![]() ![]() In other words, they were adding works to what God had given freely in the death and resurrection of His Son. Some Jewish Christians claimed Gentile believers needed to follow the Jewish religious rituals, known as “the law,” in order to receive salvation. ![]() In Galatians 3:11, Paul wrote to believers struggling to grasp the purity of the gospel. Notice, Habakkuk 2:4 compares those who are proud and unrighteous to those who are righteous and humbly trust in God. As John Piper states, “There is hope for those who will hold firm their trust in God when the calamity comes.” In other words, though destruction was coming, God wouldn’t forsake those who trusted in Him. Shortly before the Chaldeans invaded and overtook Judah, the ancient prophet wrote: “Behold, his soul is puffed up,” speaking of the prideful and self-reliant enemy, “it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by faith” ( Habakkuk 2:4, NIV). In fact, this has been God’s plan all along. In quoting Habakkuk 2:4, Paul let his readers know the doctrine of salvation through grace by faith wasn’t new. What Did Habakkuk Mean When He Spoke about the "Just"? To put it simply, we come to Christ through faith, and once received, Christ strengthens our faith. When has been once realized and taken home to man’s self, its tendency is to confirm and strengthen that very faculty by which it was apprehended.” As nineteenth century theologian Charles Ellicott stated, “It is by faith that man first lays hold on the gospel, and its latest product is a heightened and intensified faith. They receive Christ and remain in Him through faith, so “from faith to faith.” This refers to a conviction of and trust in Jesus Christ and salvation in Him. Those who believe in God’s Son, though unrighteous themselves, become righteous through Him. Wright says God’s righteousness is “essentially the covenant faithfulness, the covenant justice of the God who made promises to Abraham, promises of a worldwide family characterized by faith, in and through whom the evil of the world would be undone.” Rick Reed is a columnist for the Daily Commercial.The gospel reveals God’s righteousness: His faithfulness to His covenant, victory over sin and darkness, and His power to save. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” And our work should be prompted by faith.Īs Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, let us say, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. We receive the promise of the Holy Spirit through faith and through faith are justified. Because of faith I can and must stand strong. We know that every good promise is by faith and by faith we have access to God through grace. We receive the sacrifice of atonement by faith, that we are justified by faith, not works. It is only by Jesus’ righteousness that I can go to Heaven. I don’t know about you but I shy away from talk about being righteous. We learn that we are made righteous by faith. We learn that we are sanctified by faith. We learn that faith in the name of Jesus made the cripple able to walk. This is what the ancients were commended for.” We can find the definition of faith beginning in verse 1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ![]() Only once are we included, in Hebrews 11:3, which reads, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” The following 18 verses talk about those in the Old Testament. And of those 19 are found in Hebrews 11, often called the “Hall of Faith” because it was written about those faithful folks in the Old Testament who had to walk by faith, and not sight. As a matter of fact Hebrews has more references to “by faith” than any other letter - 20 times. But does that mean they didn’t live by faith in the Old Testament? Far from it. Oddly, they were all in the New Testament, starting in Acts. I looked up the phrase “by faith” and found more than 40 references. ![]() But he included, “For we live by faith, not by sight.”įar too often I live by sight. We should be able to say what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:6-7: “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. I guess if pressed I would answer the same way but that’s not the way it should be. Have you ever known a confident Christian? How many of us, when asked where we’ll spend eternity answer, “I sure hope in Heaven,” or something similar? ![]()
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