Faith and Faithfulness:
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that ‘without faith it is impossible to please God because the one who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek him.” Interestingly, the word which is translated faith here (pistis), can equally be translated faithfulness. And though the two words faith and faithfulness are obviously related in English (as in Greek), we often tend to think of the notion of ‘faith’ as mere intellectual assent to a set of propositions, which is divorced from ‘action’ consistent with that belief (faithfulness).
The Bible speaks of God himself as being faithful (pistos). When we say that God is faithful, we mean that we can trust God because God always acts according to his word. He is not capricious. But when the bible speaks of humans being faithful, it does so (apparently to us at least) in two distinct ways. It speaks of ‘the faithful’ to refer to people who believe, but it also speaks of individuals being faithful in the sense of being trustworthy, loyal or dependable. I would like to suggest that these two senses, distinct though they may be are not as separate as they seem. Jesus was faithful (dependable, loyal etc) because of what he believed (pisteueo, the verbal form of pistis) about his father. Likewise the things that we truly believe are the things that we live out in our daily lives whether we like it or not.
Integrated Faith
If we are to live lives that are pleasing to God then, we need an integrated faith that encompasses both sides of the Heb 11:6 coin, as it were. James speaks of a type of faith that is disintegrated; where belief is divorced from action. The demons believe in God, but do not please him. In order to please God one must believe first that God exists, but also secondly that God is the type of person who rewards the pursuit of himself. The implication is clear. It is possible to believe in God but not be pleasing to him because we do not seek him. This is the type of faith that James says the demons have, dead disintegrated impotent passive, in a word faithless (as opposed to faithful) belief. If one does not actively, diligently, earnestly seek God, then it is clear that one does not really believe God. One has no faith.
Faith and Reward
To truly believe (in this holistic sense) that there is a God (one side of the ‘coin’ if you will) changes everything! Nothing is necessarily what it seems to the human senses and perceptions. If there is a God, then there is also an unseen Spiritual world, more real than the physical one and more important, to which the physical world itself may be said only to roughly and incompletely correspond. If there is a God, there is an eternity and we may live for things beyond this present life. Stuff does not have to make sense in this life. If there is a God, then there is a judgment, and sin matters. If there is a God, people created in his image matter. Compassion matters. Mercy has meaning. If there is one who rewards (the other side of the coin), and rewards what is done in secret (which we learn from the sermon on the mount), then what is done in secret matters—and matters more in fact that what is done in the open. God sees what is done in secret and rewards accordingly. If God is a rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek him, then it is surely worthwhile to earnestly and diligently seek him. And yet we cannot be said to truly believe this unless we act accordingly—that is unless we actually do earnestly and diligently seek him. Because if we truly have faith in that proposition; if we truly believe it, this faith will be evidenced in our faithfulness to it, this belief evidenced in our daily life.
The Rewarder and the Reward
I say all this for two reasons. The first is to make the point that faith matters. What we believe about God matters. That is to say, theology matters. The second is this. Faithfulness matters. My point here is not to search for yet another excuse to condemn ourselves for not having the type of devotional life that we feel we ought to—most Christians think that they ought to pray more, or study the bible more; in short lead a more consistent Christian life—rather I hope to fundamentally reorient this feeling of ought. The point is not that I ought to pray more, but rather that the God that exists is a God that can be known, and hence that prayer is real. Here is the compelling truth about the God we serve. He wants to be sought. He yearns to be found. He desires to reveal himself. This is surely the reward for those who seek—nothing less than intimate access to God’s own heart.
Theology Matters 
January 24, 2013 at 10:31 am
Solid first post Clayton. Wasn’t tracking with you through the second paragraph but you came home strong and closed the loop in the last one. And I’m going to steal your thoughts from the Faith & Reward and pass them off as my own too. Outstanding. It’s good to have you back.
January 25, 2013 at 1:44 am
Hi Brett. Thanks for reading and nice to hear from you. You are welcome to do that 🙂
January 24, 2013 at 10:36 am
Profound thoughts, Clayton. If I was to add anything, it might be Luther’s insights on faith from his Preface to Romans; I think he grasped real faith better than most
January 25, 2013 at 2:21 am
What a great read. Thanks Jon: “Faith is a work of God in us, which changes us and brings us to birth anew from God (cf. John 1). It kills the old Adam, makes us completely different people in heart, mind, senses, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it. What a living, creative, active powerful thing is faith! It is impossible that faith ever stop doing good. Faith doesn’t ask whether good works are to be done, but, before it is asked, it has done them. It is always active. Whoever doesn’t do such works is without faith; he gropes and searches about him for faith and good works but doesn’t know what faith or good works are. Even so, he chatters on with a great many words about faith and good works.
Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God’s grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God’s grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire. Therefore be on guard against your own false ideas and against the chatterers who think they are clever enough to make judgements about faith and good works but who are in reality the biggest fools. Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain eternally without faith, no matter what you try to do or fabricate.”
January 29, 2013 at 1:48 am
That extract from Luther excites me every time I read it
January 25, 2013 at 11:12 am
Hebrews 11v6 From now onwards I will translate ‘faith’ as ‘faithfulness’…”without faithfulness it is impossible to please God.” I too will use your thoughts Clayton with your permission, however I will take great delight in acknowledging the Theologian who inspired and shared them so eloquently…well done.
Blessings
Vicki See
February 13, 2013 at 9:55 am
Really great thoughts Clayton. I might quibble with you over the spiritual world being “more important” than the physical though.. I can’t think that anything God created as good is less important to him than his own existant reality – the world that he has redeemed himself and will finally completely renew (if you have that view of eschatology!). My real problem with that line of thinking is the inevitable gnostic rejection of the physical.. which I see too much of in conservative circles. Particularly in some older women, for some reason, who spend way too much time in soaking sessions and not enough in joining in God’s redemptive plan for this very real, physical planet! /rant over
Really enjoying reading your posts, nonetheless. Love the faith/faithfulness two-sides explanation. Also a concept in crying need of redressing in some Christian circles.. sadly leading to that very linear, cerebral, event-focused idea of salvation. Very unhelpful. Reminds me very much of NT Wright’s work here 🙂
Bless!
February 14, 2013 at 2:43 am
Thanks for the feecback Kez. And good pick up on the gnosticism thing. Not really intending that association :). But was wanting to recognise that there is sometimes more going on that what it appears to us. This is a matter of perspective I guess (God’s versus ours) rather than setting the physical against or above the physical.
And yes, you rightly discern Wright’s influence. He gives a great account of the linguistic difficulties in translating pistis/pistos in Justification, God’s plan Paul’s vision. My own proposal differs in that I was trying to integrate rather than separate the possible meanings. Great to have your interaction here. Bless you guys.