What does the Bible say about faithfulness?

aman, πιστός. This word in both the O.T. and the N.T. is from the same root as 'faith.' It is being true to oneself, to one's nature, to any promise given, and to any trust committed. It is in various connections often applied to God Himself. Deut. 7:9; Isa. 49:7; 1 Cor. 1:9 1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Thess. 5:24; 2 Tim. 2:13; Heb. 10:23; 1 Peter 4:19; 1 John 1:9. The Lord Jesus also is faithful. He is 'a faithful high priest' and 'a faithful and true witness.' 2 Thess. 3:3; Heb. 2:17; Rev. 1:5; Rev. 3:14; Rev. 19:11. The commandments and testimonies of God are called faithful. Ps. 119:86, 138. The words of the gospel are also faithful: the promises attached thereto will unquestionably be fulfilled. 1 Tim. 1:15; 1 Tim. 4:9; 2 Tim. 2:11; Titus 3:8; Rev. 21:5. Christians are exhorted to be faithful as stewards to any trust committed to them, and faithful as witnesses to an absent Lord. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Rev. 2:10.

But while we are not to exalt a ministering servant, no more are we to despise him or his work. The apostles should certainly be recognized for what they actually were, "ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." They both served Christ, and ministered Christ to others; and were entrusted with a stewardship in reference to rightly administering the truth of the mysteries of God which had been revealed to them for the sake of all the saints of God. How blessed an honor, yet how solemn a charge! For the requirement of paramount importance in a steward is that he be found faithful. Human intellect, zeal, ingenuity, ability, are all of no value if this one matter of faithfulness is missing.

(V. 2). The Apostle proceeds to show that the great characteristic required in a steward is not cleverness, nor eloquence, nor popularity, but “faithfulness”. This is in accord with the Lord's own teaching, when He spoke of the “faithful and wise steward” (Luke 12:42). Later, when near his end, the Apostle can write to Timothy, “The things that thou hast heard of me … the same commit thou to faithful men” (2 Timothy 2:2). Moreover, in this chapter he speaks of Timothy as being “faithful in the Lord” (verse 17). We, like the Corinthian saints, may at times value servants by their knowledge or their gifts; but their spiritual value in God's sight is measured by their faithfulness.

(Vv. 3-5). Moreover, the faithfulness is in relation to the One Who appoints. Hence the Apostle can say, “It is the very smallest matter that I be examined of you or of man's day” (N.Tn.). He does not say that their judgment of him is no matter, but is of the least importance. Nor does he trust in his own examination of himself. He is not conscious of any wrong motive in himself, but this will not justify him from all unfaithfulness before the Lord, Who knows the secret counsels of the heart, and therefore can alone estimate the measure of faithfulness in each of His servants. This will not be known “until the Lord come”. Hence the true servant does not look for, or set great value upon, the approval of men. How often in the very things in which the saints praise us we may find the working of the flesh in some selfish motive for which we have to judge ourselves before the Lord. We are therefore to judge nothing before the time. Both the condemnation and praise of men may be equally at fault. At the coming of the Lord the stewardship of the servant will be appraised at its true value. “Then shall every man have praise of God”. This hardly implies that every man will be praised, but that every man that is praised will be praised “of God”. Men judge by the outward appearance; the Lord takes into account “the hidden things of darkness” and “the counsels of the heart”. How many an act that now has the appearance of great faithfulness may then be found to have been prompted by some unworthy motive!

The faithfulness of God! What a glorious fact this is, and how little have we grasped it. He must ever be faithful to all that He is, and to all that He has said. He cannot deny Himself. nor can He deny the one who stakes everything upon Him and the truth of His Word. Therefore it is that "the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings." as the psalm says. If our souls really hold to the faithfulness of God that is what we must inevitably do. We see that He is wholly true, and therefore He is to be wholly trusted.

In these later times perhaps no one has more stressed the faithfulness of God, and lived in the power of it, than the late Hudson Taylor, who may be termed the apostle of the Chinese. It seems to have been his distinguishing feature. He was accustomed to quote the words, "Have faith in God," as meaning, "Hold God's faithfulness." He had some solid ground for this, inasmuch as a very competent scholar assures us that the Greek word for faith, together with the Hebrew and the Latin words, as also the English, "hover between two meanings; trustfulness, the frame of mind which relies upon another; and trustworthiness, the frame of mind which can be relied upon. Not only are the two connected together grammatically, as active and passive senses of the same word, or logically, as subject and object of the same act; but there is a close moral affinity between them. Fidelity, constancy, firmness, confidence, reliance, trust, belief — these are the links which connect the two extremes, the passive with the active meaning of faith." The faithfulness of God, gloriously buttressed by His mercy, His righteousness, His judgment, His loving-kindness, does indeed reach to the clouds, and we may safely count upon Him.

Let us not over-estimate these sacrifices of the present, but imitate the apostle who shows how little he values the best things that earth honours. So our Lord Jesus here says, "He that is faithful in the least is faithful also in much."405c (Cf. Matt. 25:21, 23.) The smallest thing affords a sphere in which one can glorify God; but there must be the disregard of the present in the light of the future. It is something to be generous in money matters; it is very much more to love the Church, and be devoted to the Master, suffering with Him and for Him. But there are countless ways in which He may be magnified. "He that is unrighteous in the least is unrighteous also in much." Yet, as all know, little things constantly test our reality. Many a man might not be dishonest about a thing of great value, but he might make too free in what is petty. There cannot be a greater fallacy than decrying a severe judgment formed about moral failure in matters of little pecuniary value, as it were making much ado about nothing, whereas it is in small things often that a man's true character is best known.

"If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who shall entrust to you the true?" The true riches cannot be entrusted where the heart has been false in that which is so trifling in the Lord's eyes as "the unrighteous mammon."406 Nor is it only that present honour and riches are not "the true," but the mere counters of the hour. There is the further consideration: "If ye have not been faithful in that which is another's, who shall give unto you your407 own?" Present property is not strictly one's own. The whole course of the Christian here is really that of one acting for another, even Christ. We are servants in trust for the Lord. The Christian ought to regard his time, his money, his abilities, his property, as the goods of his Master; and his business is to serve his Master, faithfully carrying out His will. This is of immense importance; because covetousness consists in endeavouring to make earthly things which God has not given your own. The wisdom of the disciple is to count what appears to belong to him as really his Master's. "Your own": so Blass, with ℵAD, etc., all cursives, the Latt. Syrrpesch hcl hier Memph. Goth. Arm. Aeth. Hort, followed by Weiss, favours "our own," the reading of B and L. See, further, note 407 in Appendix.

But there is solemn caution, as well as sure expectation of glory. "If we shall deny Him, He also will deny us; if we are faithless, He abideth faithful; for He cannot deny Himself." There was danger in a day of declension particularly of departure not only from this or that divine principle but from Himself, and this permanently. Nor does the apostle bolster up the saints in what is the most dangerous of delusions, that there is no danger. For dangers abound on all sides; and we ought to know that grievous times were to come in the last times. Denying the Lord, so far from being impossible for a servant of His, is exactly what scripture shows us to have been the fact in one most honoured, who had thought that for him, of all men, it was impossible; yet was Peter on the eve of it. No doubt this was but a passing act, however shameful and deplorable, however repeated then, and with aggravation; yet the all-overcoming all-forgiving, grace of Christ rose above and effaced it, turning it even to never-to-be-forgotten profit, and fruitful blessing. But where it is a course of life, as here ("if we shall," not merely if we should as an act), the consequence is, as it ought to be, the necessary vindication on God's part of His injured majesty: "He also will deny us." God would cease to be God, if He acquiesced in the dishonour of His Son. The believer bows and believes, adores and serves. The unbeliever, and the denier if possible yet more, may insult now, but both must ere long honour Him in judgment, "that all may honour the Son even as they honour the Father" (John 5:23).

There is a closing sentence of great weight, "if we are unfaithful, He abideth faithful"; and this for the most convincing and glorious of reasons, "for He cannot deny Himself." It may at first hearing seem to take from the ease and flow of the sentence to read "for", as we ought on good and ancient authority. But on reflection this really adds not a little to its force; because it is not a mere independent addition to confirm the foregoing: the ground or proof of His abiding fidelity lies in the blessed fact of His unchanging truth.

Then comes the injunction, "Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of Man comes at an hour when ye think not" (Luke 12:40). Peter then wants to know the extent of application of the parable, and gets his desire. "And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Of a truth I say to you, that he will make him ruler over all that he has" (Luke 12:42-44). Who is now the faithful and wise steward? is a question I have to ask myself. Am I a faithful servant? Am I a wise steward? It is not a question of success. The Lord never bids me be successful. No. The point is, am I wise, and am I faithful? To be really successful I must be faithful, and wise. Many servants have stopped short of the truth, because they feared that they might spoil their success. The Lord has said, also to us: "After a long time the lord of those servants comes, and reckons with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst to me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said to him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord" (Matt. 25:19-21). Carefully observe, it is "Well done, good and faithful servant," not "successful servant." I should like to find that man, the Lord says. Oh, do not look round about to see who the man is. The point for you and me, is — and the Lord exercise our hearts regarding it — Am I that man?

Another thing is revealed for their comfort. If Satan was about to be let loose upon them, the trial should be limited. The tribulation should only last for ten days.* Lastly, the Lord promises the crown of life to those who should be faithful unto death. It is essential to perceive that this fidelity unto death is not faithfulness throughout our natural lives, but martyrdom for the sake of Christ and His word. It is an exhortation to be faithful, even at the cost of life; as, for example, Stephen and James, the brother of John, were, and as thousands since their day have been, by the grace of God. It is this character of fidelity the Lord urges upon this assembly in the circumstances of tribulation, through which she soon would have to pass; for there are many saints Who would find the prospect of death, a death of martyrdom, a death, in the eyes of men, "of shame and loss" — the most searching test to which they could be subjected. He who knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are dust — yea, more, who is touched with a feeling of our infirmities — provides therefore the antidote; cheers His people, in view of the impending trial, and incites them to constancy and courage, with the promise of the crown of life. One perceives instantly the blessed adaptation of the promise to the circumstances. What would constitute the temptation to unfaithfulness? The fear of death, or a clinging to life in this world. It is to meet this, and to raise the thoughts of any of His own who might be feeble and despondent about the present, that He speaks to them of the crown of life — life in its full fruition, crowned, as it were, with His own special approbation; life, eternal life, disencumbered from all entanglements, feasting to the full on its own proper objects, displayed in all its perfections in its own proper sphere in the Lord's own presence, where, conformed to His own image, those who have been faithful unto death here will enjoy the special place in glory which the Lord in His grace may award. This is the crown of life.†

The child of God, for his own protection and blessing, and out of concern or the blessing of others, and above all, in order to honour God, should seek only the will of the Lord and the guidance of His hand in this matter that must vitally affect his entire future life for good or for ill. For if two should agree to live together as man and wife, their coming together is a solemn act, God joining them together as "one flesh," - an act therefore by which they commit themselves to a path of unswerving faithfulness to the other. The ungodly world about us today flagrantly disregards these serious obligations: countless broken homes bear witness to the treacherous dishonesty of human hearts; and gross sin multiplies its toll of sorrow and misery.

But, in the face of all this, God abides faithful. He cannot deny Himself. Here is the resource and the resting-place of faith. It recognises and owns the ruin; but it counts on God. Faith is not blind to human failure; but it fixes its gaze on divine faithfulness. It confesses the ruin of man; but it counts on the resources of God.