“My righteous one shall live by faith…” – Hebrews 10:38
This phrase was first penned by the prophet Habakkuk as he recorded God’s message to the prideful nation of Judah. “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). These people were arrogantly deluded in their self-sufficiency with no acknowledgment of the Creator. Human pride without submission to God leads man to view himself as supreme – or to at least act that way.
The apostle Paul quoted Habakkuk’s statement to explain the purpose of God for righteousness in man. This accomplishment is the objective of the gospel. In Christ alone is life, and this life is attained and experienced by faith alone. Paul said: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…” (Galatians 2:20).
“Life” is not mere existence, but existing in right relation to the Author of life. Life is reconciliation and sonship; death is alienation and separation. So in the phrase “the just shall live by faith,” the living by faith has two elements: having life and living life. Having life is a prerequisite to living life: one cannot live by faith until one has life by faith.
To obtain life by faith — trusting the indicatives of God’s truth — is one’s position in Christ. To live life by faith is one’s action in Christ – moving toward Christ by submitting to the imperatives of God’s truth. Apples are the outgrowth of an apple tree. One cannot clip apples to a white birch and call it an apple tree. To live by faith for Christ, one must be alive by faith in Christ. Conversely, when one is alive in Christ, he is free to live for Christ.
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