Faith & Righteousness (1)

Too long, please open your Bible Habakkuk 2

Recap

In chapter 1, Habakkuk begins with a prayer of lament. He wrestles with the gap between what he knows of God’s holiness and justice and what he sees around him in Judah’s corruption and violence.

The Lord answers by revealing that He is not idle but is working on a scale and timetable far beyond human reckoning—raising up the Babylonians as His instrument of judgment.

Stunned by this revelation, Habakkuk responds with a second prayer, expressing both awe and confusion as he struggles to understand how a nation even more wicked than Judah could be used to accomplish God’s purposes.

Write the vision

Then Yahweh answered me and said, “Write down the vision And write it on tablets distinctly, That the one who reads it may run. “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It pants toward its end, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come; it will not delay. Habakkuk 1: 2-3

The “vision” is the prophetic revelation that follows in Habakkuk 2:2–20. Habakkuk had questioned why God would use the violent Babylonians as instruments of judgment. The “vision” records God’s assurance that Babylon itself will not escape judgment and that “the righteous will live by his faith” (2:4).

Habakkuk 2:2 commands the prophet to make God’s revelation unmistakable and widely known. The “vision” is the coming judgment of Babylon and the call for the righteous to live by faith. Writing it plainly ensures that anyone who encounters the message—whether a messenger who literally runs with it or a believer who metaphorically “runs” in obedience—can grasp God’s sure plan and respond without hesitation.

The proud vs the righteous

“Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4

Upright vs bent/crooked

In Habakkuk 2:4 the prophet sets a sharp contrast between two inner postures: the proud whose soul is not right within him, and the righteous who lives by his faith.

Some other translations use “upright” instead of “right” (KJV, NIV, LEB, ISV, ERV e.t.c) because the word translated”right” evokes the picture of something straight, level, or aligned to a true standard. So for example, a line can be straight, or a path could be straight.

However, when used to refer to a person, it presents a state of (mis)alignment with God (ethically/morally/spiritually). So an upright/straight man, for example, refers to a person who is morally right/straight.

Conversely, a crooked/bent person is usually associated with moral failure or sin (or iniquity), and to sin (or do iniquity) is to bend what is straight. For example:

“He will sing to men and say, ‘I have sinned and perverted what is right, And it is not proper for me. Job 33:27

To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; Proverbs 2: 12-15

They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks; They have made their paths crooked, Whoever treads on them does not know peace. Isaiah 59:8

In summary:

A “straight path” represents a life directed by God’s instruction (torah), while a “crooked path” depicts moral compromise or hidden sin.
The straight person lives in harmony with God’s character and covenant law.

In Habakkuk, Babylon is the immediate example, but the wording is deliberately broad: any person or power whose inner life swells with self-trust instead of God-trust is crooked at the core.

Righteous

In scripture, righteousness also contains the idea of alignment with God but in a slightly different way. One of the clearest ways we can gain insight on the meaning of righteousness is to look at another word it is regularly paired with — justice (mishpat).

Open your mouth for the mute, For the justice of all those passing away. Open your mouth, judge righteously, And render justice to the afflicted and needy. Proverbs 31: 8-9

‘Thus says Yahweh, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the sojourner, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Jeremiah 22:3

Too long, please open your Bible Job 29: 12-19

If justice refers to restorative actions that involve upholding fairness, helping the vulnerable and defending the oppressed, then righteousness refers to the standard which necessitates those acts of justice.

Righteousness in Scripture is the state of being rightly aligned with God’s character and covenant standard. It describes both an inner reality—the heart, motives, and relationships brought into conformity with God’s will—and an external way of life that reflects that alignment.

Justice is the outworking of that same reality: it is the concrete action of giving each person what is due, protecting the vulnerable, and setting things right. In biblical thought these two belong together. Righteousness provides the plumb line—the moral straightness of God’s own nature—while justice is the practice of that straightness in society and daily dealings.

Righteousness in the biblical story

as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; Romans 3:10

Humanity was created to live in right relationship with God and neighbor, but the story of Scripture shows how deeply we fail at this calling. Our hearts are bent; we instinctively seek our own advantage, twisting God’s commands to suit our desires.

The goal of the Law was to guide Israel towards righteousness:

“You shall keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is Yahweh our God whenever we call on Him? “Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today? Deuteronomy 4: 6-9

But Israel doesn’t follow the covenant laws, and though they were once oppressed, they become the oppressors. The biblical prophets and poets accused the Israelites of perpetrating injustice, and they pointed to a new leader who would come and embody true justice and righteousness.

Jesus steps into the scene and changes the game. Jesus revealed that the true measure of righteousness is love. Instead of piling up rules to prove oneself right, He summed up the entire Law and the Prophets in a single formula

Too long, please open your Bible Matthew 22: 37-40

In other words, what the Pharisees tried to secure through endless regulations, Jesus declared can only be fulfilled through wholehearted love for God that overflows in self-giving love toward others.

As the one who fulfilled all the demands of righteousness, He not only declares us righteous but shows us how righteousness looks in action: forgiving enemies, serving the least, loving God with undivided devotion.

Even our best moral efforts fall short because the standard is not merely external obedience but a heart perfectly aligned with the love and holiness of God. We cannot straighten what sin has made crooked; no amount of discipline, sacrifice, or social reform can produce the righteousness God requires.