Galatians 3:11

in the sight of God Better, before God, i.e. at His bar. This forensicuse of the preposition is common in Classical Greek. Comp. 2 Thessalonians 1:6; James 1:27; 1 Peter 2:20.

The just shall live by faith The quotation from Habakkuk 2:4, is also found, Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:27. The literal rendering of the Hebrew, as given by Bp. Lightfoot, is, -Behold the proud man, his soul is not upright; but the just man shall live by his faith". In the LXX. the verse runs, -If one draw back, my soul hath no pleasure in him; but the just shall live by faith in me (or, my faith)". There is also a reading, -My just one shall live by faith". Although the Hebrew word, which is rendered -faith", elsewhere means -steadfastness", there is really no violence done to the original by St Paul's manner of quotation. The Greek versions support his rendering. And the expression -faith in me", is equivalent to -steadfast confidence in me": or if we adopt the other rendering -my faith = steadfastness", we have that attribute of God -who cannot lie", which is at once the correlative and ground of man's trust in God. Comp. Isaiah 7:9, -If ye hold not fast, verily ye shall not stand fast". Dr Cheyne.