For in it (the gospel of Christ) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

The just shall live by faith

This quote is from Habakkuk 2:4, which is a book for our troubling times. The prophet was troubled by overwhelming iniquity, strife, injustice, and idolatory. But in contrast to how the proud appeared to thrive, he was given a vision of a time when “the just shall live by his faith.”

The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel

We are in awe of God who is perfectly righteous and holy, his ways are completely different to the delusional strivings of this world, and we pray for God’s righteousness and perfect justice to come into our troubled world. And God’s answer to our prayer has been given in the gospel, in the person of Jesus.
While we might wish for thunderbolts from above on those who do wicked and violent acts, the story of the flood reveals our world cannot be changed like that. As Genesis 8:21 says, “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth”, and God promised to never again destroy every living thing.
As Jesus explains in Matthew 15:11-20, we are not defiled by what we eat, but what comes out of our mouth, which comes from the heart, and it is the human heart that needs to be changed.
So, God intervened in a way beyond human imagination, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, which we know as the gospel, as we looked at last week.

Revealed

To “reveal” means to “make visible”, and we can see God’s perfect righteousness revealed:

• in the way he intervened through Jesus;
• as his righteousness is given to people through Jesus;
• in the way the gospel of Jesus is made known to others through their changed lives.

But here I think the term reveal can here be taken also as “make real”, for God is active in what he makes visible.
God’s perfect righteousness is made active in the world through Jesus, as his spirit transforms us from within, changing our hearts from stone to flesh, to a heart that desires God instead of wanting to replace him.

From faith to faith

This phrase represents completeness or totality, it says there is no other way whatsoever to receive God’s righteousness than by faith alone, human works have no part in this. Becoming righteous before God requires a miracle which is beyond human imagination.
But when people place their trust in their own thinking and abilities, they are unable to accept what God has done for them, because it doesn’t fit within their sense of how things work. Even our willingness to accept God’s completed work in Jesus comes from his Spirit moving us. We can’t do what the Spirit does within us, but we can block the Spirit, and then bear the responsibility for rejecting God’s gift; as Luke 12:10 says, “to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.”

But I can see another possible meaning of “from faith to faith.” When the Spirit is at work in someone through faith, that has an amazing effect on other people, it can ignite something in others that allows the Spirit to give them faith, and in that way God can convey faith from one person to another.

The just shall live

This statement reminds us that Jesus has defeated sin and death for us, and our hope is to be with him forever. But his victory also transforms this earthly life. As his Spirit dwells in us, we are freed from the destructive self-idolizing behaviours that would rob us of contentment, we are freed to live a life that is truly fulfilling through his presence and guidance. Faith enables real life right now, regardless of our circumstances.

Personal experience

In this life we see our failings which Satan reminds us of each day. But when we look back we can see how God has richly blessed us in ways we do not deserve, and just being able to see his blessings is also made possible by faith.

Praise God for his wonderful gift of faith.