“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” Habakkuk 1.13
From the capital city of Jerusalem, Habakkuk looked out and saw the impending evidences of war. It was a war that his kingdom could not win and would ultimately send his people into a miasma of spiritual anemia. The question he faced was: “How could God use a heathen nation to exercise disciplinary actions against God’s chosen people?” How could God even consider the terroristic nation of Babylon (Chaldeans, Habakkuk 1.6) and compare them to the seed of Abraham? What was Habakkuk to think? How was he to conduct himself?
After coming to the conclusion that he could not change what God had ordained, he came to one of the most well-known statements in all of God’s Word – a statement that is repeated three times in the New Testament – a statement of personal choice that would ultimately realign his thinking with God’s purpose: “The just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2.4) Within a nation that had abandoned God and had made excuses for personal piety, Habakkuk concluded that God was looking for His people within the nation to walk in a personal relationship with Him.
The word “his” in the statement, “… the just shall live by his faith,” (Habakkuk 2.4) reflects the personal responsibility of Habakkuk with regards to the rest of the statement. The New Testament writers put meat on the statement as each one applies it to their own circumstances.
In Romans 1.17, the Apostle Paul is speaking of the Gospel and emphasizes the idea of righteousness and justification. In order for a person to enjoy personal fellowship with God, one must be “just” (righteous – “dikaios”) – rightly related to a designated standard. While Paul expresses concepts that are known by nature, he emphasizes the heart of the matter which is the Gospel of Christ.
In Galatians 3.11, the Apostle Paul again uses this quotation from Habakkuk; however, here, he places the emphasis upon the verb “shall live” (“zao”). The verb form is akin to our reflexive form in the English, but is stronger than that. Here, the form suggests a total immersion into a belief system (verb voice is a middle deponent). It’s more than a simple faith – it’s a “show-me” faith (James 2.18) whereby onlookers can readily see that one’s faith has changed their lives. The works do not justify – the works exhibit the change.
In Hebrews 10.38, the writer introduces examples of living by faith. He, too, uses this intensive verb form and offers examples in Hebrews 11 of those who have lived by faith and received special, personal, blessings from God. Those blessings were contingent upon being “just.”
Habakkuk had come to the conclusion that even though all are guilty and God’s gaze cannot tolerate looking upon evil, those who are just and living by faith have gained acceptance through a personal relationship with God. Our living by faith must be preempted by our being justified through the blood of Jesus Christ.