My Crutch

I always harbored a little bit of judgment, to be honest, against Moses for not trusting God to use him alone when God sent him back to Egypt at the burning bush. Moses had become so humble in the wilderness that he seemed to have crossed over to doubt in God as well to be able to use him. Moses was so insistent on coming up with more excuses to resist what God was asking him to do that finally God accommodated him by giving him a crutch in the form of his brother Aaron. Many people claim that because of this “mistake” on the part of Moses that he should share the blame for the problems that showed up later during the exodus when weak-willed Aaron assisted the people into open sin and rebellion.

In my mind I often wondered what might have been different if Moses had been willing to trust in God's power completely instead of making excuses to the point where God had to go to plan B. This secret “accusation”, you might call it, probably arises out of the subtle pride of my own unregenerate heart smugly believing that I would not be so simpering and empty of faith. I know that sounds very arrogant when actually exposed in words, but when it is just a quiet opinion hiding in a dark corner of your mind it can lurk there for years without exposure or challenge. I suppose I am not the only person who might share this secret feeling.

Anyway, that is all just background for what came to my mind this morning. As I was listening to what God was sharing with me interactively, and it was unusually very active this morning, maybe I suppose because my own heart is so much more open than “normal” because of yesterday's happenings, my mind as usual was antsy to begin organizing what was happening in my heart into another writing session. That penchant sometimes is annoying as it gets in the way of my heart being able to dialog without interference as my left brain keeps interrogating it like a pesky, obnoxious paparazzi reporter. Sometimes I have to nearly threaten it with ban on writing if it refuses to leave me alone to interact with God without all the clamor and note-taking.

Then it was like God mentioned to me that this “reporter” interfering in our quiet interaction was actually my “crutch” just like Aaron was to Moses. How embarrassing! Now I'm exposed and my little secret accusation of Moses gets turned back on me. But its true, I have to admit. I have been very vocal about my crutch, insisting that I have a very hard time expressing myself verbally but find it much easier to be honest and open about what is going on inside when I write it instead (like I am doing right now).

Of course, immediately I began justifying my crutch by reminding the Lord that crutches are a good thing while one is in the healing process, even necessary things to prevent worse injury from occurring until enough healing has taken place for us to walk and run without their use. God agreed with me on that point, but reminded me that if one clings to their crutches for too long they can become addicted to them like pain-killer drugs that have outlasted their proper use. In this case, as with any crutch, there needs to come a transition time when one has to start facing and pushing into the pain of walking without the aid of the crutch occasionally if they are ever to complete the healing process. For me that might mean the frightening prospect of learning to express myself, my true self from deep inside of me, and in real time through the more active and vulnerable channels of body functions like speaking, smiling, crying, gestures etc. that are trained to both be honest, accurate and yet held under control from extremes or unduly influenced by outside intimidation.

That is a terribly frightening proposition for my mind to even imagine that I should be asked to go there. I guess I now have a great deal more sympathy for how Moses must have felt when God suddenly insisted he leave his comfort zone with sheep that he had finally learned to handle and confront the most arrogant, powerful and threatening nation on the earth with just his connection to God and no flashy props. I don't think I can harbor my secret criticism of Moses anymore – I have my own fears to face.

So do I think it is time for me to drop my “crutch” and start running marathons? Hardly! I am still a very long way from being able to move efficiently (read, express my heart) without my crutches. Up to this point I have pretty much only been able to express myself relatively openly through the means of writing. Whenever it is required of me to present myself verbally, whenever possible I always take the time to write out my thoughts and feelings carefully and then am forced to read them.

While this has been very helpful in the accuracy of what I say, it creates some very big problems and limitations of expression. As most people know, it is very difficult to read in a way that sounds the same or is as convincing as live, spontaneous expression. It also prevents, or at least interferes with continuous eye contact which is crucial to communication of deep feelings. In addition it is very clumsy to hold a paper in one hand to read or be restricted to staring at a podium or one's lap to constantly refer to the paper or computer to see what you are supposed to be saying when your heart wants to employ all of your body, mind, heart and soul in conveying accurately and expressively and fully what you want to share with another person's heart. This became painfully clear to me yesterday during the Bat Barakah for two of my daughters. My heart was feeling very open and intensely desirous of communicating my emotions and thoughts to them even in spite of my fear of being in front of quite a number of "spectators". But the required papers to communicate what I had to say were a nuisance and greatly restricted my expressions in all the ways described above.

Unlike walking crutches, however, I suppose the crutch of writing has a very useful place even after its use as a crutch is outgrown. It does provide an entering wedge to awaken interest and establish initial connections between people as had happened even through the use of this and other people's blogs. The Bible is also in writing and is a point of contact in the use of communication between God and humanity. But if we end up getting stuck by putting more importance on the message and the tool instead of using it as a springboard to launch us into a much deeper level of communication using much more efficient means of sharing, we end up becoming stunted and crippled in our maturity, our healing, and we settle for far less intimacy than what our hearts are designed for.

I felt that yesterday was a point of exposure for my crutch and it began to create in me a deeper desire to move beyond it soon; a reminder that I should be dissatisfied and even impatient with the limitations imposed by crutches in my heart's passion for something much better and more fulfilling. People are generally drawn to those who at least appear to communicate freely without limiting themselves to just one or two channels of expression. But it takes time and readiness for people like me to grow into “skills” that were were underdeveloped earlier in life. And it also helps to have the safety and encouragement of friends who can protect and mentor such skills.

God is really the one in charge of that process so I won't attempt to figure out what that will look like for me – it never happens the way I imagine anyway. Yesterday was a step in that direction, and though there were a number of disappointments in the externals I believe that a number of us experienced more heart communication than some of us have had for many years, if ever. I know for myself that spending the past week and more attempting to listen to my heart and the voice of God more intensely, and then spending the last day in very intensive writing and heart-searching for nearly ten hours straight had a noticeable effect on my disposition and spirit following this event. I am almost afraid to talk about it for fear that it may evaporate too quickly in the cacophony of talk and analysis.

God's Character by Contrast

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; (Romans 1:28-31)

This is a list of opposites of God's characteristics. By analyzing the real meaning of each of these descriptions and then looking for the opposite, a picture of God emerges that is quite accurate. As well as describing the life of Jesus and His true followers, it also helps unmask the growing obscurity of some words.

Unrighteousness	Righteous
Wickedness	Holiness
Greed	Generosity
Evil	Good
Envy	Thrilled to see others succeed
Murder	Life-giving
Strife	Peace and harmony
Deceit	Truthful
Malice	Only good motives
Gossips	Love covers a multitude of sins
Slanderers	Blessing – speaking well of
Haters of God	Lover of sinners
Insolent	Polite, respectful
Arrogant	Humble
Boastful	Entrusts His witnesses (us) to vindicate Him
Inventors of evil	Good plans
Disobedient to parents	Submissive to parents
Without understanding	Full of understanding
Untrustworthy	Completely trustworthy
Unloving	Abounding in love
Unmerciful	Merciful

If you have some suggestions for better definitions of opposites in this list I would like to hear them.

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Exchange and Choices

My perceptions are changing – in more ways than one.

Part of it is due to my preparing my mind and heart for the fast upcoming date for the Bat Barakah for two of my daughters this weekend. I shared with a friend yesterday that I can't remember a period of time in my whole life that I have spent so much effort trying to listen to my heart with my mind. I find it quite frustrating at times because I am so inept at this. But I feel it is very important to try anyway if I am going to be effective as a channel for God's blessing at all. So part of my perception shift is very slowly starting to see both myself and others from more of a heart perspective than I have before. It is so incremental that most people probably can't notice it yet, but I keep praying for God to give me the eyes of heaven and the heart and feelings of Jesus and then I have to leave it up to Him to answer that request in His time and ways.

The other perception change is coming as I have spent more time than ever in the first chapter of Romans. Some time ago I left off my study of Romans in chapter eight and returned to the beginning because I just felt I had missed far too much and wanted to uncover much more that was sure to be there. So far in that experiment I have not been able to leave Romans one for maybe a week or two now and it seems to only be beginning to open up. I had a similar experience several years ago in the first few chapters of the book of John that proved a real blessing to me.

I have to say for context that Romans one and two have always been pretty depressing to me and something to get through as quick as possible so I could get on to the “good stuff” later in the book. Romans one is one of the primary sources of ammunition for those who want to fuel their bigotry and hatefulness against homosexuals. They like to thunder their human wrath against these “wicked” people and firmly attach God's name to their tirades to give it supernatural authority. This spirit of hatred and merciless vengeance is one of the prime examples of very popular lies about God deeply embedded into religion that has little hope of being eradicated. Because most people believe in a God who indulges in the same “wrath” as men are so familiar with in themselves they simply assume that these words in Romans are God vengeful outlashings against those who have offended His sovereign decrees. Of course they don't bother to continue to apply the text just as strongly to themselves as it turns the tables on them in chapter two. But that is another subject.

However, as I have spent morning after morning reviewing, exploring and meditating on the various interlinking truths just in this one chapter I have begun to see a much different picture of God emerging that is starting to get me more excited as I see the true beauty, passion and mercy of God that is quite opposite to what many claim to find there. Each morning it seems that some other word or phrase is pointed out to me that had roots and tendrils that are connected and show up in surrounding verses. These amazing interconnections become more and more fascinating as they weave together to form the outlines of a picture that more accurately portrays the real truth about God.

This morning I noticed even more references to the word “exchange” or its variants. All of them are in the section where the “wrath of God is revealed” which, when properly understood is a very exciting and liberating subject of its own. So far I have found this word in v. 23, 25, 26 and alluded to in parallel concepts in several other verses. Then I was reminded of the idea of exchange that had surprised me in a teaching several years ago from the Old Testament. There is a popularly quoted text in Isa. 40:31 that people find comfort in quoting for difficult times. “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

What surprised me was when it was pointed out that this verse actually may be saying something quite different than what it appears to say in the typical English translation. The word translated “renew” can instead be translated “exchange” which puts a whole different filter on the picture and exposes a truth about the gospel more clearly. There is even a ministry named after this verse called Exchange Life Ministry. What this text can say is that those who wait (trust patiently in God to work things out) on the Lord will exchange their strength (if you can even call it strength at all by comparison) with God's strength. The rest of the verse is simply the results that can happen in the lives of those who exchange their strength, their dependence on themselves, for trust in God and choose to live in His strength.

I find this “exchange” principle significant in the light of Romans one. It is possibly talking about the same thing in reverse. In Isaiah God's plan for exchange of the right kind is laid out and in Romans the opposite kinds of exchange are laid out with the corresponding tragic results. Given this perspective it is easier to see that the dire situations and perversions of life described are not God's “punishments” on those who have offended Him; rather they are descriptions of natural consequences of pulling away from the only source of true life and looking to any other source to get satisfaction and fulfillment.

That takes one right back into the study of worship and what it really means – but that too is a subject for another day that I have been wanting to explore much further and share what I have been learning and experiencing.

What I see in Romans one is a choice for every person: Do I believe the gospel – the good news about God and the real truth about Him apart from what is taught by most “religion” today? Or do I choose to exchange real glory for imitation glory, exchange the truth about God for the lie, or maybe even go so far as to exchange the natural function of my body for lust-filled distortions of God's original design for me and suffer the tragic consequences as some of my close friends have done?

Life is all about choices. “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.” (Deuteronomy 30:15-16)

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Confessions of a See'r

Something that keeps me uneasy at times and that I have written about previously could maybe be called the seer syndrome. It is good that I feel this uneasiness and I welcome it's reappearance as a reminder to once again do a reality check. It might be called an anti-hypocrisy injection or any other number of analogies. It is the feeling I get sometimes when I am thinking about something or convicted about something I have read or has been presented to my mind and I almost immediately began shaping it into words and arranging and outlining what I am experiencing into another piece of writing. At these times I sometimes almost feel guilty, like I am using expression for writing as a premature excuse to bypass actually fully receiving into a deeper heart level the very lesson that I am presently given opportunity to experience. I use the word “experience” quite deliberately here because I try to make a habit at such moments to remind myself quite strongly that it is far more important for me to internalize the “lessons” and principles, or whatever term might better describe them, than to merely “learn” them and capture them with my intellect no matter how exciting or threatening they may be. I am coming to the place where, when I am reading something really convicting I suddenly discover my mind strongly applying what I am reading to one of my children or one of my friends that “really needs to hear this”. I am starting to come to the awareness that most likely that intense desire to apply this to someone else is most likely betraying the presence of a false god inside of me desperately trying to divert attention to someone else because it is about to be exposed. At such times I find it helpful to first of all not fall into the blindness of guilt feelings which usually only produce a smoke-screen of denial or avoidance because of fear. Secondly I deliberately choose to force my imagination to let go of my strong penchant to apply this to a person who so obviously needs to hear this and change. No matter how badly that other person may need this counsel and advice, I am not the conscience for that person so no amount of pressure on my part will help them accept what they need to hear no matter how I try to package it. A good reality check at this point is a call to memory of how I feel when others try to do the same thing to me and how resistant I instantly feel to their attempts to convict me on some point they feel I need to change. It is once again a strong reminder that only the Holy Spirit of our Designer is capable of convicting us while still keeping us in a safe atmosphere where we are willing to accept the conviction and repent. Only the One without sin is safe to cast the first stone, and God is not into casting stones to start with. After I have insisted on ordering my mind to let go of my strong desire to divert attention to someone else, I then remind myself of the principle of recognition that I have been well aware of for a number of years. Most of us are aware of this principle in theory but it is still a bit painful to accept it for ourselves. It is the principle expressed by some as “you spot it – you got it”. I have seen this proven true so many times in my life that I now accept its truth as real, but it still requires a firm decision to force my mind to live by it and redirect my attention to my own life and allow the instruction to do its needed work in my own heart without being diluted or diverted. The overriding truth that I must always keep uppermost in my mind is that my own transformation of heart will have far greater influence in drawing other into conviction on this point than any amount of head presentations no matter how eloquent or camouflaged. We are wired to respond to heart messages far more effectively than “religious” instructions that usually end up primarily producing resistance. That is probably why Jesus told the Pharisees that their method of religion tended to produce candidates twice as ready for hell as themselves because disciples of typical religion are filled with a spirit of resistance. Resistance, when faced with opposing “force” (the passionate love of God) can only produce heat and pain which, as I have written about extensively elsewhere, is the very essence of what hell is all about. (Am I starting to sound like a broken record?) What I am trying to express here without getting derailed too far is the feelings I sometimes experience when I feel a tension between receiving and giving. In reality my “witness”, is only as effective as the level to which my own heart has accepted and is being transformed by the things I am attempting to express to others through whatever means. Sometimes I feel so strongly about this that I restrict myself to simply jotting down a few notes about something that is strongly stirring me but is yet incomplete in personal application. I feel I need to at least capture it in brief notes so I won't forget it (which I very easily do to my great consternation at times), but it is not ready enough at my own heart level to share it with others due to a great lack of credibility. At other times I feel compelled to go ahead and express what I am “learning” even though I realize that I still need the impact of it to change my own life even more than most who may hear or read what I am sharing. In fact, I am aware that the people who may “need to hear it most” most likely will not be reading my posts, so I simply leave them out as gifts(?) to be received by whoever happens to chance on them or those that the Lord may lead to them for whatever purpose. Part of this issue also involves the tension created when people say “I was impressed”, or “the Lord showed me...”. I realize that I use similar expressions myself and I continue to wonder how to relate to such phrases and notions even myself. On the one hand it seems rather arrogant to claim that ideas and concepts and insights that I share with others come directly or indirectly from God. It always has the potential to be interpreted as laying undue claim to the ultimate authority to back up what I am presenting. There is no shortage of evidence for people doing exactly that along with the tragic results of such abuses. Just a cursory examination of the religious tyranny of the Dark Ages reveals the consequences of religious imposition of beliefs on others against their will. Those terrible acts of demonic demonstrations in the name of God will always eventually follow when men try to take the authority of God without accepting His true character. No one is immune from becoming this kind of false witness for God and so I keep in mind that I must be careful how I claim to be inspired by God in the things I say. On the other hand, I also sense that I need to be honest about how some of the “insights” I share have come to me. It seems that if I simply state them as my own ideas that I, in fact, may be claiming that of my own wisdom and superior intellect I have conjured up these things, and in so doing I will diminish the element of the influence of God's Spirit in my life and heart. I am well aware of the smallness of my own ability to think and figure out life on my own. I am also too painfully aware of how shriveled and hardened my own heart has been most of my life and its inability to receive and share joy. I believe that all true wisdom must flow through the heart. The “head”, or left brain where the tools of language reside, is the lesser side of our being that must struggle to express the much deeper and broader emotions, concepts and ideas that defy the simplicity of human language. One of the greatest problems against which all true believers struggle is the fact that almost universally religion has been condensed and restricted to primarily a left-brain set of beliefs, doctrines and rules. Even when it appears that our emotions are deeply involved in fantastic exhibitions of religious fervor, upon close examination it will often be found that this religion still has not taken root in true transformation of the heart but has only become an emotional stimulant and an imitation of the real heart-experience that God has in mind for us. The passage that was stirring around in my mind this morning as I felt prompted to express these things was from James. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. (James 1:21-26) One significant thing I noted while reading this verse some time ago was the apparent fact that the “mirror” and the perfect law of liberty may not necessarily be the same thing, even though that is always how I have heard it preached and taught. I am not trying to be dogmatic or argumentative here, but to me I found this quite revealing. When a person looks in a mirror, according to the text that person sees their “natural face”. I think that most would agree that the “natural” face referred to here is the imperfections of character that we all possess. And while it is indeed very important that we become aware of the truth about ourselves from time to time, it does not necessarily translate that the mirror from which we discover this truth is always the “law”. In fact, given the analogy the way it is written, I am drawn to conclude that the evidence points in a different direction. When it talks about the man looking in the mirror it seems to almost be a casual observation. It is true that he may be intentionally looking in the mirror and may be surprised by the reflection that he finds there in the revelation about his true picture. But that does not carry with it at all the intensity of the expression in the next example of looking intently at the perfect law of liberty. While the law may indeed be helpful in unmasking our faults and failures, I don't believe the law acts so much like a mirror as it does by contrasting. A mirror is a completely passive instrument that can only reflect light and create an image of what is in front of it. That to me is a long way from what I believe is expressed and implied in viewing the law of liberty. The law is a simplified expression of the very character and nature of God Himself – hardly a passive reflector of whatever is before Him. If we take a view of the law of liberty being a reflector of our likeness we have indeed arrived at creating a god in our own image. Maybe that's one reason we are so angry and afraid of God, because we think we see in Him all of our worst attributes and think that He is worse than us. Many of the doctrines and emotions in circulation today about God reveal this very thinking and need to be challenged and exposed for the lie that they really are. Far from being a mirror that reveals our problems by reflection, the perfect expression of the beauty of God, His everlasting loving-kindness and faithfulness and passion is a means of exposing our true condition by contrast, not by reflection. While a mirror may be useful at times for a reality check, I believe that the analogy of a mirror is something more along the lines of our need to occasionally take an honest, hard look at our own hearts and admit the selfishness and depravity that lurks deep in our souls. But if we spend too much time dwelling on our own imperfections we will become overwhelmed with discouragement and will actually end up reinforcing them by our very act of dwelling on them. That is not to say we should live in self-denial and self-deception. Mirrors can be very useful if they are not overused. But to stare in pained realization at our sinfulness in a “mirror” will eventually cause those very imperfections and sins to take deeper root through the principle of feed-back. What James declares is our only hope is to stare obsessively and continuously at the perfect beauty of our Creator and Parent and by “beholding we will become changed”. It is an unavoidable law of the mind that whatever we focus our attention on will influence and shape our thinking and personality and character. And while I still believe it is important to experience “reality checks” rather frequently by looking into a mirror and seeing the truth about ourselves as far as where we are in our growing experience, we need to get away from the mirror without forgetting what we saw and spend much more time intensely saturating our minds with the mesmerizing attractions of the real truth about God and all the expressions of His character revealed in heaven and even in nature here on earth. This is my obligation to myself and to the One who died to give me eternal life. I am reminded of the passionate plea of Moses to the infantile people that he had grown to love so deeply. “"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live...” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

Righteousness Defined

If righteousness is defined in the Bible as believing that God will do what He says He will do, then does that in turn apply to God's righteousness and if so, how? Is it possible that God's righteousness is defined the same way as the Bible defines our (true) righteousness?

If that is true, then it must look something like God trusting us to do what we say we can do. (I am exploring this while I am writing so I am not currently expressing something that I have uncovered or yet understand.) That seems to be what happened in what is called the Old Covenant. The people at Mt. Sinai claimed that they would do everything that God had said they must do. It's pretty obvious that was a complete failure and disaster. But still, God acted in a way all through the centuries that could easily be seen as trusting them to do what they claimed they could do even though He knew from before the start that it was impossible for them to do it.

This thread does seem to remain consistent right on into the New Covenant but with very important alterations. It seems to me that in a New Covenant relationship with God, to be “successful” we must become completely honest and admit that we cannot live a godly life ourself. In this situation from God's perspective it would be consistent with this definition of righteousness that God could still trust us to be what we say – that is, we will be consistent with our own claims. God is trusting us to do (and not do) what we say. So when we admit and agree with God (confess) that we are completely and utterly helpless to change ourselves and live a life that measures with the life of God, then God trusts us that we are in fact what we say we are and that our lives are consistent with what we are saying.

From that point we can move to the next which is called repentance which is a gift from God. Remember, the only thing we truly can do is choose who we are to be slaves to. We will never, ever be able to live godly lives independently like Satan has led us to believe. So our only hope of escape from this body of death is to throw ourselves on the mercy of the only Source of life and exercise our will to become His love-slaves. So when we choose to receive repentance, which means a change of thinking, of direction, of heart-motives, and live in that repentance by continual surrender of our rights to ourself, then the incredible arrangement of indwelling divinity accomplished by the death and resurrection of Jesus for this very purpose is installed in our soul and a new life is experienced within.

From this position we move on to an experience that theologians call “sanctification” which has its own hazards of misunderstanding. Very many people who seem to “get it right” up to this point fall into Old Covenant thinking at this stage and end up right back in the mire of struggle, defeat and “works religion” that plagues anyone attempting this route. It also puts God in the position, according to application of the above definition of righteousness, of trusting us to do the impossible which is just as impossible now as it was in Old Testament days. In essence, we are putting God in a terrible situation when we believe that we can be “good” through any efforts of our own, even when those efforts are supposedly combined with “help” from God.

In the experience of sanctification we must continue to remain in the same relationship with God as we did when we first came to Him for justification and trusted Him fully to apply the merits of Jesus to our lives in place of our sin and guilt. Sanctification is not discovering new formulas that will now enable us to live perfect lives with help from God. Sanctification is living in total consciousness of our continuing utter inability to live “right” at all from any of our own strength and instead resting fully in the resurrection power of an indwelling Divinity gifted to us in Jesus Christ. It is learning to live from the heart Jesus gives us.

When we live in that kind of relationship with God, then His trust in us to do what we say we can do – which is nothing but choose to allow Him to do what He says He can do in us – is a revelation of His righteousness. This is the gospel, the good news that Paul preached and was so pumped up about. This also allows the same definition of righteousness that is used by the Bible to equally apply both us and to God.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." (Romans 1:16-17)

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