Righteousness That Comes By Faith

Righteousness That Comes by Faith

That righteousness comes by faith is evident from the very first family in the Bible. Of Abel we read, “It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man” (Hebrews 11:4). According to the writer of Hebrews, Enoch’s God-pleasing faith was evident in his belief that “God exists” (Hebrews 11:6). The first occurrence of the word righteous (tsadiq) in the Bible is when we are told, “Noah was a righteous man” (Genesis 6:9). Noah’s righteousness was derived not from his being perfect (we know he wasn’t!), but “by his faith Noah . . . received the righteousness that comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7).

With this background, we realize that the kind of righteousness that comes through faith—through believing what God has said—was not new with Abram. Yet it is in Abram’s story that we first find it stated clearly: “Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith” (Genesis 15:6). Abram is not described as doing righteousness. In fact, Abram’s unrighteous exploits are not hidden in Scripture. But when God promised to bless Abram, Abram took God at his word and believed him.

Abram’s faith was a settled conviction that God would do what he had promised, no matter what. What he might not have understood clearly was that every aspect of God’s promised blessing would ultimately be enjoyed through his promised Savior. In fact, all the promises that followed in the Hebrew Scriptures are merely expansions, closer definitions, and identifications of the salvation held out to the whole human race in this promise of a Savior. Abram might not have been able to explain who Jesus was and what he would be like, but Jesus was the unseen substance of what Abram believed in. As Paul wrote, “All of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

The writer of Hebrews described those in the Old Testament who put their faith in God’s promises: “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance” (Hebrews 11:13, NASB). They couldn’t see Jesus clearly through the distance of time, but they died in faith, believing in the One they could not see.

Jesus, I have never seen you with my physical eyes, but with eyes of faith I see you. I believe that you are real and that you are the substance of all God’s promises to me. I need nothing else from God except you.