13
who are righteous by faith."
40
But even though we cannot be certain of the force of the words "by
faith," we should ask a further question. Can Habakkuk's words in their original connection be
understood in a way that makes sense in Paul's development of thought? I think they can. We
might paraphrase Paul's use of Habakkuk's words in the following way: "as for a righteous
person, he/she will live by consistent faith." "Live" for Paul would express the idea of "pass from
death to life," i.e. pass from a guilty state, worthy of death, to a new state of life in which the
person becomes justified or declared innocent before God.
But the reasoning just suggested makes the third issue, Paul's relation of faith to salvation
or justification, even more difficult, since Habakkuk's text relates trust or faith to surviving in
difficult circumstances. How did Paul make the shift from Habakkuk's emphasis to his own? I
will argue that Paul's statement, salvation from the penalty of sin, is analogous to Habakkuk's
emphasis, deliverance for righteous ones in difficult circumstances. Both actions are brought
about by God, and both are mediated through trust or faith on the part of the individuals for
whom God acts. And such an analogy is very much a part of Biblical theology. At this point a
small detour is necessary to show that this kind of analogical thinking is possible. I believe we
find a similar kind of theological development within the confines of a single biblical book. One
thinks of the burden of the final chapters of the book of Isaiah. The focus in chapters 40-48 is on
deliverance from Babylonian exile. Chapters 49-57 shift the emphasis to salvation from sin
through the work of the Servant who "bore the iniquity of us all."
41
And the burden of Isaiah 58-
39
See Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 77-78.
40
R. M. Moody, "Habakkuk Quotation," Expository Times 92 (1981):205. He calls attention to
the word order in Rom. 10:6, he de ek pisteos dikaiosune, "the righteousness which is by faith,"
and suggests that Paul could have used a similar construction if he had wanted to unequivocally
speak of "the one who is righteous by faith."
41
Isa. 53:4.