Habakkuk 2:4 - The righteous will live by faith

2:4

“He is puffed up”, this refers to the pride of Babylon. So how is a righteous man to live in such times? He is to live by faith. We will not understand life just by looking at events, we need to trust in God. We need to trust in His character, in who He is. There is uncertainty about the exact translation of the latter half of verse 4. It could be “live by his faith” or “live by his faithfulness”. There is also uncertainty about whether it is the faith of the believer, or the faithfulness of God that it is talking about. “Live by his faith” seems to be the best translation.

“The righteous will live by faith” is quoted on several occasions in the New Testament. In Romans 1:17 Paul writes “ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, as it is written “The righteous will live by faith”.

Now in Romans Paul gives his most eloquent and complete exposition of salvation by faith, but superficially that does not seem to be what Habakkuk is talking about. Habakkuk is concerned about the immediate political situation. Is Paul taking things out of context and just using a useful phrase because it fits his argument (a common trick used by some preachers!) Not at all. First, Habakkuk most definitely is concerned about sin, his first complaint is concerned about the sin in Judah. Secondly, we make a mistake when we divorce “life situation trust” and “theological salvation”. Ie trusting God in a particular situation, and having a theological understanding of how a holy God can possibly bless a hopelessly sinful people. The Bible never does this. If we look at the gospels in particular we see many people who came to Jesus in faith. They all received help, Jesus often commended their faith, and on several occasions He specifically said their sins were forgiven. Yet not one of them made a “prayer of salvation” or recited the “four spiritual laws”. “Life faith” and “theological faith” are not two alternative routes, they go together. The fundamental change in a person is their willingness to trust in God. The reality of this faith, this trust, will show itself in our trusting God in real life circumstances. The theology explains how God can possible bless us. But the theological understanding of salvation is also important. For the theological understanding is based on the infinite love of God for us, and on how that love has shown itself in action in sending His Son, and has achieved concrete results through the cross and resurrection. So the better we understand the “theology” of salvation the better we will know God, His heart and love for us, and this will make us better able to trust Him in life-circumstances.

Other quotes of this verse are Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38.