Faithfulness of God

The faithfulness of God is so knit into the fabric of the Bible that it can easily be forgotten or undervalued.  God's faithfulness has to do with the essence of His nature.  His faithfulness is the application  of His nature, namely His infinitude, His Sovereignty, and His immutability; it is an outpouring of His self.

On Mount Sinai, when God gives Moses the second version of the Ten Commandments, God passes before Moses and refers to Himself as "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Ex. 34:6 ESV).  Faithfulness as a word refers to commitment, loyalty, perseverance, and reliability.  It would not be totally incorrect to think God's faithfulness was in reference to His relationship to man; however, God's faithfulness should be primarily understood in reference to Himself.

God is faithful to His character and nature.  An example of this would be His justice.  Because He is just, He is always just.  It would be incomprehensible to think that God could ever "suspend" His justice.  The reality of this makes the atonement and sacrifice of Christ's passion on the cross so much more amazing.

God does not suspend His justice to extend His grace.  Christ's perfect, sinless life that culminated in His atoning crucifixion fulfilled God's justice and is evidence of God's enduring faithfulness because it did not suspend His judgment but that His judgment was fulfilled.

More than that, the primary purpose of salvation through faith in Christ is not for the benefit of man but it is so that God could be faithful to Himself.  Salvation through Christ was in God's plans from the beginning (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:20).  It is important to make the distinction that Christ's work of redemption was not done chiefly for the sake of man.  Rather, the salvation that comes through Christ was planned and completed for God's sake (Isa. 48: 9-11; Psa. 106:8).  God had to be faithful to Himself, his covenants and promises.  Throughout the Old Testament prophets, God made many covenantal promises of an eternal redemption brought about by the messiah.  Jesus fulfilled those promises.  This is the faithfulness of God.

Additionally, God is absolute truth.  Because true truth is as immutable as God is immutable, the truth of God is unchanging.  This is the reality of God's faithfulness: He is unchanging in justice and in mercy.  God cannot suspend any of His traits at the expense of any others.  This also means that God's character of faithfulness is the same now as it has always been.  Isaiah speaks of God's faithfulness in plans formed of old that He is sure to carry out (Isa. 25).

God's steadfastness and enduring faithfulness are so important to properly understanding the nature of God that they a major theme of much of the book of Psalms (Psa. 33:4; 36:5; 119:138; et al).  The goal is not to highlight how faithful God is in broad, gushing terms but to point to the necessity for God to be faithful for Him to be God!  Because the whole of creation was created by Him and is sustained by the word of His power from moment to moment, He must be faithful.

In conclusion, God  is the alpha and omega as well as the foundation and sustaining of all creation.  His faithfulness is part and parcel to His very character.  The purpose of this dialogue was not to address God's ample and amazing faithfulness towards man, but to point to how He is fundamentally faithful to Himself.  He is ultimately and only obligated to Himself and no other.  All of history, especially redemptive history, is a biography of how steadfast God is to Himself.  There is tremendous hope and comfort in seeing an unchanging God for who He is, unchanging.