π Tractate Makkot β "The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith"
Tractate Makkot deals with lashes as judicial punishment and laws of witnesses. Its final folio contains a remarkable passage in which the rabbis compress the entire 613 commandments of Torah down to a single principle β and the single verse they land on is the same verse Paul quotes as the foundation of justification by faith.
The Passage β Makkot 24aβ
The rabbis discuss how the prophets progressively reduced the commandments to their essential core:
"Moses came and established six hundred and thirteen commandments. David came and reduced them to eleven, as it is written in Psalm 15. Isaiah came and reduced them to six (Isaiah 33:15β16). Micah came and reduced them to three (Micah 6:8). Isaiah came again and reduced them to two (Isaiah 56:1). Habakkuk came and reduced them to one, as it is stated: 'But the righteous person shall live by his faith' (Habakkuk 2:4)."
The entire Torah β 613 commandments β is finally reduced by the rabbis to a single statement from the prophet Habakkuk: the righteous shall live by his faith (emunah).
The Argumentβ
This is the precise verse Paul quotes as the cornerstone of his argument for justification by faith in two of his most important letters:
Romans 1:17:
"For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written: 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"
Galatians 3:11:
"Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"
The rabbis and Paul agree on the verse. They agree it is the summary of the Torah. They agree that emunah β faithfulness, trust, faith β is the core of what God requires. The disagreement is not about whether faith is central. The disagreement is about the object of that faith.
For the rabbis, faith is faithfulness to YHWH expressed through Torah observance. For Paul, faith is trust placed in the Messiah who fulfilled the Torah's righteous requirement on behalf of those who could not (Romans 8:4). The Torah pointed to him; the summary of the Torah is trust in the one it was always pointing to.
The Word β Emunah (ΧΦ±ΧΧΦΌΧ ΦΈΧ)β
Emunah carries more weight than the English "faith" typically conveys. It means:
- Faithfulness β steady, reliable, not wavering
- Trust β reliance on someone outside yourself
- Firmness β from the root aman (firm, sure), the same root as amen
It is not primarily intellectual assent. It is the posture of a person who leans their full weight on what they believe to be solid. The rabbis recognized this quality as the summary of what God requires. Paul says the object that makes emunah possible β and that justifies the person exercising it β is Christ, who is himself the faithfulness of God made flesh (Romans 3:22 β pistis Christou, the faithfulness of/in Christ).
Connection to the New Testamentβ
| Makkot 24a | New Testament |
|---|---|
| 613 commandments reduced to one β Habakkuk 2:4 | Romans 1:17 quotes the same verse as the gospel's foundation |
| Emunah = the summary of Torah | "Love is the fulfillment of the law" β Romans 13:10 |
| The righteous live by faith | "I am the resurrection and the life" β John 11:25 |
| Rabbis agree faith is central; disagree on its object | Paul: the object is Christ, the goal of the Torah (Romans 10:4) |