God's Faithfulness

Jeremiah 1:4-10 Psalm 71:1-6 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13 Luke 4:21-30

God’s Faithfulness

Very few people appreciate the complexities and difficulties regarding biblical translation. Misunderstand or mistranslate or misinterpret one word and you can change the theology of a church.  Take the simple Greek word often translated as ‘faith’ for example. This word can also be rendered ‘faithfulness’…in fact, this is how it had always been translated (most notably in  William Tyndale’s English translation) until a German monk, in his attempt to oppose the abuses and hierarchical power systems entrenched in the medieval Roman Catholic Church, decided to change this one word from ‘faithfulness’ to ‘faith’. This small change in the translation of one word gave birth to the cornerstone of Reformation Theology. Justification by faith alone. 

Interestingly enough, the Reformers that followed in Luther’s wake all confessed that salvation was by grace alone, but by making the application of that grace contingent upon our ability to exercise faith in order to gain salvation, they contradicted their own theology. The result of this was what some call a lack of assurance of salvation or salvation angst, and for good reason. My ability to produce faith is, at best unstable. It more than often waxes and wanes with my circumstances, my emotions, or my mental health. Do I then lose my salvation when my doubts and fears overpower me?

Consider these two different translations of this word in a very well-known verse.

“For by grace you have been saved through (your) faith…”

OR

“For by grace you have been saved through (his) faithfulness…”

The difference may seem insignificant, but the result is profound. If the word is translated ‘faith’, then it is something you do in order to be graciously saved or delivered. In other words, it is a work, and salvation is gained by doing it or it is not gained by not doing it. If you have faith you are saved. If you don’t have faith, you are not saved. Your salvation depends on you.

 However, if it is translated as ‘faithfulness’ then it is something done by God which you undeservingly and freely receive by grace. You are saved because of his faithfulness. Your salvation depends on him.

If one looks at the word in context, then translating it as ‘faithfulness’ makes far better sense as the rest of the sentence makes it clear that this is not something done by you.

“For by grace you have been saved through his faithfulness, and this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of your works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, recreated in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

It is the faithfulness of Christ that freely and graciously saves us…he does it all. 

Now, contrary to some popular thought, the Scriptures (Old and New Testament) have never taught that salvation is something we can earn or work for or gain by merit. Scripture clearly teaches that God chooses us. We do not choose him. From the moment sin entered the world through the devastatingly destructive disobedience of Adam and Eve, it has been God who graciously initiates reconciliation. The emotionally charged question, “where are you?” echoes down through the centuries. It is always God who seeks us and it is always God who finds us and it is always God who provides for our deliverance. 

As Psalm 53:1-3 states bluntly: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” You see, we are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins…the day you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God warned, you shall surely die…we are dead…completely and utterly incapable of generating life in and of ourselves. Only God, the source and giver of life, can breathe life back into us.

It is God who comes to Adam and Eve. It is God who saves Noah. It is God who approaches Abraham. It is God who delivers Israel and makes it quite clear in Deuteronomy 7 that he delivered them for no other reason than because he loved them and was faithful in keeping the promise he made to Abraham. God raised up the Judges. God called Samuel to anoint David King. God appointed Jeremiah a prophet to the nations even before he was born. God even raised up the pagan king Cyrus so that the exiles could return to the promised land.

And ultimately, because God loved the world so much, he sent his only begotten son into the world to give eternal life to all who receive it. All this is from God…he reconciled us to himself through Jesus. We were dead, he made us alive…he made us new creations…he saved us by grace through his faithfulness.

God promised, from the moment sin entered the world, that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. God promised that through Abraham’s seed, all the nations of the world would be blessed. God promised and he was faithful in the fulfilment of his word. 

We are saved through his faithfulness. We are delivered from the power of sin and our slavery to Satan because God has faithfully done what he promised to do.

Why is this such a big deal, you may ask. Why indeed. Think on this. If my salvation…or even my well-being, my healing, my success, my life depends on my ability to generate faith within myself then I am better than the one who cannot. I then have reason to boast. As such I disagree with the evaluation of Scripture concerning my condition. If I can be saved because of my faith, then there is something good in me after all. But what does Scripture say? No one seeks after God. No one understands. No one does good, not even one. All have sinned. All fall short of the glory of God. All are dead. 

So, what is faith? Well, faith is a gift given to us by God. Like every other gift we may have. It is God who made us who we are in our mother’s womb…it is God who remade us in Jesus to do what he created us to do. It is God who gave us abilities and talents and aptitudes. These are all gifts given to us by a gracious and benevolent and loving gift giver. To think that I can boast of a gift is ludicrous.

And yet this is what we do. Some of the most loveless deeds have been done by those who claim to follow the Lord of love. And we make it sound so spiritual. I speak with the tongues of mortals and angels. Is have prophetic powers. I understand all mysteries and possess all knowledge. I have faith to move mountains. I witness to the fact that I decided to believe in Jesus. I am better than others. Thank you, God, that I am not like other people. Thank you, God, that I am righteous.

But what are we without him? Jesus said we are nothing and can do nothing without him. He said he chose us; we did not choose him. We are his because he has been faithful to do what he promised. He was obedient – he was faithful – even to death on the cross. We are what we are because he is who he is. And he is love.

We love him because he first loved us. It is his love that breaks up the fallow ground of our hearts…it is his love that takes out our rock hard, cold heart…it is his love that gives us a new and clean heart…it is his love that breathes into our dead bodies the life-giving Holy Spirit. It is all him…he comes to me, he pursues me and woos me, he chooses me because he loves me, he rescues me because I am unable to rescue myself, he adopts me and makes me his own child.

That is the meaning of grace and that is why it is amazing grace. Grace is a free gift – there is nothing we can do to deserve it. What is lost cannot be unlost unless it is found. What is bound cannot be loosed unless it is unbound. Captives cannot be released unless someone sets them free. The blind cannot see unless someone gives them sight. The dead cannot live unless someone resurrect them. 

Because of his faithfulness, God has delivered you and has made you his very own child. Because of his faithfulness, God will always be with you even when life makes you doubt that he is.  Because of his faithfulness, he will never break his promise. Because of his faithfulness, his love never fails.

Let us pray.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2022