Again, we are looking into Romans chapter 1 and verses 16-17 to start with, this could reach on post to 18-23 depending how the Holy Spirit leads. As we begin we see that we are to be a people of Abraham's and Jesus' faith who totally trusted in GODS Faithfulness. In other words their faith was in GOD.
Romans 1:16-17 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith." (KJV)
Romans 1:16-17 'For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." (ESV)
Romans 1:16-17 "I have no shame about sharing the Good News of Christ with anyone; the power rescuing act of GOD persuades both the Jews and the Gentiles alike. Herein lie the secret of the power of the Gospel; there is no good news in it until the righteousness of GOD is revealed! The dynamic of the gospel is the revelation of GOD's Faith as the only valid basis for our belief. The Prophets wrote in advance about this fact that GOD believes that righteousness reveals the life of our design. "Righteousness by His (GOD'S) faith defines life." [Habakkuk 2:4]
(The gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of GOD; it unveils how the Father, Son and Spirit succeeded to put humanity right with themselves. It is about Them and what They did Right, not what Adam did that was wrong. (This is what the worlds systems of religions teach from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in mans fallen state.) The good news reveals how GOD's righteousness rescued the life of our design redeemed us, and established our original innocence. Where Humanity's futile efforts to obey a system of moral laws failed those in miserable self-struggles and a weight that they could not carry. The Good News shifts the emphasis away from humanity's failure and condemnation to highlight what it was that GOD accomplished in Jesus Christ on humanity's behalf! "Look away [from the Law of works] unto Jesus; he is the author and finisher of faith." [Habbakkuk 12:1] The language of the old written code was, "Do in order to become! The language of the new is, "Be, because of what was done!" Instead of do, do, do, it's done, done! It is GOD's Faith to begin with; it is from faith to Faith, and not our good or bad behavior; we are not defined by our performance or circumstances. Paul to Habakkuk's 2:4, "The just shall live by his [GOD'S] faith." is our right and is GOD's answer. Habakkuk saw a complete new basis to humanity's standing before GOD! Instead of reading the curse when disaster strikes, he realized the Promise out-dates performance as the basis to humanity's acquittal. Deuteronomy 28 would no longer be the motivation or measure of right or wrong behavior! Instead of righteousness as a reward to humanity's efforts to obey the Law, Habakkuk celebrated GOD's righteousness based on GOD's belief, in the face of apparent disaster, represented in the evidence of all the curses mentioned in Deuteronomy 28! He sings, "Though the fig trees do not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the GOD of my salvation. GOD, the LORD, is my strength; He makes my feet like hinds feet, He makes me tread upon my high places." [Habakkuk 3:17-19] It is interesting to note that Habakkuk - chabaqquq, was possibly the son of the Shunammite woman and her husband who hosted the Prophet Elisha. They could not have children, until Elisha declared that in a year's time she would embrace - chabaq - a child! When the child grew up to be a young man he died of sunstroke and Elisha stretched himself over the boy and mirror-embraced the dead child, face to face and the boy came back to life. Chabaqquq is a double embrace - it is the prophetic picture of our mirror-resurrection together with Christ! If anyone knew that righteousness was not by works but by GOD's Faith it was Habakkuk!
The word righteousness comes from the Anglo Saxon word, "rightwiseness;" wise in that which is right. In Greek (Strong's G1343 from G1349; G1166) the word for righteousness (G1343) is dikaiosune, and is (G1349) from dikay, that which is right, and (G1166) which is deiknuō, which means, to show, expose to the eyes; it is a relationship word and refers to two parties finding likeness in each other and thusly being able to see clearly with clear perception. Righteousness points to harmony in relationship. Look at 2Corinthians 6:14. Faith-righteousness has nothing in common with the pagan philosophies of karma and performance-based religion approval; they could never balance the scales or be evenly yoked together in any context. [The word (Strong's G2386) heterozugeo, an unequal or different yoke; is from the (G2218) word, zugos, a yoke or a teaching; the yoke or philosopher represented their doctrines; from the Hebrew (Strong's H6663, H6664, H6666) word, tzedek, means forensic moral self-righteousness; and also is the word used for a beam in a scale of balances, which is the word for righteousness. [Now it is also interesting to note that the Greek goddess of Justice is Dike [pronounced, dikay] and she is always pictured holding a scale of balances in her right hand.] Look also at 2Corinthians 6:15. In Colossians 2:9-10, "It is in Christ that GOD finds an accurate and complete expression of Himself, in a human body! He mirrors our completeness and is the ultimate authority of our true identity.") (The Mirror)
We have covered enough ground in this one post for now. So the LORD willing, next we shall continue again in chapter 1 with verses 18-23. My hope is that we have helped to remove some bones of contention, that have bugged and plagued many to believe another gospel. A gospel of sustained self works for obedience mixed with faith as the bases of salvation. When in Hebrew salvation is Yeshua, Jeshua, Emmanuel or Jesus in the Greek, the only Messiah. The Incarnated in His people, church, body and family as One being. The secret of Pentecost. That Habakkuk saw.
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