Romans 1:16-17--The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

Romans 1:16-17
English Standard Version

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith​
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

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"The righteous shall live by faith" is not just an idea from here in the book of Romans 1, but is a direct quote from the Old Testament.  Since this passage is a little short today, let's take the liberty of examining the original source text from Habakkuk to see if it gives us a clearer understanding of what Paul was saying here through the Holy Spirit, as sometimes when just one verse is quoted (especially a "theme verse"), it is meant to bring an entire passage to memory.  Habakkuk is one of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament, meaning that his book of prophecy was shorter in length, but not that it is any less important to study.  Let's summarize that book of the Bible (it's rather short) to see what Paul might be getting at by quoting this verse here and now--it's a nice transition to our next passage.

Habakkuk's First Complaint:  God lets the wicked go unpunished and therefore paralyzes the law and allows justice to be perverted.

God's Answer to the First Complaint:  The wicked that call themselves the people of God will not go unpunished and He will even use wicked, pagan nations like the Babylonians (called the Chaldeans in Habakkuk) to accomplish this purpose.

Habakkuk's Second Complaint:  God is holy and must punish the sinner, but will God's judgment continue to be poured out on the nations forever since men continue to sin?  While not stated exactly this way, Habakkuk wants to know if this is the "new norm" or if God's judgment will be limited.

God's answer to the Second Complaint:  This is where the citation comes from today.  God's answer to Habakkuk is to repent and stop being wicked if you want the punishment to cease.  God says the people have issues with pride, drunkenness and greed that are systemic and need to be addressed, but He also repeats that the Chaldeans will be punished and judged for their wickedness and what they are about to do to God's people, even though God has been using the Chaldeans for part of His plan to discipline His people.  The LORD is not like one of their idols and is in His holy temple--the whole earth (including the pagan nations) should keep silent before Him.  In God laying out the charges against the Chaldeans, I think He hopes for His own people to see that they are not that far off from being just like them.

Habakkuk then responds with both a prayer and a song.  He remembers God's fierce wrath against His enemies in the past when He has brought about the salvation of His people.  He now quivers and shakes to think that that same wrath may now be poured out against those that call themselves the people of God because they have become just like the enemies of God, but Habakkuk knows that God's judgment is good and is ultimately for the salvation of His people, so he awaits the coming day of judgment.

Habakkuk then sings a song that says even when in the midst of judgment, he will continue to praise the LORD, "the God of my salvation."  The LORD will continue to be His strength, even in these dark and difficult times, and it is the nature and character of God and what He has done for us that allow us to cling to the new identity we have been given by the LORD in spite of the circumstances around us.

I think all this is extremely important for where Paul is going because Paul is about to make some of the same kinds of arguments in Romans.  People are looking at the pagan Romans asking why these unrighteous pagans are being allowed to prosper and are not being punished.  God's answer is that He is using them for a time to punish and correct the Jewish people who are not that far off from the Romans and to purify and refine the believers and accomplish His greater purposes of salvation of all His people from the Jews and the Gentiles.  However, the time of their judgment is coming.  The wicked will not go unpunished.  It is important for the people to realize that they too are "the wicked" and the "unrighteous" (or were until God changed them) and even though judgment is coming which they might get swept up in, the LORD is good and deserves to be praised for judging sin and bringing about salvation.  We do not serve a god like those made of of wood, gold, silver, and stone (this will be one of the next topics Paul addresses), but we may still fall into idolatry if we worship ourselves or a god of our own making--trying to make God in our image instead of allowing ourselves to be made in His image.

Let's now come back to today's passage from Romans.  There is one and only one gospel for the Jew and the Gentile, and it is the same gospel that has been around since Habakkuk.  It is by faith alone, in grace alone, through Christ alone.  "The righteous will live by faith."  Righteousness is not something external that you do, but something that God has to do to change you from the inside out.  This is ultimately the answer that we see in Roman's to Habakkuk's second question.  How long, oh LORD?  We will see that God will pour out His wrath on His own Son so that the Righteous One will die for the unrighteous so that He might become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God by faith.

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