I believe it is significant when an Old Testament verse is quoted in the New Testament. When the verse is quoted twice, that is a big deal. But when a verse is quoted three times, with each instance in a different letter, there is a spiritual principle being taught that has a wider application. Habakkuk 2:4 is just such a verse.
But the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4b NKJV)
How appropriate that this little verse is quoted in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews.

The Just:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:16, 17 NKJV)
If I had to sum up the message I’d Paul’s letter to the church in Rome in just one word, that word would be justification. For it is in Romans that we are shown when, where, and how justification by faith happens. The “how” is by faith, as the previous verse says. The where is in our hearts (Romans 5:1-5), and the “when” is at obedience in baptism (Romans 6:3-10).

Shall Live:
But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. (Galatians 3:11 NKJV)

In Galatians we have been provided with practical instruction for Christian living. But are also told that “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)
I cannot help but see an implied reference to baptism here as well.

By Faith:
Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him. (Hebrews 10:38 NKJV)
There is an entire chapter in Hebrews talking about faith. We also see that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Feeding our faith is the key to not drawing back. Faith in God is the very source of our spiritual life, and if we quit on God, we are left with less than nothing. In fact, it would be better to have never begun with God.
“For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” (2 Peter 2:21 NKJV)
In reality, in the vast majority of cases, salvation is not lost — it is left.

Do you want to be justified and have eternal life?then have faith in God. But how do we get faith? “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17 NKJV) Get into the Word of God and feed your faith. And once you are in Christ via obedience in baptism, continue to stay in the Word and let your mind be transformed.

Questions are an important part of life and learning. Some are trivial while others are vital. There are three questions that I believe are vital to your eternal salvation. These are the very basics, the foundation, of what it means to be a Christian. Get any or all of these questions wrong, and the consequences are fatal.

For example, look at the foundation of a house. If the foundation is bad, it does not matter how well you build the rest of the house. You may make some mistakes later, but you can fix them because you have a proper foundation to work with. Another example is a mathematical equation. If you make a mistake at the beginning, the rest of the problem is wrong, not matter how well you do it.

Question #1. Who do you say that I am? Matthew 16:13-16

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

It does not matter what others think about Jesus. Not your parents, your spouse or your friends. The question you must answer is “who do YOU say that Jesus is?”

He is the eternal Son of God

John 1:4, 14 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the only way to God. There are other roads but they all lead to destruction. All roads do NOT lead to God. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.(John 14:6)

Notice he uses “the” instead of “a” to show that He is the one and only way to God. This is affirmed again by the apostle Peter in Acts 4:12 where he said, “ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

And Jesus is the one and only mediator between God and man. 1 Timothy 2:5-6

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Whenever any organization sets themselves up between you and Christ, they are false and you should run the other way.

He was not just fully God, but as the previous verse said, Jesus was also a man. You see we needed a perfect man to atone for the sins of man. But if He were just a man, His death would only atone for one other man’s sins. No, he had to also be deity so that He could make an eternal sacrifice for all! Hebrews 4:11-14 states

“11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

While Jesus Christ was hanging on that cross, suspended between heaven and earth, He was both God’s perfect man, and man’s perfect God!

Question #2. By what authority do you do these things? Matthew 21:23 23 Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things?”

EXAMPLE: Matthew 4 with Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. For every temptation, Jesus responded with His greatest weapon – “It is written.”

Jesus NEVER quotes the oral or written traditions of the fathers except to condemn it. Mark 7:13 making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

The Word of God is the most powerful force in the universe, yet you can keep it out of your heart and life with something called “tradition.” Watch out for those who would say that we need to follow both the written word and holy tradition. Jesus promised the Apostles that the Holy Spirit would be sent to lead THEM into all truth. That’s why in Acts 2:42 Doctor Luke wrote, “ 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread,

Even after that time, the writings of Paul carried the weight of the Word of God.

1 Thess 2:13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.

And this word of God was delivered once for all. It did not get lost and have to be delivered again.

Jude 3 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

That brings us to the “so what?” question. If the first two questions are answered correctly, what difference does that make for me? Glad you asked!

Question #3. What must I do to be saved? (Acts 2:37)

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

Peter gave them an answer, but it was based on where they were at in the salvation process. They had just then heard and believed, so Peter starts with repentance in verse 38. But let’s take a look briefly at the overall process.

a. Hear the Gospel message – Why is this one first? Because salvation requires faith, and

b. Repent – Acts 2:38 states it plainly “repent and be baptized”. This means not just to

c. Confess – Matt 10:32-33

d. Baptism – time will not permit me to go to every scripture that talks about baptism, so

according to Romans 10:17, “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of

God.” So once someone hears and understands the Gospel (which an infant cannot

do), they must believe it and have faith that it is true.

They then repent, which is more that to turn from sin, but turn to God.

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

For baptism, let’s focus on one passage – Romans 6

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

What about the sinner’s prayer? There is never a record in the New Testament of ANYONE praying a prayer to be saved. This was an invention of D.L. Moody in the 19th century. But if you must have a sinner’s prayer, here is what the Bible says.

Acts 22:16 16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

And here in 1 Peter 3:21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you–not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, NASB

It is not a sinner’s prayer and then baptism. Baptism IS the sinner’s prayer.

In conclusion, make sure your life is built on the solid foundation of truth. Study it and be solid in your convictions so that the enemy cannot move you from the sure rock of the Word of God.

Make sure that you fellowship with a congregation that at least has these basics correct. If these are not right, you can save yourself some time because it means everything else is wrong.

Now that you know the truth, obey it. If you really believe it is true, you must do something about it. Your true beliefs will determine your actions. And your foundation will determine your destiny.

The Opposite Of Belief
In modern English usage, belief can be defined as mental assent to an idea. But what is belief in a biblical sense? Is it mere mental assent, or trust, or confession? One way to see what belief means in the Bible is to see what it is contrasted with. Let’s go to the foremost authority on the subject, Jesus Christ.
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 ESV)
So according to Jesus, the opposite of belief is disobedience! In fact, belief and obedience are inextricably linked together. This link is so strong that to speak of belief or faith without stating or implying obedience is to take it out of context!
Even in Mark 16:16, where Christ says that, “he who believes and is baptized will be saved, and he who does not believe will be condemned” many teachers try to twist the verse to say that it refutes the essential nature of obedience (in this case baptism). But in fact, since obedience is implied whenever belief is mentioned, the verse in no way weakens the command to believe and be baptized!
So am I talking about a salvation by works? Of course not. In baptism, it is God who is doing the work of regeneration. When Paul speaks of works, he is usually referring to “works of the Law” and not obedience in faith. And he is correct! Law keeping has no power to save! But James speaks of works as a natural consummation of saving faith. Again, we are saved by faith in the resurrection of Christ, but that salvation is effected at baptism. (1 Peter 3:21)
So what is it that we are supposed to obey? The Gospel!
“in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” (2 Thessalonians 1:8 ESV). But what is the Gospel? According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, this is the Gospel:
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-5 ESV)
But how does someone obey an event like the death, burial and resurrection?
According to Romans 6, it is done in baptism.
“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” (Romans 6:4-6 ESV)

When we participate in the death, burial and resurrection at baptism, we obey the Gospel and our faith saves us! As Peter wrote, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (1 Peter 3:21 ESV). Write all you want to explain this verse away, but you can’t force it to say anything other than “baptism saves you”!

Remember, the opposite of belief is disobedience. You cannot speak of faith without obedience, or you are taking belief out of context!