Faithfulness

the Spirit's fruit in you

Faithfulness is part of a broad harvest of spiritual fruit, such as :

• love (agape);
• joy (chara);
• peace (eirene);
• self-control (egkrateia).
• patience (makrothumia).
• kindness (chrestotes);
• goodness (agathosune);
• gentleness (prautes);
• Also, see humility.

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Faithfulness

Faithfulness : [ < Latin fides < assumed Indo-European bheidh- (to trust, have faith in, abide in)] The quality of being faithful. The word 'faithful' means loyal, full of faith or trust; firmly and resolutely sticking with a person, group, cause, belief, or idea, without waver.

Other words in the word-field of 'faithful' include true, constant, loyal, steadfast, devoted, staunch, and trusty. Words like 'faithfulness': fidelity, loyalty.

The Greek word translated as 'faithfulness' in the spiritual fruits list at is pistis.

Faithfulness is shown, in the Bible:

Who was faithful, in the Bible?

Faithfulness, like other fruit of the Spirit in us, is also a part of God's own character -- one side of what God's all about. That means faithfulness is a part of what is meant when speaking of our being made "in the image of God". God's faithfulness is :

God is faithful:

• .
• .

There is no one word in ancient Hebrew that consistently corresponds with 'faithfulness'. Hebrew meaning, like English, is much determined by context. When used in parallel or context with Heb. chesed ('steadfast love', 'lovingkindness'), Heb. ’emet and sometimes ’emânâ (both meaning 'truth') refer to how true and loyal God is to the covenant people -- that is, God's faithfulness. The word Chesed itself implies faithfulness or steadfastness. This combination is very common in the Hebrew Scriptures, for example, , , , , and .

In , pistos is used twice to convey the sense of secure, true faithfulness. The first use is that "The saying is sure (pistos)" -- in this case, a lyric/parallel-saying that was already in existence, which the letter's readers knew and trusted. The second use is about God's faithfulness (pistos) in the face of our faithlessness.
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