16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, to the Jew first and to the Greek.
17 For the righteousness of God in it is unveiled from faith for faith, as it is written, “The one righteous through faith shall live.”
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of men suppressing the truth by unrighteousness.
My translation
Submitted by andrew on Thu, 19/04/2007 - 14:47.
He is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes or trusts, the Jew first and then the Greek. The gospel is the means by which the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. The phrase righteousness of God presupposes a situation in which YHWH is susceptible to the charge of failing to act with justice. This is explained by the quotation from Habakkuk 2:4: ’The righteous one will live by faithfulness.’
Habakkuk has complained bitterly about the fact that violence and wickedness are rife in the land, but God does nothing to defend the cause of the righteous and reinstate justice. The answer to his complaint takes the form of a terrifying vision of the Babylonian invasion, which will be God’s judgment on sinful Israel. But this creates a further problem in Habakkuk’s mind: what will become of the righteous in Israel – the innocent, the poor, the victims of injustice? He is told that the righteous person will live - that is, survive the disaster - by his faithfulness or steadfastness.
Paul’s argument, therefore, is that when again the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of men, the righteous will live – will not be destroyed – because of their faithfulness. There is also the accompanying assurance that God will punish the powerful and vicious nation that makes its neighbours drink the cup of wrath: ’Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!’ (Hab. 2:16).
This is the historical shape of the good news of which Paul is not ashamed: as in Habakkuk’s time the wrath of God is about to fall, as we shall see, first on the Jews and then on the pagan world, but those who are righteous will be saved from destruction by their faith or faithfulness.
So the argument is this: the wrath of God is coming upon the world because of the godlessness and unrighteousness of men; as Habakkuk understood, this in principle brings into question the righteousness or justice of God because the righteous are likely to suffer along with the unrighteous, the just with the unjust; God’s answer to that fear is that the righteous one will live by faith or by faithfulness (the translation of pistis will be considered later); this is the good news, for both Jews and Greeks.
The Hebrew text of Habakkuk 2:4 has ‘the righteous person by his faithfulness lives’; LXX has ‘the righteous person by my faithfulness will live’. We should assume that ‘by his/my faithfulness’ qualifies ‘lives / will live’ rather than ‘the righteous person’. Habukkuk is concerned about the fate of those who do not commit violence and injustice (cf. 1:3-4). They are righteous because of their behaviour, but what will save them from destruction on the day of wrath will be ‘faithfulness’ or trust.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, to the Jew first and to the Greek.
17 For the righteousness of God in it is unveiled from faith for faith, as it is written, “The one righteous through faith shall live.”
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of men suppressing the truth by unrighteousness.
He is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes or trusts, the Jew first and then the Greek. The gospel is the means by which the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. The phrase righteousness of God presupposes a situation in which YHWH is susceptible to the charge of failing to act with justice. This is explained by the quotation from Habakkuk 2:4: ’The righteous one will live by faithfulness.’
Habakkuk has complained bitterly about the fact that violence and wickedness are rife in the land, but God does nothing to defend the cause of the righteous and reinstate justice. The answer to his complaint takes the form of a terrifying vision of the Babylonian invasion, which will be God’s judgment on sinful Israel. But this creates a further problem in Habakkuk’s mind: what will become of the righteous in Israel – the innocent, the poor, the victims of injustice? He is told that the righteous person will live - that is, survive the disaster - by his faithfulness or steadfastness.
Paul’s argument, therefore, is that when again the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of men, the righteous will live – will not be destroyed – because of their faithfulness. There is also the accompanying assurance that God will punish the powerful and vicious nation that makes its neighbours drink the cup of wrath: ’Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!’ (Hab. 2:16).
This is the historical shape of the good news of which Paul is not ashamed: as in Habakkuk’s time the wrath of God is about to fall, as we shall see, first on the Jews and then on the pagan world, but those who are righteous will be saved from destruction by their faith or faithfulness.
So the argument is this: the wrath of God is coming upon the world because of the godlessness and unrighteousness of men; as Habakkuk understood, this in principle brings into question the righteousness or justice of God because the righteous are likely to suffer along with the unrighteous, the just with the unjust; God’s answer to that fear is that the righteous one will live by faith or by faithfulness (the translation of pistis will be considered later); this is the good news, for both Jews and Greeks.
The Hebrew text of Habakkuk 2:4 has ‘the righteous person by his faithfulness lives’; LXX has ‘the righteous person by my faithfulness will live’. We should assume that ‘by his/my faithfulness’ qualifies ‘lives / will live’ rather than ‘the righteous person’. Habukkuk is concerned about the fate of those who do not commit violence and injustice (cf. 1:3-4). They are righteous because of their behaviour, but what will save them from destruction on the day of wrath will be ‘faithfulness’ or trust.
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