By Faith

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith.  

Romans 1:16-17 

Either we live by faith or by something else. We may live by sight, by dependency upon our works, or by our intellect. Paul, in speaking of the gospel declares, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ The just is the person whom God declares to be legally righteous in His sight and according to the standard of His law. In the upcoming chapters of Romans, he will clearly establish ‘there is none righteous, no, not one.’ He will also go on to establish that righteousness is not by works. How can he make this statement, ‘The just shall live by faith?’ The answer is Christ. Over the course of the upcoming book, he will prove the Person and work of Christ to be the only means by which God will regard anyone as righteous and that this comes by faith in Christ. When he formally treats the subject of justification, he says, ‘Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Taking that statement and laying it alongside our text we see that being just is inseparable from the Person and work of Christ. It is critical for us to understand this, lest we come to the conclusion that being just before God is by some other means or method. It is not faith, but Christ, Who saves, yet we place our faith in Him and He justifies us by faith. This is how we live.  

Our Holy and Wise God, 
we rejoice that You gives us faith, 
and justify us by faith. 
We praise You that you have given us Christ, 
in Whom we can have faith.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning