According to Vines respecting “faithfulness”:
- Faithful, Faithfully. Pistos, a. verbal adjective, akin to peitho (see faith) is used in two senses. (a) Passive, faithful, to be trusted, reliable. Said of God, e.g., 1 Cor. 1:9; 10:13; 2 Cor. 1:15; (A.V., “true”). Of Christ, e.g., 2 Thess. 3:3; Heb. 2:1-7; 3:2; Rev. 1:5; 3:14; 19:11; Of the words of God, e.g., Acts 13:34; “sure” 1 Tim. 1:15; 3:1 (A.V., “true.”); 2 Tim. 2:11; Tit. 1:9; 3:8; Rev. 21:5; 22:6. Of the servants of the Lord, Matt. 24:45; 25:21, 23; Acts 16:15; 1 Cor. 4:2, 17; 7:25; Eph. 6:21; Col. 1:7; 4:7, 9 etc. Of believers, Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:2. (b). Active, signifying, believing, trusting, relying e.g., In a comment on 3 John 5, To do a faithful work is to do what is worthy of a faithful man.
- APISTOS -This of course would be looking at the word in the negative. One who is untrustworthy, not worthy of confidence or belief. [He points out that with regard to the word FAITHFULNESS that this word is not found in the A.V.] The R.V. corrects the A.V. “faith” to “faithfulness” in Rom. 3:3; and in Gal. 5:22.
The word faithful itself has to do with trust, loyalty, being trustworthy and true. Thus, a person who is unfaithful as a child of God is faithless. Such a one is lacking in faith. He demonstrates that he is given to breaking promises to God. This type of child of God is untrustworthy in his stewardship to Christ. “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” (l Corinthians 4:2 NKJV). Each of us would do well to ask himself these soul-searching questions, “Will I be able to pass this test on judgment day? Am I faithful as a steward? Can my Master (My Lord and Savior) completely rely on me? Can He count on me to be totally trustworthy to carry out my commitment to Him and His church?” (2 Corinthians 5:10).
How is it that so many members of the church seem to be so complacent, lukewarm, indifferent and, yes, even unfaithful in their service (with regard to their stewardship) to the Master, Jesus Christ, and to His bride the church? How can people consider themselves to be faithful members of the church when they are unfaithful in attendance (Hebrews 10:25; Matthew 6:33)? How can people consider themselves to be faithful when their giving is irregular, and they fail to give as they have been prospered (1 Corinthians 16:1-2)? How can people consider themselves to be faithful when they neither participate in nor support the regular work programs of the church?
Would an employer consider an employee to be faithful (dependable) if he only showed up for work about one third or one-half of the time? Do you honestly think he would be able to keep his job? Would a husband consider a wife to be dependable if she stayed gone for days, maybe even weeks at a time, and then when she did come back, there was no explanation given for her absence, and for her having forsaken him and her home obligations? She expects him to accept her back as faithful and just take up where she left off without question as to where she has been, but do you really think that it is the way it would and should go? We know better, don’t we? However, is this not how many members of the church treat the local congregation where they worship? Would we say that our car was dependable (faithful) to start for us if it started only half of the time? Even if it were alright 7 out of 8 times on the average, would we still count that car as dependable? No! We want one on which we can count to start 100% of the time. We want one that is dependable. Yes, and the Lord wants us as stewards to be faithful, but are we (1 Corinthians 4:2)?
Some Things to Aid
in Keeping Us Faithful
(l) We need to continue steadfastly (Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 15:58). (2) We need to keep on growing (2 Peter 3:18). (3) We need to keep on working (Philippians 2:12). (4) We need to keep on walking in the light (1 John 1:7; Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 5:7). (5) We need to keep on giving (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). (6) We need to keep on helping those in need (James 1:27; Galatians 6:10). (7) We need to keep on studying (2 Timothy 2:15). (8) We need to keep on praying (1 Thessalonians 5:17). (9) We must press on toward the goal (Philippians 3:13-14; Galatians 6:9).
Works Cited
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. Electronic Database. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985.
