³⁸ But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

One of the most important verses in Scripture is this one, which is a quote from Habakkuk 2:4 and is also quoted in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. It was made famous in church history by Martin Luther, and is more recognizable in the King James translation: “The just shall live by faith.” The question of how righteous people ought to live has tested all people, beginning with the decision of whether to eat the fruit from the tree of good and evil, to the offerings acceptable to God (Cain and Abel), or the daily decisions of our lives today.

The Jewish believers, to whom the book of Hebrews was written, came from a background which dictated that one must keep the Law perfectly in order to become righteous. So, the writer uses this reference in Habakkuk to show them God hasn’t changed what He expects for righteousness. Even under the Law, faith was the catalyst for living in a way pleasing to God.

The background to this verse has Habakkuk being concerned that God was using the Chaldeans to “swallow up those more righteous than they” (1:13). The Israelites, to be sure, were a rebellious people against God, and Habakkuk wanted God to do something about the moral decline of the nation. But he was quite incredulous that the Lord whose “eyes are too pure to approve evil” would use the wicked Chaldeans to chastise Israel. Israel certainly wasn’t as bad as their enemies, so he thought! The prophet had much yet to learn about God and His ways; and he had much to learn about the nature of the human heart as well.

The reality is that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23), whether Habakkuk, the Chaldeans or people today. Justification does not come by keeping the Law, but by faith. The Jews living under the Law, in that favorable time of knowing exactly what God expected of them, did not combine their efforts with faith (Heb 4:2). The result was failure to enter the Promised Land.

You see, faith is absolutely essential to righteousness—always has been and always will be. This was just as true in the Old Testament under the Mosaic Law as it is in the New Testament under grace. Abraham believed God, setting the example of faith for all succeeding generations, and it was counted to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). And that was long before the Law was given!

Lord, I believe in Your Son, and His once-for-all-time sacrifice for me. I believe that You have accepted me now as righteous. I continue to live by faith in You!