Faith or faithfulness...

Reading yesterday in the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, I was struck by a well known verse which is echoed in other parts of the Bible too. It says, "The just shall live by faith" or "The righteous will live by their faith" or something else along those lines, depending which translation of the Bible you use. But I happened to be reading in my Spanish Bible, and it said that, "los justos vivirán por su fidelidad a Dios" - which  means that the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. That got me thinking... Is there a difference between faith and faithfulness? Is it the same word in the original Hebrew? Logically, "faithful" should mean "full of faith," but in normal usage we've tended to give them two different meanings. We've made "faith" about something we believe, and "faithfulness" about something we do - about loyalty or dependability. But surely the two are inextricably linked. If we truly have faith in God, this should express itself in our faithfulness to Him and to His Word.

Sure enough, the Hebrew could be transliterated as, "the righteous shall live by his faithfulness." The word means truth, loyalty or stability, as well as faith or faithfulness. And although the syntax clarifies that "his faith" or "his faithfulness" refers to the faith and faithfulness of the righteous person, I couldn't help remembering that it really all comes down in the end to His faithfulness. It's because of the incredible faithfulness of God that we have life and are empowered to live faithfully, or righteously. What an amazing God we serve! And how very much I long to be just in His eyes, and faithful to Him till the end of my days.