Habakkuk 2 Footnotes

Paul quoted v. 4 to support his argument that the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” because “the righteous will live by faith” (Rm 1:16-17). Those who trust in what God has done through Jesus Christ—not simply as a matter of intellectual belief but as a matter of life commitment—will be saved, or delivered, from the consequences of sin and the effects of God’s wrath. Paul made an even stronger argument from Hab 2:4 in his letter to the Galatians, asserting that salvation is through faith, not through “the law” (of Moses, Gl 3:11). Habakkuk did not directly contrast righteousness based on keeping the law with righteousness based on faith; to a prophet of Israel there would have been no difference between these concepts, since the law itself was an act of God’s grace (Dt 7:6-11). But he did make faith the key element for survival when the Lord brings disaster. Habakkuk’s statement should be viewed in light of earlier prophets who stressed that offering sacrifices according to the requirements of the law was useless when a genuine commitment to live according to God’s standards of justice and mercy was lacking.