14.How has God decreed that a righteous person will live?

By faith in the Word of God, not by observing the Law of Moses.

The expression the just shall live by faith is associated with the Protestant Reformation. What does this expression mean?

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith (Habakkuk 2:4). What does it mean to live by faith?

It does not mean that our assent to correct doctrine concerning Christ is our ticket to Heaven.

The true meaning of this expression is the opposite of the first half of Habakkuk 2:4. The first half of Habakkuk 2:4 is, "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him." This is the individual who thinks he does not need God. He lives every day in the pride of his own ability to please God and to solve his own problems. He is confident he can keep the Law of Moses well enough to please God.

He does not meditate day and night in the Word of God. He does not pray concerning each decision he makes. God is not in all his thoughts. He is walking in the pride of his own wisdom and strength.

The opposite of the first half of Habakkuk 2:4 is the individual who leans wholly on the Lord. He lives every day in dependence on God. He does not trust his own wisdom or his own strength. He meditates continually in the written Word of God. He has no confidence that he is able to please God by keeping the Law of Moses.

He prays concerning every decision he makes. God is in all his thoughts. He is walking in the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit. He considers himself to be crucified to the world and the world to him. He is learning to live by the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and is becoming an inseparable part of Christ’s resurrection.

The man or woman whom God considers to be righteous is the one who believes the things God has stated and who looks to God continually for every decision and every aspect of his or her life. This is what it means to live by faith in God.

This is how Abraham and the other patriarchs and prophets lived before the Lord. The godly who were under the Law of Moses obeyed its statements. But their righteousness in the sight of God did not come from their ability to practice the works of the Law but from the attitude of their heart toward God.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were careful to observe the Law. But they were proud of heart and not humbly reliant on the Lord. Therefore they were woefully unrighteous in the sight of God even though they were attempting to observe carefully the works of the Law.

Let us return for a moment to the concept we emphasized in Chapter Two. Living by faith and not by the works of the Law does not mean that we become careless concerning righteous, holy, and obedient living. The many patriarchs of the Old Testament, including Abraham, who are presented in the New Testament as being examples of the righteous living by faith, were not people who behaved in an unrighteous, unclean, disobedient manner. Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Noah, were righteous, holy, obedient men.

Their righteousness in God’s sight did not proceed from their program of religious observances but from their love of God.

The universal misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Divine grace that is filling the land today has come about because living by faith has been defined as continuing in unrighteous, unclean, disobedient behaviour while God continues to overlook and indulge our sins because of "grace." Can you perceive the error here?

Grace is not a plan by which we continue to walk in the flesh and God receives us because we name the name of Christ. Can you see how perverted and far removed this is from Paul’s doctrine?

Paul was a man who lived righteously, holily, justly, unblamably, and in strict obedience to Christ. Paul counselled us to follow him as he followed Christ.

What do you think Paul would say to teachers today who are defining his doctrine of justification by faith to mean that Christian saints can continue in their sins, having the assurance in their heart that once they have made a profession of Christ, God is obligated to forgive them and bless them? No matter how they live they will be issued the crown of life at the Judgment Seat of Christ?

How would Paul regard this interpretation of his doctrine of grace?

Search the New Testament writings and you will discover that such teaching has nothing to do with the Scriptures. It is far removed from the preaching and teaching of the Apostles of the Lamb.

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