The expression "the just shall live by faith," the cry of the Reformation, originated in the Old Testament and is repeated three times in the New Testament.

It appears that the just shall live by faith has come to mean if one accepts a certain theological position he can forget about his behavior. He is saved by "faith alone" in spite of James' statement to the contrary.

However, the fact that the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews, the "faith chapter" of the New Testament, describes actions rather than a theological position, leads us to believe we are not understanding what the expression means.

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:38,39)

The expression "draw back" in the above passage is identical with "fall away" in Hebrews 6:6. God has no pleasure in such.

The interesting fact here is that "the just shall live by faith" is not referring to the holding of a set of beliefs but to a pressing forward in God.

All we have written thus far in this particular series of essays is obviously referring to our behavior, not to the maintaining of a belief system. The chapter following Chapter Eleven of Hebrews, which is a definition of "the just shall live by faith," reveals clearly that true Bible faith is not a set of beliefs but obedience to the revealed will of God.

It is especially significant that God uses Old Testament people to teach New Testament people what faith is all about. This fact alone destroys the concept of a special "dispensation of grace" (one of the great errors of our time).

We are not of those who draw back to destruction but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. The belief mentioned here is the belief that keeps us cheerfully pressing forward in God's will, accepting with a good and faithful heart the chastening of the Lord as He makes us a partaker of His holiness. It is not, as the eleventh chapter demonstrates beyond question, a belief system in which we assume a particular theological position concerning Christ, His atonement and His resurrection. This would be comparable to the Jews sitting in Egypt and declaring they were in the land of promise because of what God had said concerning them.

The third and fourth chapters of Hebrews and the twelfth chapter of Hebrews announce clearly that belief and obedience to God go hand in hand, not as in our day where belief is abstract, unrelated to stern obedience to God.

The problem with the generation of Israelites who died in the wilderness was not that they did not believe there was a God or did not believe that they were on their way somewhere. Their problem was they grumbled because of the irritations and pains to the point that God turned them back into the wilderness until they died, never reaching Canaan. This illustration was included in the Book of Hebrews because it applies to us.

To be continued.