The Bible says: “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man drawback, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.”Hebrews 10:38
But what really does this mean?
We will look at the meaning of this statement by considering each of the different words that make the statement on its own in order to have a better understanding. So, we will try to answer the following questions:
* Who is/are the just?
* What does ‘shall’ signify?
* What is to ‘live by’? And
* What really is faith?
Now To The Answers
* The Just: The just is alternatively called the righteous in certain Bible translations. Hence, the just and the righteous are synonyms, and we can say that just is indeed the one who is justified, declared not guilty, or free of the guilt of sin by grace. He is one who is reconciled with the living God through the blood of Jesus Christ. The just can be seen as the one who has been made or has become the righteousness of God by faith in Christ Jesus. The just is the redeemed of the Lord. The just are graceful children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. They are godly people of faith. Romans3:24, Romans5:1, Romans5:9.
You are justified or made just by faith in Jesus Christ when you are born again. That means you are born of faith to live by faith, “from faith to faith,” as declared in Romans 1:17. Your faith shall not fail in the critical, challenging moments of life in Jesus name.
The Christian is declared just or righteous by faith and made the righteousness of God by faith, not by works. No one is justified who does not have faith, you must actively believe in Jesus Christ to be justified. 2 Corinthians 5:21.
If you are a child of God that has been made just and righteous in Christ, shout Hallelujah!
* The word, ‘shall’, used before an active verb, signifies an imperative action. It makes a thing or an action unavoidable or a must. So, we can say the just must live or necessarily lives by faith. Living by faith is the lifestyle of the just or righteous.
* What is ‘to live by’? It is to be alive, to have life, to survive, to continue to exist, or to spend one’s life by habitually doing something.
How To Live By Faith: Living by faith entails the following:
I) Believe the Lord thy God and believe also His prophets.
II) Love and obey the Lord.
III) Abide in Christ and let His word abide in you.
IV) Speaking up and declaring the truth of God’s word, even in a hostile environment. Moses lived by faith and spoke the word of God to Pharaoh and the Egyptians as an ambassador of Christ, as the Lord commanded him. Exodus 7:1-2
V) It is following Jesus by faith in appreciation and gratitude for His redemption work for believers at Calvary. Galatians 2:20 makes this explicit.
VI) Fighting the Good Fight of Faith – standing for Christ in extreme danger when others deny Him. 1 Timothy 6:12-14.
VII) Being a committed and selfless giver, living for Christ and nothing else by total dependence on Christ Jesus through ceaseless prayer, doing good and fasting (2 Corinthians 5:15,18-20, Galatians 2:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:17-20)
Let us consider the first three points a little more closely.
(1) Believe the Lord thy God and believe also His prophet
To walk by faith is to actively believe and trust God, holding Him by His word and having confidence in His eternal promises and faithfulness. This way, you can always enjoy or avail yourself of the bounties of His goodness and power. The problem, however, is that many Christians do not have their faith or belief adequately backed up or demonstrated by commensurate action or work. Their deeds often do not reflect their beliefs, so it would appear that they do not truly believe.
It is one thing to believe, it is another thing for one’s belief to be with proofs and not just nominal, passive or dormant. We are to be of them that “believe unto the saving of soul”. Anyone can claim to be a believer, but does your life or work reflect your belief?
We are to do the works Jesus did, if we believe. There are no two ways to it, my brothers and sisters, unless we do not believe. The Lord Himself gave the benchmark.
How did Jesus Christ live? What works did He do? We have not been left in doubt as to these. He went about preaching the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.
The Believers’ life is meant to be peculiar. It is expected that our lives will be transformed by the Holy Spirit and distinguished by signs and wonders following, if we truly believe.
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