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| Photo: Andreas F. Borchert 2015 |
In the New Testament, there are three mentions of our study verse – the just shall live by faith –(Romans 1:17; Galatians.3:11; Hebrews 10:38 ). All
three were written by the apostle Paul, if we assume that he is the author of Hebrews as well as
of the other two epistles. In Romans
1, he describes himself as a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an
apostle, separated unto the gospel
of God (v. 1). All of these make him just,
or holy and righteous, not by his own merit but by his relationship to
Jesus Christ our Lord (v.3).
Only the Lord Jesus Christ (v.,7) can justify, or reconcile, sinful
man to holy, Triune God, for He alone is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9).
He is the Son of Man, or the seed
of David according to the flesh (Romans
1:3), as well as the Son of God (God the Father) empowered by the spirit of holiness (Holy Spirit), Who raised Him from the dead (v.4).
When we are made just
by having faith in Christ, we can live in Him! The essential belief we
must have to be saved is that He died as
the perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins, was
buried, and rose again to give
us eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:1-4;
John 3:16).
Our abundant life in Him (John 10:10) includes the daily benefits of His ongoing grace; the privilege of apostleship, meaning that He has called,
empowered, and sent us to be His ambassadors; and obedience to His Word, demonstrating
our faith (Romans 1: 5-6). We
are His beloved, to whom He gives grace and peace (v. 7). Following
Paul’s example, we worship Him with thanksgiving,
service, and prayer (v. 8-10).
Paul’s prayer for himself and the Roman church is that he
could visit them, give them a spiritual gift to strengthen
their faith, and be comforted with them
by their shared faith in Christ (v. 11-13).
He is thankful for the blessing of having led Romans, Greeks, and Barbarians to the Lord (v. 13-14) through the gospel
of Christ, which is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (v.16).
That brings Paul to his summary statement, in which he
repeats the word “faith” three times:
For therein is the righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just
shall live by faith (v. 17).
In contrast to Paul’s description in the above verses of
the blessings of living justified by faith, his next mention, in Galatians
3, of “the just shall live by faith” points out the dangers of attempting to be self-righteous, which brings only condemnation by the law. He calls the Galatians foolish, bewitched, and disobedient
for not believing the truth of the sufficiency of Christ’s perfect sacrifice (v. 1).
Paul asks them three
times whether they received the
Spirit, began their new life in the
Spirit, and were ministered to by
the Spirit by keeping the law,
by being justified in their flesh,
or by the hearing of faith (v. 2,3,5). Of course, faith is the only
true answer, repeated three times (v. 7,8,9). Faith allows the believer in
God to have imputed righteousness as
Christ’s perfect holiness is credited to our account (Romans 4:6,11,22); to
be the children of Abraham and thereby be grafted in to God’s chosen and
blessed people (Romans 11:17-24);
and to be justified before God, Who
no longer sees our sins (Galatians 3:6-9).
But if we foolishly attempt
to be saved by keeping the law, we are under a curse, because breaking the smallest part of the law makes
us guilty of breaking all of it, and we cannot be justified by the law in God’s eyes (v. 10-11). Paul again concludes this passage with “The
just shall live by faith” (v. 11).
In his last mention of this verse (Hebrews 10: 38), Paul describes how it applies to the past, present, and future of
the believer. Once we were saved
(justified) by grace (unmerited,
life-giving favor) through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) we were tested
by our own hardships, those of fellow believers, and mocking from nonbelievers who seem to
enjoy our suffering (Galatians 3: 32-34).
But Paul encourages us to find joy even in hardships (v. 34;
Philippians 4:4), to be confident
in God’s promises (v. 35), and to
be patient as we wait for Him to
fulfill them (v. 36). Our future is
secure – a blessed, glorious and living hope (Titus 2:13;
1 Peter 1:3) – Christ is coming back for His church at the Rapture!
Hebrews
10: 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry .
38 Now
the just shall live by faith: but if
any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Praise God that He will return for those who are just in His eyes by living by faith, without which we cannot please Him (Hebrews 11:6). May we have faith in His exclusive power to have saved us, to keep us securely in the palm of His hand (John 10:28-29), and to
glorify us when He comes again!
© 2015 Laurie Collett
