundered many nations,
All the remnant of the people shall plunder you,
Because of men’s blood
And the violence of the land and the city,
And of all who dwell in it.
Now all the curses the Lord said would come down on Israel for being disobedient was explained by the Lord in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. God's methods are His. Who are we to judge God's methods? God told Habakkuk and He is telling us to have faith, to believe in Him and that He is always working and has His plans of doing things. God is sovereign and we cannot please God without faith. We must trust God, for He is working it out His way. God is in charge.
In the New Testament, Paul in Romans and in Galatians, and the writer of Hebrews repeat the scripture, "The just shall live by faith." God is telling all that the justified in Him shall live by faith. There is no other way to live life without faith in God. As we move from the Old Testament to the New Testament, Paul explains in Ephesians 2:8-9: we are saved by God's grace through our faith.
Romans 1:17
"For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Paul is reminding those of God's covenant with Israel. Paul is saying trust God and you are saved.
Galatians 3:11
"But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Again, Paul uses the Lord's words from Habakkuk to state his point and “the just shall live by faith," for "no one is justified by the law."
Hebrews 10:38
"Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." To draw back is to turn away after knowing the truth.
After God responds to Habakkuk, Habakkuk understands, and accepts God's answers with prayer and worship and finally a hymn of faith:
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills.
We are assured by God that the righteous will be delivered and that "the just shall live by his faith." Every moment, every day we must live by faith. Believe and live, and wait on the Lord and His return. Unbelievers are already condemned [John 3:18]. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" [Romans 10:17]. Did you hear what the Lord said? God's Word is to live by faith, for we cannot please Him without it. Faith in the Lord is absolutely necessary for salvation. Without faith there is nothing. Look at the world, the faithless--a sad and confused mess of evil and lawlessness.