FAITHFULNESS

“Faithfulness” comes from the Greek word “pistis.” As used in Scriptures usually refers to one’s belief or faith in God, in His Son, in His Gospel by which one is saved through grace.

In this present context, “pistis” takes on a different meaning, instead of referring to that virtue which makes a person one on whom others can rely, dependability. This fruit in man is predicated on the truth about God, His faithfulness. So when a believer manifests this trait in interpersonal relationships, he or she is become a “partaker of the divine nature,” acting in godliness or “God likeness.” Even as a child exhibits family resemblances, loyalty, trustworthiness and fidelity in a believer presents to others an accurate, Spirit empowered, manifestation of the unseen God.

In a word this component of the fruit of the Spirit describes one’s trustworthiness, loyalty, reliability, adherence, constancy, dependability, devotedness. Another synonym is the word fidelity.

Let’s see what other have to say about faithfulness:

Witherington writes that in a list as this “pistis” in all likelihood does not refer to faith, but rather to faithfulness, and so it is one again an attribute of God now predicated of the believer. More importantly for our discussion, Paul sees it as the paragdigmatic term to describe the self giving action of Christ, in particular referring
His voluntary surrender to death on the cross in obedience to God’s will and plan

The faithfulness of Christ is to be likewise mirrored by Christians. This term in Greek literature refers to trustworthiness, a person who acts in good faith, and it is perhaps likely that the Gentile Galatians would hear some of these sorts of overtones here, especially in view of the two term which follow this one and conclude the list.

Wuest agrees that in Galatians 5:22 “pistis” does not refer here to faith exercised by the saint, but to faithfulness and fidelity as produced in the life of the yielded Christian by the Holy Spirit.

Morris says that faithfulness is the ability to serve God faithfully through the years and through the temptations of life is not something we achieve by heroic virtue. It comes from the Spirit

Hendrickson writes that “faithfulness” is faithfulness to God and to His will, accordingly, the virtue which, in all probability, Paul is here commending as a gift of the Spirit. This, however, does not exclude but includes loyalty toward men.
Hansen says faithfulness is the quality of keeping commitments in relationships. The Galatians proved to be fickle in their attitude toward Paul. Only the Spirit can produce the quality of loyalty no matter the cost.

John Eadie writes that faith is not simply faith in God in the theological sense, that being implied, as the Spirit dwells only in those who have faith, not merely fidelity or good faith, nor veracity; but trust generally, trustfulness toward God and towards man. Confidence in God, in all His promises, and under all His dispensations; a spirit of unsuspicious and generous confidence towards me, not moved by doubts and jealousies, not conjuring up possible causes of distrust, and treasuring up sad lessons from previous instances of broken plight.

William Barclay on faithfulness writes that faithfulness is fidelity, the word “pistis” is common or secular Greek for trustworthiness. It is the characteristic of the man who is reliable.

Albert Barnes concludes that the word here may be used in the sense of fidelity, and may denote that the Christian will be a faithful man, and man faithful to his word and promises; a man who can be trusted or confided in. It is probable that the word is used in this sense because the object of the apostle is not to speak of the feelings which we have towards God so much as to illustrate the influences of the Spirit in directing and controlling our feelings toward men. True religion makes a man faithful. The Christian is a faithful as a man; faithful as a neighbor, friend, father, husband and son. He is faithful to his contracts; faithful to his promises. No man can be Christian who is not thus faithful; and all pretensions to being under the influences of the Spirit when such fidelity does not exist, are deceitful and vain.

Adam Clarke says that faith, here used for fidelity, punctuality in performing promises, conscientious carefulness in persevering what is committed to our trust, in restoring it to its proper owner, in transacting the business confided to us, neither betraying the secret of our friend, not disappointing the confidence of our employer.

J. B. Lightfoot in discussing the concept of faith in his commentary on Galatians, notes that in Hebrew, Greek and Latin that the definitions of the word for faith hovers between two meanings; trustfulness, the frame of mind which relies on another and trustworthiness, the frame of mind which can be relied upon. “Pisitis” seems not to be used in Galatians 5:22 in its theological sense “belief in God.” Its position points rather to the passive meaning of faith, “trustworthiness, fidelity, honest.”

C. Norman Bartlett says that here Paul refers to faith which can also be seen as faithfulness. Probably capable of a double meaning, of trustfulness and trustworthiness. The one who is lead by the Spirit has an unwavering confidence in God and reliance upon His words of promise; at the same time he manifests dependability in the discharge of the responsibilities which the Lord sees fit to lay upon him. Having faith in God involves keeping faith with God. We trust Him. How far can He trust us?

Morris simply puts it like this: Faithfulness is the ability to serve God faithfully through the years and through the temptations of life. It is not something that we achieve by heroic virtue. It comes from the Spirit.

The Father’s Faithfulness

Hudson Taylor, the humble servant of God to China, demonstrated extraordinary trust in God’s faithfulness. In his journal he wrote:

“Our heavenly Father is a very experience One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning. He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all. Depend on it, God work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.

We may be faint and weary, but our heavenly Father is all-powerful. Our feelings may fluctuate, but He is unchangeable. Even creation itself is a record of His steadfastness. That’s why we can sing these words from a hymn by Thomas Chisholm: “Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, sun, moo, and stars in their courses above join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.”

What an encouragement to live for Him! Our strength for the present and hope for the future are not based on the stability of our own perseverance but on the fidelity of God. No matter what our need, we can count of the Father’s faithfulness.

“Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided,

Great is Thy faithfulness, lord unto me.” Chisholm

HE WHO ABANDONS HIMSELF TO GOD WILL NEVER BE ABANDONED BY GOD.


All Things Work Together

It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted; saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as is the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.

Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.

The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.

Your Faithful Friend

“For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” (Psalm 57:10)

Junior high school can be one long intensive seminar on drama in relationships. I am convinced that any psychological malfunction in my life today is directly traceable to those two years of school. Okay, maybe it’s not quite that dramatic, but junior high did teach me a little about fickle friendships.

I was minding my own business when one of Nancy’s friends came up to me and announced, “Hey, did you know that Nancy likes you?” To be honest, I had never given Nancy a second thought until that moment, but suddenly I was intrigued. My male ego was suddenly stirred and I liked the idea of being liked! So I passed my message back through the string of friend that had conveyed the message to me. That is, of course, how junior high romance works. I told my friend, who told another friend, who told Nancy’s friend, who then passed the message back to her.

“Joe says that he likes you too!”

But by the time my message got back to Nancy, she no longer liked me! For the first time I was singed by the fickle flames of romance.

A lot of our friendships are like that, aren’t they? We look back across the landscape of life and see different friends popping up here and there, our buddies from junior high, and the girl we took to the prom in high school, the college roommates, and the co-worker from the cubicle next to us. We realize quickly that many of those friendships. Often consumingly important at the time, fade into dim memories leaving us thinking, “I wonder what happened to…?”

Even more disconcerting is realizing how fickle we are in friendships. In honest moments, we could list the people we no longer get in touch with, or the phone calls we don’t return. In life, solid, faithful to the core friendships are few and far between.

I wonder if you and I bring that same dynamic into our relationship with Jesus? When we first meet Jesus, He is everything to us! But as time wears on, we tend to drift away. When was the last time He heard from you? When was the last time you sat down to hear His voice and fellowship with Him? As the old saying goes: “If God seems far away, guess who moved!” You may have gone on to other interests, but thankfully He hasn’t lost interest in you. He, more than anyone else, remains there waiting for you as your faithful friend!

The psalmist often sings of God’s undying love for us. And I need to tell you that it is not the kind of love that rides on emotions or favors. It is an expression of God’s enduring, rock solid commitment to you as His beloved, and it is often linked, as it is here in Psalm 57:10, with His unfailing faithfulness. In fact, the psalmist literally cannot get his mind around the extensiveness of God’s love and faithfulness, conceding finally that God’s love “reaches to the heavens” and His faithfulness “reaches to the skies.” In other words, it is without limit and without end.

So when you receive word that God loves you, please know that it is not a junior high school, fickle, fleeting kind of love. It is a life changing, eternally satisfying offer of a fulfilling friendship with your Creator. Today He stands knocking at your door wanting to come in and spend some quality time with you (Revelation 3:20). Go ahead, open the door of your heart, it’s your faithful friend!