15
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
It is important to note that this brief paragraph includes quotes of not just Hab. 2:4, but of a total
of four OT passages, namely Deut. 27:26; Hab. 2:4; Lev. 18:5; and Deut. 21:23. In fact, had we
extended the limits of the passage, we would be dealing with even more OT quotes.
42
The main issue that must be addressed in regard to this passage and its citation of Hab.
2:4 has to do with the significance of "justified" in verse 11. At first glance, one would think that
it has the same significance as "justified" and "justification" in Romans. After all, Paul wrote
both letters. But a careful, contextual reading of Galatians will show that Paul had something
else in mind in Galatians. Of particular importance is his thought in the earlier part of Galatians
3, specifically vv. 1-5. There he asks the Galatian believers two questions, and the text reads as
follows (again NASB).
2
This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3
Are you so foolish? Having
begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
These two rhetorical questions are used by Paul to convince the Galatian believers that they had
indeed received the Spirit by hearing with faith, and that they could not expect to be perfected by
the flesh, i.e. by human efforts aimed at keeping the law. But this latter question, relating as it
does to perfection or growth in Christian maturity, helps determine what Paul was referring to
when he spoke of "justification" in v. 11. Though using the word justification, he was actually
referring to what could be more appropriately called sanctification. What this means is that Paul's
use of Hab. 2:4 is somewhat different in Galatians than it was in Romans. In Romans Paul was
42
Cf. Moisés Silva, "Abraham, Faith, and Works: Paul's Use of Scripture in Galatians 3:6-14,"
Westminster Theological Journal 63 (2001): 251-267.