The Just Shall Live By Faith

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 01:17, NKJV).

This highlighted phrase appears four times in the Bible; once in the Old Testament, and three in the New (Hab 2:4; Ro 1:17; Ga 3:11; Heb 10:38).

It has been said that the prophet Habakkuk introduces the concept, contrasting those who live by pride; that here in Romans Paul defines who “the just” really are; that in Galatians he explains how the just should live; and in Hebrews what “faith” means.

Now, the word for “just” conveys two meanings, “righteous”, and “acceptable to God”, and is therefore the perfect summation of a believer's standing in Christ. We are made righteous by Jesus having taken our sin upon Himself at the Cross, and, in exchange, He gives us His sinless righteousness. Because of that transaction, we are cleansed and made acceptable to God.

But, and this is extremely important, we are made righteous and acceptable by faith, and this is in direct opposition to the idea that we earn our way into eternal life.

Do you see how magnificent those six words truly are, now. Think of it as both a promise and a command. We are made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ, and because our sins have been forgiven through His death on the Cross, we are no longer under the penalty of death. We shall live, and not die.

But there's more. Faith is not only the means by which eternal life is granted to us, it is how we are to live now, day by day.

What does this mean, living by faith?

Paul says it this way:

For we walk [live day by day] by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV).

Proverbs puts it another way:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5, 6, NKJV).

And again in Corinthians, Paul writes:
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18, NKJV).

This echoes how Hebrews defines faith itself:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1, NKJV).

To live by what we believe rather than merely by what we see or experience is the distinguishing characteristic between believers and unbelievers.

When we allow the Spirit of God free reign in us, our view of the world and of our circumstances goes beyond what is obvious and apparent, and focuses on the underlying purposes and meaning of even of all the events surrounding us.

We understand that nothing is by accident, and that all things work together for good, although we may not be in a position to see that good all the time.

That is why in the New Testament and throughout church history we read of men and women who undergo horrendous pain and loss and yet find themselves able to praise God for His grace and mercy.

It is not that we Christians are masochistic (deriving pleasure from one's own pain), but that we, living by faith, see past the moment into eternity.

I have lived life from both sides of this equation, as a non-believer and as a believer.

I can attest from years of personal experience that there is no comparison between living by sight versus living by faith. The latter is so far superior to the former that the contrast is almost inexpressible.

And this is not something that I have achieved through my own puny efforts. In fact, it has often been despite my natural tendency to focus outward on my circumstances rather than upward upon my Savior – the author and finisher of our faith.

I believe that faith sees the truth of things underneath everything, like a kind of x-ray vision, or what artists see when they look at a simple bowl and observe so much more than the bowl itself, but also light and patterns and shadow and infinite color.

C.S. Lewis thought that until Heaven, we live in something he called the Shadowlands. It looks real enough and full-bodied, but once seen in the True Light, it becomes as vapor and silhouettes.

And this is what the gift of faith provides, True Light, not as some magical incantation, but as the ability to perceive as we have always been meant to perceive; as Adam and Eve did in the Garden before The Fall.

And one day, perhaps soon, that kind of sight will be as natural as breathing again, as much a part of us as our skin.

Until then, He gives us glimpses into the True World, like Gehazi, Elisha's servant:

And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17, NKJV).

Remember this, Little One, His love for us knows no bounds. He is noble and virtuous in ways and to a depth that we can only imagine.

But living by faith, we come close to seeing who He really is, and in seeing that, our hearts are filled with joy that never fades.

Love,

Dad