Galatians 5:22,23 – “Faith, Confidence, Faithfulness: All of the Above”

Once again, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith[fullness], ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I am in the middle of studying the words themselves in this passage. I love to do word studies in the Bible. As I related earlier, it is not that the words mean anything different in Greek than they do in English, but rather that they mean so much more. Once again, a person can read any reasonably faithful translation of the Bible and find enough truth to keep them growing through a lifetime. Because the logic of the Bible is fractal, its truth is indestructible. So, are word studies essential? No. But are they rewarding? Yes!

Case in point: our next word I’ve translated “faith[fullness]”. “That’s odd.” you say, “Why the brackets?” Because our word in Greek is so full of meaning, I’m not absolutely sure exactly how to pin it down in English. Here’s what I mean: the Greek word is pistis, which is normally translated “faith” (this was in fact, the KJV translators’ choice). There is another very similar word, pistos, which is normally translated “faithfulness.” The problem is that both words’ semantic range includes the other. So was Paul here thinking of faith or faithfulness? The NIV translators went with faithfulness. I would guess they were thinking something like this, “The list is in a sense the products of faith, not faith itself. We’re looking at the fruit, not the root. Faith itself, it would seem, is the root by which the fruit of the Spirit will manifest itself in a believer’s life. Therefore, in this list Paul must be thinking of the virtue of faithfulness.”

I personally find that logic compelling. It makes more “sense” to me here to choose the translation of “faithfulness” rather than “faith” for our word pistis. I have a secular Greek/English dictionary that fully allows for the word pistis to be translated “faithfulness,” so based on my Bible lexicons and even on non-Biblical references, faithfulness is a legitimate translation.

I could quit there except that to do so violates one of my usual rules of Bible translation, which is this: Whenever I am looking at a word’s semantic range and there is not enough context to pin it down, I try to stick with its most basic meaning rather than choose from its more peripheral alternatives. I fear that, when I’m choosing a peripheral meaning without clear contextual justification, I have gone beyond translation and entered the world of interpretation. That is okay to do, but a diligent exegete needs to be very honest with himself and recognize when he’s done this. As I have said before, I believe the first task of an exegete is to clearly determine exactly what God has said and what He has not. Only then am I prepared to move on to interpretation and application. Hence my brackets. For my own work, I want to be reminded that there is a choice to be made, but that I feel the choice is a matter of interpretation, not literal translation.

Having said all of that, there are actually three (not just two!) translation/interpretations of our word pistis that I think are all valid and worthy of consideration. The most simple translation of the word is, in fact, “faith.” In this case, we would be saying that, though faith may be the root, it is also the fruit. I could buy that easily. Faith does beget faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Peter wrote, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow by it.” Because of faith (believing God’s Word is true), I read the Bible, grasp His truths, claim His promises, and grow in faith. Faith begets faith. And Who is making that happen? The Holy Spirit, of course. So, a fruit of His presence in my heart is that I grow in faith. So, I conclude that “faith” would be a very reasonable and even logically defensible translation in this passage.

I want to inject at this point the thought that this very business of faith itself is so very important, not only as the root of my Christian walk but also as the fruit. As Peter says in his second epistle, “Through these [His own glory and goodness] He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world through lust.” His very great and precious promises. To grow is to feed on His promises and the outcome of that growth is a greater ability to feed more. When I say the fruit of the Spirit in my life is faith, what I want to mean is that it enables me more and more to really depend on God’s promises throughout my day. That includes even the power of the Holy Spirit to change my evil spirit and attitudes and thoughts. As I have related before, I “feel” like my flesh is way more powerful than God’s Spirit. It is a faith-thing to even believe He can help me stop being resentful or sullen or lustful or whatever. It is a faith-thing to believe that the Holy Spirit is present, that He is powerful, that I am free, that I can be different, that I can escape my corruption. Whatever tiny victories I may enjoy only give me greater confidence that God’s Word is true and that He will in fact help me in the future. Faith is both the root and the fruit of the Spirit’s power in my life.

All of that assumes Paul’s meaning of the word pistis is “faith.” Obviously (to me), this translation and meaning are both defensible and valuable. However, as I alluded above, there is a second possible translation/interpretation of the word, which is more the English idea of “confidence.”  Eadie comments, “[pisitis is] trust generally, trustfulness toward God and man. Confidence in God, in all His promises, and under all His dispensations; and a spirit of unsuspiciousness and generous confidence towards men, -- not moved by doubts and jealousies, nor conjuring up possible causes of distrust, and treasuring up sad lessons from precious instances of hurtful experiences.” I have to say, I find this translation/interpretation also compelling. I don’t think I have ever thought of faith as expressing itself in a confidence toward other people. I know I’ve often wondered at Paul saying things like, “I have confidence in you all …” I’ve read that and thought, “Why? I don’t see that they’ve given him any reason to have confidence.” All day every day, people certainly give us a lot of reason not to have confidence in them! But on the other hand, I know what it feels like when someone expresses confidence in me, and especially so when I’ve given every reason that they should not! I know how it inspires me when someone expresses “confidence” in me. I also know how easy it is to be suspicious and doubtful of everyone else and how that paints my world an ugly black.

Interestingly, Martin Luther held this very view: "In listing faith among the fruits of the Spirit, Paul obviously does not mean faith in Christ, but faith in men. Such faith is not suspicious of people but believes the best. Naturally the possessor of such faith will be deceived, but he lets it pass. He is ready to believe all men, but he will not trust all men. Where this virtue is lacking men are suspicious, forward, and wayward and will believe nothing nor yield to anybody. No matter how well a person says or does anything, they will find fault with it, and if you do not humor them you can never please them. It is quite impossible to get along with them. Such faith in people therefore, is quite necessary. What kind of life would this be if one person could not believe another person?"
 

In my redeemed heart, I’d rather believe the best of people, to be confident in them, to be forgiving of their failures and trustful of their future behavior. When I’m thinking that way, it feels good, even godly, inside of me. So is that actually a fruit of the Spirit – to be confident in other people?

Very interesting. I have held it as a maxim for years that when people don’t know, they assume the worst. That is why communication is of paramount importance. I need to give people the positive truth, because if I do not, they will assume something negative. If I promise someone to give them something by a certain day, I need to “keep them posted,” to assure them along the way that I am working on it, that I am intending to keep my promise. Why?  Because if I don’t they will assume the worst, that I am not, and harbor thoughts of ill-will against me. I have seen it happen too many times and know it is true in my own heart. In a sense, we could say, “It shouldn’t be that way. We shouldn’t assume the worst.” But we do. And people give us almost daily reason to conclude we were right! So how do we overcome this nascent negativity? This is a new thought for me: confidence in others is a fruit of the Spirit! Yes, I need to be “wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.” I need to discern who are the “swine” so I don’t “cast my pearls before them.” But I also need to trust God above other people, that He is, in the end, in control even of them and how they affect me, and I need to try to harbor the love that looks for the best in others and communicates that kind of confidence in them.

I will never forget my high school track and cross-country coach (and algebra teacher), Louie Baker. Other than my parents, he was one of the few people in my young life who always believed in me. Even when I was “down” he was so confident in me. Once I was really struggling with a weird soreness in my ankle and feeling like I wasn’t pulling my weight very well on the varsity squad. He sat down beside me and showed me records he had been keeping telling me that I wasn’t “that far off” what I’d been doing. For a 16 or 17-year old kid, that was a very dark time for me. But in the middle of it, Louie Baker’s positive confidence really lit up my world. He really thought I could do it and told me so. I can totally see where the Holy Spirit would want to grow in us that kind of person – someone who instills light and hope and confidence in other peoples’ lives.

So perhaps the fruit of the spirit is faith, in the sense not only of confidence in God but also in people? The people part is a totally new thought to me. Then there is a third possibility which is the NIV translation of “faithfulness.” That faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit, I have no doubt whatsoever. Whether that is the particular quality being enumerated in this list, I’m not so sure. But wow is it a total God-thing in our lives! As Paul says in II Cor 1:18, “But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’” What he’s saying is that because God is faithful, we must be too. This almost cannot be overemphasized. The whole reason we can “trust” God is because He is faithful. What that means is that He does what He said He would do. We can count on Him. We need that, desperately. But it is also true that we all depend on each other too. We build our lives, our schedules, our plans based on what other people have said they would do or what they should do.

If a store opens at 8:00, we expect to be able to go there at 8:05 and find it open. When we hire a man to check our furnace, we assume he is being thorough and it won’t quit on us on the first cold Friday night. When someone tells us to meet them at a particular time and place, we expect them to be there. When someone doesn’t do what they said or what they should, when they’re “unfaithful,” it really lets us down, wastes our time, and might even cause us a lot of problems. For a Christian, it is absolutely paramount that we become people of our word, people who can be counted on to do what we said we’d do when we said we’d do it, to do the things that are expected of us.

Paul says of workers in Titus 2:9,10, “Teach workers to … show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” The old KJV called it “adorning the Gospel.” Don’t miss his point: Our faithfulness [at work!] adorns the Gospel(!). People live in a world of let-downs, of people who fail and disappoint them. He wants us to be living portraits of faithfulness, as you and I go through the humdrum of our everyday lives at work, at home, at the grocery store, at our kids’ track meet.  Once again, faith is the root of it all. Faith in God is counting on His faithfulness. He is faithful to us. We need to be faithful to others. Somehow (and perhaps it is simply miraculous), God wants to adorn His gospel with our faithfulness, He wants to “make it attractive,” somehow He wants to engender faith in people’s hearts as they observe faithfulness in us. We hold this treasure in earthen vessels – but we do hold it!

Once again, I do not doubt whatsoever that faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit, something that will grow in people He indwells. Whether that is the particular thought Paul had in mind here, I don’t know. Was he thinking of faith particularly in God (probably the most basic and defensible understanding of the word pistis here)? Or was he thinking of faith as a confidence not only in God but also in people, as a form of love and inspiration to them? Or was he thinking of faithfulness, that character quality which particularly in the context of our work is specifically said to “adorn the Gospel”?

One last exegetical observation I’d like to make is to note that, while “love” is at the head of the list, our word “pistis” (faith, confidence, or faithfulness) is the 7^th word in the list. Perhaps that wasn’t intended to be significant, but then again, in a perfect 3x3 matrix of nine fruits, embedded in a perfect 3x7 matrix of 21 words, I at least think that is noteworthy. The passage is as orderly as a well-cut diamond. I suspect every single face is significant. Whatever the Lord particularly meant with “pistis” here, it is something to pause and consider carefully.

Bottom-line, I guess is to say that you could convince me of any one of the three translations. They’re all Biblical and they’re all of paramount importance. I think I’ll just conclude by saying:

Lord, may Your Spirit in me give me faith not only as a root but also a fruit. May even the tiniest victories of faith in my evil heart only serve to increase my faith. May Your great and precious promises be ever more and more my portion, both the root and fruit of all I do. But help me too to learn how to have a Holy Spirit confidence in others, a confidence that keeps my eyes open, yet allows me to be to others a source of light and inspiration in their too often dark, doubtful world. Then please help me too to be faithful. Help me to be a man of my word, to be careful what I promise, then diligent to do what I said. Help me to understand more and more what I “should be,” what ways others depend on me, and help me to be found faithful at it, that the world might somehow know that You are faithful and worthy of their faith.

Lord, I am not sure which idea you had in mind when you moved Paul to write that “pistis” is a fruit of the Spirit. God give me “all of the above.”