Expert: Brian Thompson - 10/22/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hello and good day. I was wondering what it means in the New Testament by "...the just shall live by faith"? I've seen this several times in the New Testament. The other question is about headcoverings. Can you please tell me what is the general message that Paul is conveying to the Corinthians? Is it a mandate from the Lord God that Christian women wear a headcovering during public worship (in church) and private praying today? Thanks for your time.
God bless.

ANSWER: Hi Tianna

The just shall live by faith refers to Christians living by faith in God and his Word and not in the manner of the world who strive to overcome in their own strength. God's economy operates by giving which is the opposite of the world which operates by accumulating, so in faith we give having faith God will provide. God tells us to pray and have faith for healing, whereas the world relies on science.

Paul was speaking about headcoverings in the context of attire, if you follow that through you will see that adornment is not considered desirable for teh Christian. A womans hair is considered a glory for her and so should be covered at a time of worship when the focus should be on God and no on the womans attractiveness. I know of no injunction to cover the head in private prayer but it was a Jewish custom to do so.

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QUESTION: That is such a self-purported explanation and the Holy Spirit will tell you that!!! Absolutely wrong analysis and biblical interpretation!!!!! You should be ashamed of yourself. And you call yourself an expert? You are a quack expert.
Paul WAS NOT talking about headcoverings in terms of attire; he was talking about headcoverings in terms of  submission to headship and to God’s ordained order of authority stemming from God himself to Christ, and finally from the man (or husband) to the woman (or wife). This is the central theme of I Corinthians 11. I will explain the concept of headship later.
Using headcoverings as a principle for a mode of attire violates the apostle Paul’s simple instructions to Timothy: to address the new female believers at the church in Ephesus to just use caution and dress modestly. There is no specific mode of attire mentioned by any of the apostles in the entire New Testament as a requirement for modest dressing. Christian women are simply not to dress like worldly women and avoid gaudiness in dress! At the same time, this is not to be mistakenly meant to dress poor and dowdy. The Christian woman on the other hand should dress elegantly and neatly, and be wise and tasteful (propriety as mentioned in I Timothy 2:9) in her choice of dress as a representative of Christ. The godly woman should know where to draw the line by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
During public worship there are 3 things that the Christian woman should keep in mind, especially if there may be unbelievers present in the assembly: 1) she is to adhere to Deut 22:5 ---- although this is an Old Testament law, it still applies today. A woman should not look like a man in any case (this means taking on the demeanor and attitude of a man as pertaining to his style of dress. The man’s style of dress requires him to walk and carry his body like a man, get it?) Whether she may decide to wear a pair of slacks for comfort to attend church or not, the absolute rule is that it is the intentions of her heart is what matters because that law forbids transvestism. If she is not a transvestite (hopefully not because she is a believer, then she is fine). If headcoverings were a requirement for worship in the church back then, then why else does he also warn Timothy to tell them not to show off their dress by embroidering their hair (..not with broided hair, gold, etc)? Modesty is the key. This is the 2nd thing that the Christian woman should keep in mind when going to the house of God for public worship. If she keeps modesty in mind while dressing up to go to church, she will not bring shame to her husband (I Peter 3: 1-4), also keeping in mind that the essence of worship is to worship in spirit and in truth according to the Bible (this is the 3rd factor for public worship). With all these in mind, she would not need to be reminded by the Holy Spirit in the first place to tone down her look! Jesus did not teach that clothes are to depict an individual’s standard of holiness; this is what he condemned in the Pharisees (see Matt. 23:5). So, in the same sense neither does a piece of nylon or cotton cloth to cover the hair! Jesus taught that the Father is seeking true worshippers, those who worship God according to biblical sense; that He is a spirit, not a man, and so worship should be in spirit and in truth (John 4: 23, 24). The Christian woman’s holiness check factor is to wear her hair modestly, both in public worship AND outside of worship. Her hair is her glory and is God-given! Nature has allowed her to have this as her covering (I Corinthians 11:15).
The apostle Paul shows towards the end of his admonition to the Corinthians (read I Corinthians 11: 11-16), by appealing to apostolic authority, spirituality, rationality, and common sense says that there is more to a woman submitting to God’s divine order of authority by just wearing a headcovering. The apostle Paul uses biological phenomena to show that as a man was not to cover his head in Corinthian society, he is not to have his head covered with hair. It show that he is effeminate, which is a direct violation to Deut 22:5, and the effeminate will not inherit the kingdom of God (I Corinthians 6:9). In the same token a woman not covering her hair during public worship (with a headcovering ---this was a sign of submission to her husband in Corinthian society) is directly proportional to a woman displaying herself uncovered (sans hair) before God.
While teaching that women should strive to wear longer hair than men during public worship and that men should have more of a bald or shorn (i.e. hair cut very close to the scalp) look, thus conforming to the standard or custom adopted by the other churches (verse16), he also makes a striking point which he drives home. The relationship between God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ is equal, but has a different role when it comes to authority (going back to verse 3).  In light of this truth, submission does not indicate inferiority or inequality on the part of the woman to the man. This is reflected in verse 11: “however in the Lord both man and woman have interdependence to one another.” The next verse goes on to say that now man is born of a woman (“…even so is the man also by the woman;”), all things still coming from God, reversing the order of creation that woman came from the man and was made for the man (verses 8 & 9). Looking at this we can relate this to something very important: how God now views men and women in terms of salvation. I Peter 3:7 states that husbands and wives are now heirs together of the grace of life. And the grace of life is salvation: “for by grace are ye saved…” We, both men and women accept salvation in the same way and are all 1 in Christ Jesus! Galatians 3: 28 “…there is neither male nor female; for you are all 1 in Christ Jesus.” So there is absolutely now no need for the woman to display a sign of submission by wearing a headcovering. If she chooses to, that is her personal choice! Also too, remember that the woman’s hair is, by nature, not only her glory, but now also her God-given covering (verse 15). It is a glory to her because it is given to her by the LORD God as a covering. She should maintain a decent hair length at all times.

Now, in the context of all of the verses in the New Testament which mention “the just shall live by faith” this pertains to salvific faith, and salvific faith only. Go and read Romans 3:25, 26! We, who are true believers and who trust in the precious blood of Jesus Christ are the just (meaning the justified) that are living by faith, and that faith is salvific faith, faith that is derived from accepting salvation which is only possible through Jesus Christ out Lord. We are justified in that God, our Father, is the justifier of those who truly believe in His righteousness through His Son, Jesus Christ. This also goes for confession of sins. Since the Blood of Christ washes and cleanses us from our sins (Revelation 1:5, 1 John 1:7) we as believers are to trust in the Blood of Christ. If we have faith in the blood of Jesus, as we confess our sins, it removes us from all unrighteousness and we are declared righteous before God our Father (1 John 1:9). We are then justified by the precious Blood of Christ which was shed for our sins (see Rom 3:25 – “Whom God hath set forth to be propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins…” Salvific faith speaks on this wise: “But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification.
Therefore being justified by faith, we now have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” --- Romans 4:24, 24, 5:1
So Brian I ask you, why would you think that “the just shall live by faith” denotes having faith in God that He would provide for future as well as present needs? It is used in a different context in the New Testament, not the same as in Habbakuk; the verse in Habbakuk would be used to support your explanation. I specifically asked you what it meant in the New Testament. You gave me the explanation for the Old Tesatament!!!
In the Book of Galatians, the context in which this phrase is employed is once again pertaining to salvific faith. The Apostle Paul’s point in his rebuke to Peter (Galatians 2:16) is that we are no longer justified by works of the law, but by faith in Christ Jesus (“…that we might be justified by the faith of Christ…”) Paul emphasizes again, (this time to the Galatians in ch. 3) that we are redeemed from the adherence to the law by salvific faith; that is, we are no longer justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Christ Jesus.
The conclusion of the matter is that the law was designed to bring us to Christ (Gal. 3: 23, 24). Christ has come to fulfill the law, so that we could be justified by faith. The purpose of the law was also to teach us (mankind) that righteousness could not be obtained by human effort.
Again in Hebrews it is salvific faith that will redeem our souls from eternal destruction and eternity away from God, and will save our souls so that we could have eternal life. We as believers, those who are just (meaning justified) will live by faith in Christ Jesus and will live out their faith by the grace of God in hope of eternal life that has been promised to us (Hebrews 10: 35-39). We count our hope in God through faith (belief) in Jesus Christ that He will save our souls in the end from eternal destruction. That is what salvific faith is all about, and it is the embodiment of the phrase “the just shall live by faith”. Amen. Verse 39 can also correspond to I Peter 1:9: “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”

Just as a matter of observation, I have seen some of the responses that you give to people on the all experts.com website and they are very pathetic, AND you are not a courteous man. The inadequate, vague answers that you provide show an unwillingness to actually help people. Some of the individuals that come to this website actually need help with Scripture. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will guide them in the direction of the truth of certain passages that they have come across in the Word of God, but as new believers, they still need that second opinion in the form of writing from a dedicated servant of God. You provide responses from a self-evaluated point of view (you never provide Scriptures), and that are not in complete accordance to the Word of God. You are not a good panel expert. You are not an expert at all. I would suggest that you take your name off of the website. Thank you.  

Answer
Highly argumentative and if you were already satisfied with the answer you had why bother to ask me? I am here to help those who genuinely seek, but I am not here to argue point and counter-point of Scripture, or to undertake a student's research for them.


The best confirmation of what the Holy Spirit has told a person is for that person to research the Scripture for themselves for he will lead them into all truth