Do you see the contrast we have [here in Habakkuk 2:4–5]? On the one hand you have God's servant who will go on living by his faith, and that servant is set, in contrast, to this arrogant self-sufficient Babylonian, who never gets enough—in his conquest, his possessions, his domination, or his renown. He is the epitome of arrogant sufficiency. This Babylonian knows no destitution. But you see, whatever faith is then, it rejects that. It is in contrast with that human arrogance and that self-sufficiency. So what is he saying here? Calvin puts it quite well, he says: what you have here is a faith which strips us of all arrogance and leads us naked and needy to God, that we may seek salvation from him alone. What do I mean by the loneliness of faith? It leans on God alone; there are no other props. It does not have, as the Babylonian has here, domination and all these extra things; it does not have this self-sufficiency. It leans on God alone.
So Habakkuk is saying to us, the righteous go on living, not by his power, his assertiveness training, his pride, his arrogance, or his achievements, but by his faith. And that is a very humbling thing, because faith leans on God alone. So essentially, by this contrast, Habakkuk is almost saying the righteous go on living by faith alone, because faith leans on God alone.1
Ralph Davis
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.