Habakkuk 2:4

Context

Habakkuk sees injustice within Judah and cries out to God, asking "how long" He will remain silent. God answers that He will raise up the Chaldeans (Babylonians) to strike Judah, and Habakkuk asks in turn why God would use a nation even more wicked. He takes his stand upon his watch to await an answer (Habakkuk 2:1), and God tells him to write the vision plainly upon tablets, declaring that though it tarry, it will surely come. Verse 4, which contrasts the proud with the righteous, stands at the center of that answer.

Interpretation

• Read as faithfulness: The Hebrew word emunah means "holding fast" or "faithfulness." In its original context it is understood to describe the attitude of the righteous person who trusts God and remains unshaken until the time of judgment arrives.
• Read as the basis of justification: Paul quotes this verse in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11 to teach that a person is justified not by the works of the law but by faith. The Protestant tradition regards it as a key text for justification by faith.
• Read as an exhortation to perseverance: Hebrews 10:38 uses the verse to exhort believers not to draw back as they await the Second Coming.

Debates and Issues

One question is whose faith is meant by "his faith." The Hebrew text reads "his" (the righteous person's) faith, but the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation, renders it "my" (God's) faithfulness. Paul quotes the verse without a possessive. Even within Protestantism, this difference has prompted discussion over whether faith should be understood as human trust or as the faithfulness of God (or of Christ).

Catholics and Protestants differ on the nature of justification. Protestants (Lutheran and Reformed) hold that a person is declared righteous through faith, while Catholics hold that faith and works of love operate together in the process by which a person is made righteous by grace. The account of Martin Luther coming to a new understanding of the gospel while meditating deeply on Romans 1:17 is a well-known part of the story of the Reformation.

In the Korean Church

The verse is a leading sermon text for Reformation Sunday and a staple of Bible studies on faith and justification.

Related Passages

• Romans 1:17
• Galatians 3:11
• Hebrews 10:38
• Genesis 15:6