"The Righteous Will Live by Faith"

Heavens truths penetrated the world of men during the Reformation. God's kingdom reordered man's world. There is no doubt that the world was greatly affected by this seemingly small and inconsequential movement. The effect was not as great and thorough as it could have been. There were tragedies that took place because God's truth did not enter different areas of man's mind. Notwithstanding, God reached down and began to touch men's lives in a great way.

We need to ask, "Why is it that the Reformation was so influential?" We are not attempting to negate the many papers that have been written on this topic or oversimplify the issue. The development of the moveable press had great ramifications for the publicity of the truth. The corruptness of the church served as a large black backdrop in which one could see a tiny flame.

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But we would skirt the main issue if we denied it was the release of truth itself that changed man. In a sense, this certain truth opened a whole new world to these reformers starting with Martin Luther. This one truth was as a hallway that led to new perspectives on many other truths. The plethora of revelation of God's Word ignited a mighty flame in the hearts of His people that still goes on strong into the twenty first century.

What was this truth? The truth was called 'justification (righteousness) by faith.' The phrase "the righteous shall live by faith' is mentioned four times in the Bible. The three New Testament passages quote from the original Old Testament source. We will further examine this one truth here with hopes that we too will be greatly impacted by this foundational truth.

Perhaps a chart will help us concentrate on the similarities and slight variances in the way this crucial phrase is used.

I just spoke to a twenty one year–old Christian brought up in a 'good' Christian church and home. I simply asked him whether he knew how his faith in Christ saved him. He was greatly confused when I told him that God can never overlook sin. He must judge all sins. This brother was very confused. He did understand the words of what Christ did at the cross but never could really understand their implication for his own life.

I wonder with the modern evangelical movement whether we have really done a disservice to God's people. Let me mention two reasons evangelicalism is morally and spiritually floundering.

Firstly, we have separated the acknowledging of faith as the same as living faith. We further this confusion by stressing what we have done rather than what we are presently doing (cf. Heb 10:38). We keep pointing people, even those flagrant in their sin, back to their confession of Christ. Once saved always saved. Somehow, we can't understand how we are often affirming the pagan that he has part in Christ's kingdom. A raising of hand is not he same as believing upon Christ. It seems to be a silent and unquestionable doctrine to question a believer's security in Christ. These people would mistranslate this phrase to say, "My righteous one shall live by his profession of faith." We have compounded this problem by not preaching the righteousness of God.

Secondly, we have not preached true repentance. If so, it is a revival, teary kind of regret, that humbles us for a weekend but not for a life. We focus on the given righteousness of God in Christ. If God is happy, I am happy. Somehow evangelicals have forsaken holiness in the last generation. Now we commonly hear, "It is okay just so we try hard." If we are sincere, that is all that counts. Before this, and perhaps this is where we got waylaid, we confused righteousness with legalism. We defined righteous living with doing what was good in our own sight. As a result, we could have a terrible temper just so we did not smoke cigarettes. We would mistranslate this phrase above to say, "My unrighteous one shall live by faith."

We personally might be in for a great surprise if we studied these verses. We might find that we need this new faith ourselves! Maybe I can point out one more tension in the church. Because evangelicals are shunning her reformed roots in exchange for a popular religion, an increasing number of dissatisfied evangelicals are looking elsewhere. They criticize, and rightly so in many cases, the lack of genuine faith among the evangelicals or traditionalists (which are not very traditional - they only use traditional buildings).

They would be wise to emphasize the passage in Habakkuk. Don't get discouraged. Hang in there. God has not deserted His people so that those in real faith have lost God or that God has deserted them. No. Not at all. God is still in control doing wonders about the world. The righteous will live by faith. Nothing around them should take their eyes off of their Lord. Neither should they get haughty, for pride is the quickest way to join those that we are disdaining (Gal 6:1).

We seem to keep tripping over our own feet. When we emphasize faith, we lose the need for personal righteousness. When we emphasize righteousness, we get caught up in legalism. This phrase needs to be buried in our mind like Paul did in Romans 1:17.

Notes
(1) Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1, NASB).