Faithful, Faithfully, Faithless

a verbal adjective, akin to peitho (see FAITH), is used in two senses, (a) Passive, "faithful, to be trusted, reliable," said of God, e.g., 1—Corinthians 1:9; 10:13; 2—Corinthians 1:18 (AV, "true"); 2—Timothy 2:13; Hebrews 10:23; 11:11; 1—Peter 4:19; 1—John 1:9; of Christ, e.g., 2—Thessalonians 3:3; Hebrews 2:17; 3:2; Revelation 1:5; 3:14; 19:11; of the words of God, e.g., Acts 13:34 , "sure;" 1—Timothy 1:15; 3:1 (AV, "true"); 4:9; 2—Timothy 2:11; Titus 1:9; 3:8; Revelation 21:5; 22:6; of servants of the Lord, Matthew 24:45; 25:21,23; Acts 16:15; 1—Corinthians 4:2,17; 7:25; Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 1:7; 4:7,9; 1—Timothy 1:12; 3:11; 2—Timothy 2:2; Hebrews 3:5; 1—Peter 5:12; 3—John 1:5; Revelation 2:13; 17:14; of believers, Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:2; (b) Active, signifying "believing, trusting, relying," e.g., Acts 16:1 (feminine); 2—Corinthians 6:15; Galatians 3:9 seems best taken in this respect, as the context lays stress upon Abraham's "faith" in God, rather than upon his "faithfulness." In John 20:27 the context requires the Active sense, as the Lord is reproaching Thomas for his want of "faith." See No. 2.

is used with meanings somewhat parallel to No. 1; (a) "untrustworthy" (a, negative, and No. 1), not worthy of confidence or belief, is said of things "incredible," Acts 26:8; (b) "unbelieving, distrustful," used as a noun, "unbeliever," Luke 12:46; 1—Timothy 5:8 (RV, for AV, "infidel"); in Titus 1:15; Revelation 21:8 , "unbelieving;" "faithless" in Matthew 17:17; Mark 9:19; Luke 9:41; John 20:27 . The word is most frequent in 1 and 2Corinthians. See BELIEVE , INCREDIBLE , INFIDEL , UNBELIEVER , UNFAITHFUL. (In the Sept., Proverbs 17:6; 28:25; Isaiah 17:10 .)