When we read the frequent statement, “The just shall live by faith,” it is necessary to have a clear idea of what the word “just” means. If we read the same text in the Revised Version, we shall learn. It has it, “The righteous shall live by faith.” To be justified by faith is to be made righteous by faith. “All unrighteousness is sin” (1 John 5:17), and “sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Therefore, all unrighteousness is transgression of the law, and of course all righteousness is obedience to the law. So we see that the just, or righteous, man is the man who obeys the law, and to be justified is to be made a keeper of the law.
Righteousness is the end to be obtained, and the law of God is the standard. “The law worketh wrath,” because “all have sinned,” and “the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” How shall we become doers of the law, and thus escape wrath, or the curse? The answer is, “The righteous shall live by faith.” By faith, not by works, we become doers of the law. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Rom. 10:10. That no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. From what does it appear?—From this,—that “the just shall live by faith.” If righteousness came by works, then it would not be by faith; “if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.” Rom. 11:6. “To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Rom. 4:4, 5. There is no exception, no half-way working. It is not said that some of the just shall live by faith, or that they shall live by faith and works, but, simply, “the just shall live by faith,” and that proves that it is not by their own works. All of the just are made and kept just by faith alone. This is because the law is so holy. It is greater than can be done by man; only Divine power can accomplish it; so by faith we receive the Lord Jesus, and He lives the perfect law in us.
“The law is not of faith.” Of course it is the written law, no matter whether in a book or on tables of stone, that is here referred to. That law simply says, “Do this,” or, “Do not do that.” “The man that doeth them shall live in them.” That is the sole condition on which the written law offers life. Works, and works only, commend themselves to it. How those works are obtained is of no consequence to it, provided they are present. But none have done the requirements of the law, and so there can be no doers of the law, that is, none who in their own lives can present a record of perfect obedience.