Reading Paul from out of Habakkuk, both Hebrew and Greek

Abstract

Sacred scrolls of the Hebrew Bible translated into the Greek language and proclaimed to the communities of Paul’s churches were intentionally used by Paul to instruct those looking for the return of their risen Lord in final glory. Without the awareness of the Greek translation of Habakkuk, we miss the aspect that for Paul’s original listeners, the Greek rendering of the divine promise in Habakkuk 2:4, “the one who is righteous from out of my faithfulness shall live,” is what leads into the arguments that Paul makes about justification by faith (or “faithfulness” as Greek pistos nay be translated). To the congregation that knows the Greek Habakkuk promise of God, Paul gets freed up to talk about the faithfulness of God demonstrated and exhibited in the faithfulness of Christ and communicated by the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit to be poured into the faithfulness of the church and the faithfulness of the believer so that they are connected by the undergirding divine promise from Habakkuk “from out my faithfulness.” “From out of faithfulness” (εκ πιστεως) can include both God’s “My faithfulness” and my personal human faith since both occur at the same time. This double resonance is allowed because the already known foundational faithfulness comes from the divinely promised “My faithfulness.” Therefore, in Christ the righteousness of God is revealed—from out of faithfulness into faithfulness.