This word from Habakkuk is the root verse from
which Paul derives his exhortation to us in
Romans and Galatians, “the just shall live by faith.”
Paul’s remake of the statement is what we are most
familiar with. But Habakkuk’s more personal version
gives special critical meaning to what it means to
live by faith.
Habakkuk
tells us that the just lives by his faith. His
is an important word. It shows us what is really meant
by the word faith. Faith is not believing in a
creed. It is not believing in a set of doctrines. Nor
is faith the believing in someone else’s teachings or
exemplary life of faith.
Rather,
faith is a present possession of the individual. Faith
is that which dwells within the heart of the
individual believer. Faith reflects one’s own
encounter with the Living God and His Spirit. Such
encounter becomes one’s own final reference point for
action. Faith is not about what one believes about
someone else or something outside himself.
Why
is this important? It is extremely important because justification
for one’s life course before God can only be had at
the personal level, and not otherwise. A
generalized impersonal faith in a creed or set of
doctrines or in what someone else believes does not
justify one before God. And yet, the vast majority of
people regard faith in such terms:
·
“I
believe what the Bible says about Christ’s death and
resurrection, therefore I am justified.”
·
“I
believe John 3:16, therefore I am justified.”
·
“I
believe the Nicene Creed, therefore I am justified.”
·
“I
believe what Charles Stanley has to say about faith in
Christ, therefore I am justified.”
·
“I
believe in the Christian faith, therefore I am
justified.”
All
these statements have come to characterize men’s idea
of the faith that justifies based in the more
impersonal word “the just shall live by faith.” Yet
there is no justification in any of these statements!
Justification
is not by “the” faith. It is not by anything about
“the faith.” Justification is only by “his faith.” It
is only by one’s own faith.
What
applies to salvation by (his) faith also applies to
living by (his) faith. Living by faith is not
“living by the scriptures.” That may come as a shock
and open me to a charge of heresy. But it is true.
Living
by faith is not about obeying what the scriptures have
to say on a matter, nor by what anyone else has to say
on a matter. Living by faith that justifies—which
means living by one’s own faith—means living by one’s
own personal encounter with the indwelling Lord
Jesus Christ by His Spirit. It is not following
what is written in The Book, other than to the degree
that our Indwelling Lord is presently speaking
through the words of The Book to us.
The
faith is not “in” The Book” or the words of “The
Book.” It is not in the legal veracity of the words of
“The Book” (“I believe these words are true and
that they are God’s word”). No. The faith is in
Christ alone by His internally present Spirit.
If we do not possess our own personal faith in Christ
within us, we are not justified.
Finally,
the importance of justification by one’s faith applies
to the daily out-living of our faith. As we grow
through life, we are challenged within by the Spirit
to take certain courses of action. This is our faith
in what “the Spirit is saying to the churches”—that
is, to us. And as we take such courses, they
may or may not line up with what others are doing or
think we ought to be doing.
The
testing of our faith and of our justification comes
when we dare to step out in obedience to the Voice of
the Spirit when no one else is doing what we are being
told to do, there is no precedent for what we are
being told to do, no one outside us can affirm what we
are being told to do, and others around us are
actually opposing what we are being told to do. This
is what Habakkuk means by “his” faith. It is your
faith, not somebody else’s, not the church’s. This is
the faith of our Father Abraham, and of every other
forefather of faith that was worth his salt.
We
are talking then about the difference between “faith”
and “his faith.” Much of what we believe justifies us
“by faith” is nothing more than a mutually agreed herd
mentality regarding certain truths. We all believe in
these certain things agreed to be truth, call it “the
faith” and therefore think ourselves justified. But
true faith can never be lived out in conformity to a
herd! There is no justification in following a common
faith defined by corporate agreement.
This
is the importance of Habakkuk’s originating word, the
just shall live by his faith.
May
we all be encouraged to hold onto whatever “our” faith
is for this day, that we may be justified before God
in the end of time over all we have done.
Be
blessed, saints.
