Lesson 12: “the righteous shall live by faith.”

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Text Under Consideration: John 3

Scriptural & Historical Context:

Jesus told His disciples “that everything about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24.44). Certainly specific prophecies from the Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus, but the aim of this study has been to show that the entire story of Scripture is fulfilled in Jesus. The gospel story is about how creation, redemption and the covenant relationship with God are completed in Jesus. But who benefits from this story? Both Jesus and His apostles declared that faith is how man accesses the blessing of the gospel (John 3.16; Romans 3.28; Ephesians 2.8-9; etc.). Significantly, faith is not a New Testament concept, but a theme that runs throughout the gospel story. Both Old and New Testaments declare that “the righteous shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2.4; Romans 1.17). 

Key Verses & Events:

• Abram believes God, setting the example for how God’s people respond in faith (~ 2000 B.C., Genesis 15.6). 
• Israel fails to enter the promised land because they lack faith in God (~1440 B.C., Numbers 14.11).
• Israel goes into captivity because they do not believe in the Lord (720 B.C., 2Kings 17.14).
• Habakkuk prophesies how Israel’s enemies would be punished, “but the righteous shall live by his faith.” (~600 B.C., Habakkuk 2.4) 
• Jesus declares how God loves all of His creation, but that only those who believe in His Son would escape condemnation and receive eternal life (A.D. 27, John 3.16).

The Story:

1. Faith is central to both Testaments, not just the New. While most recognize faith as essential to salvation in the New Testament, the entire biblical narrative — from Genesis to Revelation — is built around the theme of faith.
2. The first sin was a failure of faith. Satan didn’t tempt Eve with brute force; he planted doubt about God’s character. Adam and Eve’s transgression began with disbelief.
3. Israel’s pattern of failure traced back to faithlessness. Where Abraham trusted God’s promises (Genesis 15.6), his descendants repeatedly did not — leading to their failure to enter the Promised Land and eventually to captivity.
4. Jesus is the perfect model of faith. Unlike every person before Him, Jesus resisted Satan’s temptations by trusting completely in His Father, endured the cross, and was vindicated through resurrection and exaltation.
5. Real faith is more than intellectual agreement. Many have reduced “belief” to a private, internal conviction. But Jesus’ own faith drove obedience and self-surrender — and He calls us to the same.
6. Faith involves being convinced about who Jesus is. Nicodemus started here — persuaded by the signs that God was with Jesus — but this is only the beginning of genuine faith, not its fullness.
7. Faith requires trusting what Jesus says, even when it doesn’t make sense. Nicodemus struggled to accept Jesus’ teaching about being “born again.” Mature faith means taking Jesus at His word even when His claims confound us.
8. Faith culminates in surrender. John 3.18-21 shows that true belief means choosing the light over darkness — submitting our will to God’s. Obedience isn’t opposed to faith; it is faith in action.
9. “The righteous shall live by faith” has a double meaning. We receive life through faith in Christ, and we also live each day by faith — every decision made in trust that God will fulfill His promises to those who follow Him.
10. The gospel story — creation, redemption, and relationship with God — is received by faith. The call of Hebrews 10.39 to be “those who have faith and preserve their souls” is the fitting conclusion to the entire biblical narrative.

Most appreciate that faith is central to the New Testament message since both Jesus and His apostles declare that faith is how we can be saved by God’s grace (John 3.16; Ephesians 2.8-9; etc.). What many do not appreciate is how faith is also central to the Old Testament narrative:

• Eve and Adam transgressed the Lord’s command (Genesis 2.17) because Satan successfully planted doubt in their minds about God’s character and His will (Genesis 3.1-6). The first sin resulted from a lack of faith!
• Abraham followed God because he believed that God would fulfill His promises (Genesis 15.6).
• Israel would consistently show that they lacked the faith of Abraham, their forefather. Lack of faith resulted in the exodus generation’s failure to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 14.11) and ultimately their captivity (2Kings 17.14).

The Hebrew writer showed the significance of faith throughout the gospel story. He pointed out how Israel disobeyed God because they lacked faith (Hebrews 3.17-19), but also showed how the Old Testament record was filled with those who drew near to God through faith (Hebrews 11). Pleasing God has always required faith!

The gospel story is fulfilled in Christ, and that includes Jesus providing the ultimate example of real faith. Whereas man has succumbed to Satan’s temptations since the beginning (Genesis 3), Jesus resisted by placing complete trust in His Father (Matthew 4.1-11). Jesus resolved to do the Father’s will even when He knew that would require Him to suffer and die (Matthew 26.39). Significantly, one of the insults hurled at Jesus on the cross was “He trusts in God; let God deliver Him now…” (Matthew 27.43). Jesus endured the reviling because He “continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly” (1Peter 2.23). And Jesus’ faith in His Father was vindicated when God raised Him up and exalted Him to His right hand (Ephesians 1.19-21). 

Jesus demonstrated complete faith in God and He declared that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3.16). The crucial question then is “what does it mean to believe?” Sadly, many have adopted a definition of faith that is far removed from the kind of faith Jesus possessed. Remember, Jesus’ faith prompted Him to follow His Father’s will regardless of the cross. He certainly did not water down faith to mean simply believing something in your heart. Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 gives us a fuller picture of faith.

Believing in Jesus starts with being convinced about who He is (John 3.1-2). The chapter begins with Nicodemus, noted as both a member of the Pharisees and a ruler of the Jews, coming to Jesus. What is significant is his conviction that Jesus is both a rabbi and that He came from God. No, Nicodemus did not yet believe in the true nature of Jesus as revealed in John 1, rather he believed that God was with Jesus much as He had been with Moses (cf. Exodus 3.12). What convinced Nicodemus? “no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” In John 2.23 we read that many were beginning to believe in Jesus based on the “signs” He performed. Truly, the signs of Jesus accomplished their purpose (cf. John 20.30-31). However, while many were beginning to believe in Jesus, their faith would not prove to be genuine. And so at this early stage we can see that Nicodemus’ faith needed to grow. Yes, he was convinced about some things regarding Jesus, but true faith is comprised of more.

Believing in Jesus requires us to trust Him and what He says (John 3.3-17). Jesus, who “knew all people” (2.24), knew that Nicodemus’ faith needed to grow and mature. Thus, Jesus began by addressing the means of entering the Kingdom. Nicodemus likely believed that all Jews would be part of the promised Kingdom, but Jesus said it would require one to be born again (better translated “from above” cf. vs. 31; 19.11). This new birth had been prophesied in passages like Ezekiel 36.25-27 and Jesus was confirming that entrance into His Kingdom could be found only by spiritual means (vss. 5-8). Nicodemus’ responses in vss. 4 and 9 show that while he believed some things about Jesus, he was not yet to the point where he fully trusted everything Jesus said and taught. So, while Jesus chided Him for not understanding these heavenly truths (vss. 10-12), He also gave Nicodemus profound reasons to trust Him:

• Only Jesus had descended from heaven, thus He was qualified to reveal these heavenly truths (vs. 13).
• Like the bronze serpent in the wilderness (see Numbers 21.8-9), Jesus was going to be “lifted up” so that those who believed could have eternal life (vss. 14-15).
• Jesus came because of God’s great love for us; not to condemn us, but to save us (vss. 16-17).

Believing in Jesus means we surrender our will to His (John 3.18-21). Even though Jesus did not come into this world to condemn it, much of the world will be condemned because of their love of the darkness. That is, they have a choice to do “what is true” and come “to the light” vs. 21, but most love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil, vs. 19. They do not wish to surrender. This is where so many discussions regarding faith and works go astray. The Scriptures do not contrast faith and obedience, rather they show that obedience is the result of faith. “Whoever believes in Him” (vs. 16) are the ones who “comes to the light” and these show that their “works have been carried out in God” (vs. 21). As John states later in the chapter, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3.36).

Both Paul and the Hebrew author quote the prophecy of Habakkuk, “the righteous shall live by His faith” (Habakkuk 2.4; Romans 1.17; Hebrews 10.38). The statement could have two meanings. First, we obtain life through faith. We obtain life because we place our trust in the Son of God and not ourselves (John 3.16. We obtain life because we submit to His will to be born again, even if it doesn’t make sense to us (John 3.5; Mark 16.16). Second, faith is our manner of life. In the words of Paul, “the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2.20). Every day is a matter of placing our trust in God and in His will; every decision and choice is to be made in faith, trusting that God will fulfill His promises when we follow Him. 

The gospel story shows how creation, redemption and a relationship with God are found in Christ. Those promises will be fulfilled to those who have faith! “We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Hebrews 10.39)