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The Way
by Kevin Pauley
Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity. But the righteous one will live by his faith. Moreover, wine betrays; an arrogant man is never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself; he collects all the peoples for himself. Won't all of these take up a taunt against him, with mockery and riddles about him? They will say: Woe to him who amasses what is not his--how much longer?--and loads himself with goods taken in pledge. – Habakkuk 2:4-6 HCSB
The Lord God spoke to Habakkuk one day and brought up the topic of faith. Now most of us, when approaching this issue, fall into the same old tired conversation we’ve had before – “Faith vs. Works.” However, when El De’ot discussed faith with Habakkuk, it didn’t seem to be along the lines of “faith vs. works” but rather “faith resulting in works”, for the entire chapter concerns materialism and its ensuing injustice.
Where we often get unbalanced in our approach to religion, God and His prophets always maintain perfect spiritual equilibrium. Where we often topple to either the “I live by faith unencumbered by righteousness” side, or to the “I’m so separated I’m of no earthly good” side, God demands an entirely different outlook.
Didn’t Paul clearly outline this? He said, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift-- not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation--created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”[1] We tend to stop at the “for by grace are you saved not of works.” However, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to go on to say “for we are created in Christ for good works.” We are not saved by works, but if our salvation has not resulted in works, our faith is dead.[2]
This is why there are three equally valid applications of God’s statement that the righteous one will live by his faith. First, we find life in our faith. Faith transforms spiritual and even physical death into an insignificant, trivial factor in the mind of a believer.
Second, our faith should affect the way we live, i.e we live “by” or “according to” our faith. A claimed dogma that does not change the adherent’s life is just so much mumbo-jumbo, about as spiritually meaningful as MacDonald’s “secret sauce”.
Third, like any equation, the phrase can be reversed: “living by faith makes one righteous.” Obviously simple faith is not enough – it must be appropriately placed to be worth anything. Plenty of people placed their faith in various rogue messiahs and found themselves drinking poisoned Kool-Aid, burning in Texan compound or waiting to catch a ride on the next comet. However, faith properly placed, and appropriately obeyed,[3] will result in righteousness – both titular and practical.
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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