But his most convincing argument is made in the next four verses - which may be summed up by a statement that comes near the end of verse 11 - The Righteous will live by faith.

There was a gaping hole in the rationale that called for men to make themselves righteous through our own effort. Paul said that if you try to justify people on the basis of keeping the law, you will end up condemning them. Why? Well look at what the law says. Verse 10. "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.'" How much territory does "everything" include? The word itself is all-inclusive. If I sit down for breakfast some Sunday morning and I'm wearing a bright yellow tie and I spill a glob of jelly on my tie - jelly that will not match the color of my suit, the tie is soiled. If Ann says, "Honey, you need to put on another tie, I might complain, 'Well there's only one little spot.' I just bought this thing off the rack at Dillard's last week. I haven't even worn it yet. The rest of the tie is perfect clean." I'll guarantee, she won't buy my reasons. If it's got a spot of grape jelly on it, it's soiled. Never mind that the soiled spot isn't even an inch in diameter. Law - any law - works exactly the same way. Unless you can present God with an absolute, flawless record of compliance with his will, you cannot be justified on the basis of law. To Paul it was obvious nobody is justified on the basis of law - nobody. If you think that means only the law of Moses, then wait until we get down into the latter part of the chapter. There is only one other alternative then and that is for the righteous to live by faith.

MIXING JUSTIFICATION BY LAW AND FAITH

This is hard for many of us to handle because we are accustomed to mixing the principle of justification by law and the principle of justification by faith together, so that justification is a little bit of God's doing and little bit of our doing. The fruit of that premise is incredibly discouraging.

• It offers little security. As a result we demand and desire teaching that focuses on what's wrong with other people (which is sometimes appropriate). But why do we want to hear about what's wrong with others? Is it in order to teach them the way of the Lord more perfectly? Or is there a subconscious desire to make ourselves look good at their expense? Do we have an underlying, gnawing sense of guilt about the weightier matters that we have left undone? And does it make us feel better if we concentrate on the poor performance of someone else rather than look at our own shortcomings?
• It is terribly divisive. When your whole basis for being right with God is absolute correctness in all matters of faith and practice, then division in inevitable because we demand conformity in every detail and we are always looking suspiciously at those who do not conform to our viewpoints.

IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?

We need to ask, "Is there an alternative?" Is there something between legalism on the one hand and permissiveness on the other? Paul's answer is rooted in the text of Habakkuk 2:4 - "The righteous will live by his faith."

Justification by faith has been a highly controversial topic over the past 500 years or so. In the first part of our text, there were a couple of references which tied faith and hearing. When he inquired about the receiving of the Spirit, he asked, was it "believing what you have heard?" The implied answer was, "yes." The same point was made regarding the miracles.

What does "believing what you have heard mean?" I would suggest that, the translators could have properly translated those texts, "because you were receptive to faith?" That might more accurately communicate the intent of the writer. The faith that saves us is not a mere matter of saying, "I believe." It is not a mere subjective experience, rather it is a process. It involves faithfulness, fidelity, steadfastness. Let me offer an illustration of the difference. Here is a man who cheats on his wife regularly, but he believes that she is his wife. Does that make him faithful? Of course not. Here is another man who works at fulfilling all his God-given responsibilities to his wife. Is he faithful? Of course. Justification by faith works the same way.

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