Thoughts on Romans 1:17

There is a profound lesson about the nature of Christian faith seen in the fact that Paul, quotes Habakkuk in describing the type of faith necessary to access the “righteousness of God,” in Romans 1:17.

For me, understanding this exposed a great weakness in my thinking. Sometimes I have vague, inarticulate ideas, which are exposed for nonsense as soon as they're put into words. Once such thought—which is maybe not complete nonsense, but close in light of the context of what Paul is citing—is this fuzzy idea of faith in God, which, if expressed accurately would be something like, “I believe in God, and even on occasion when I remember all the evil in the world, or am struggling against some evil or suffering in my own immediate situation, I’ll still believe in Him.”

But the quote from Habakkuk Paul cites is God’s specific answer to Habakkuk’s vent about struggling against evil: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.” (1:2-3)
“Why do you look on the treacherous, and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?” (1:13)

God answers this by stating what Paul quotes in Romans: “For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. It if seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.” (Hb. 2:3-4, emphasis mine)

In light of this context, and in light of the fact that Paul is telling us what we need to access the “righteousness of God,” it seems to me that Christian faith is typically something whose very character is formed against evil, though, of course, there are more dimensions to it than just that.

Just as swimming can’t happen apart from water (it is, in essence, an action against water), much of the time, faith is that which acts against or in spite of pervasive evil. Thinking we can believe in God so much that our faith will persevere, even when we are confronted with great evil, is little different from thinking we can swim so well that we will even be able to swim on those occasions when we’re in water.

MM