Faith working through love - what does that mean?

5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but FAITH WORKING THROUGH LOVE. (Gal 5:5-6)

I've been pondering a bit lately what it is we are ultimately called to as believers. I am not entirely in the dark concerning the above scriptures but yet feel I still have some lack of understanding as to what the fullness of their meaning is, especially the phrase "faith working through love."

Does it mean:

1) You respond in faith to God when you realize He loves you and desires to save you.

2) When I have faith for someone else, believer or non-believer, is it because any faith I have for them should be because my faith for them should be accompanied by God's love also?

It's perplexing in a way if my faith is not working properly because it may not be rooted and grounded in God's love for myself or others. I guess, if this is even what this scripture is about.

Faith working through love. What do you think it means? I'm not entirely in the dark but would love (ha!) to hear from any of you.

14 But above all these things, put on love which is the bond of perfection. (Colossians 3:14)

What meaneth these things good saints?

Very good question. I don't believe that the faith being discussed here refers to saving faith nor do I believe it is about "believing for" something i.e. an answer to prayer. The word in greek is pistis which can be translated as faith OR faithfulness. In this case I believe it should be translated faithfulness or perhaps fidelity to a person or cause. So faithfulness motivated by love should typify the Christian and not ritualistic observance such as circumcision. Jesus pointed out that the law was not perfect because it dealt with outward behavior and could not perfect the heart. But love when it is allowed to be expressed will produce a faithfulness that is superior to mere law keeping.

This is my impression of what the verse means but I am not absolutely dogmatic about it. Perhaps someone can supply input here that will cause me to modify my position and if so, I welcome it.

-Daniel

Thank you True Witness. This is exactly the type of response I am hoping to receive. I am familiar with the word pistis and think you are on the right track. But I just want to hear from others what they think.

14 But above all these things, put on love which is the bond of perfection. (Colossians 3:14)

True Witness, or anyone, what bond of perfection or maturity? What is it that is maturely bonded by love? Does this refer to believers being maturely or perfectly bonded to one another through love working through faith? How does this thing work in your opinion?

The larger context of the verse in Galatians is that Paul is writing to a church that began in the spirit but was seeking to finish in the flesh. This amounts to what Francis Schaeffer called unfaith. They knew the gospel but denied it when it came to practical Christian life. Faith works out practically through a love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

It works the other way around also, love is increased by faith, but again, by the inward working of the Holy Spirit. Paul mentioned how he prayed for the Ephesians;

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.(Ephesians 3:16-19)

In Christ,

Brother
To me this means
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but FAITH WORKING THROUGH LOVE. (Gal 5:5-6)

If we Love JESUS and know He loves us how can we not love our brothers and sisters. When the Apostle Paul penned 1 corinthiams and he spoke of the gifts.. I cor 12, 13, 14.. He put 1 cor 13 in the middle. If we speak in tongues and prophesy and have not love where are we??
If we know GOD we will LOVE .. May we all be baptized with MORE Fire and HIS love.. This will win the war.. LOVE.. Many want the gifts.. what about the GIfts of the spirit.??. HIS LOVE HIS JOY HIS PEACE I believe HIS personality.. He is our role model.. noone but JESUS..
Gal 5:22
22 But the afruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ... 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

May we not only be baptized in HIS LOVE but HIS fruit of the spirit which I believe is JESUS's personality..
Love In Him
Sister Frannie

In Galatians the focus is on receiving the Spirit by faith (justification) and walking by the Spirit and being filled
with the Spirit (sanctification) The main fruit of the Spirit, talk and walk, is love. This is what matters. Receiving, being filled with and walking by the Spirit which we receive and do by faith. That is salvation. It is the essence of the New Covenant and the law of the Spirit.

My grandchildren loved for me to toss them up into the air and catch them. They would laugh and say, "again Pappy, again". But had one of you tried to pick them up and do the same thing, you would have scared them and they would have cried, no matter how capable you may be in being able to catch them.

A wife will not willingly open herself up to her husband in true intimacy unless she is assured of her husband's love for her. She might give herself partially to him, but not as God intended.

Paul says something in Ephesians 3 that is powerful. He says that he prays that the believers in Ephesus would come to a full understanding of God's love for them. He says, to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." Notice carefully what he is saying. Without a full revelation of the love of God for you, you can never be filled with the fullness of God. You will always hold Him at arm's length.

So faith works by love. The deeper the revelation of God's love for me that I have, the more I will place my trust in Him in every area of my life. Look at Philemon 1:6. "That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." When we are filled with His fullness, when we have a revelation of every good thing that is in us in Christ, then our faith is effectual. Without this kind of revelation, we simply will not walk in the fullness of faith. We will constantly doubt God's willingness because we will stuck looking at ourselves, wondering how He could love us enough to...fill in the blank.

Ephesians 3:17. We dwells in our hearts by faith but the rooting and grounding of our life must be the love of God. 1 Thess. 5:8 says that our breastplate is faith and love together.

The most important revelation I ever received from God was His love for me. It changed absolutely everything in my life. I have been a strong believer since I was eight, but my walk with God has grown exponentially since He showed me just how much He loves me.

So that's it, as far as I have experienced it, in a nutshell. IMO.

I appreciate more than a little the comments from those who responded to my comments and questions regarding the meaning of "faith works through love."

I have been meaning to reply all along but have pretty busy lately and also have been battling a spirit of fatigue for lack of better words. It has disoriented me to a degree but I plan in the near future to try and respond. Thanks again and blessings.

For anyone who may read this, if you have time to pray for me and the physical tiredness I have been suffering from causing interrupted and unproductive sleep I would appreciate it. I've been here before and it always lifts but I can't do this alone at this point. I need others to pray for and with me.

Thank you.

Yes, dear Bro. I am praying for you.
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Re:
You ask:”Faith working through love - what does that mean?”

"For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but FAITH WORKING THROUGH LOVE. (Gal 5:5-6)

I've been pondering a bit lately what it is we are ultimately called to as believers. I am not entirely in the dark concerning the above scriptures but yet feel I still have some lack of understanding as to what the fullness of their meaning is, especially the phrase "faith working through love."

You then ask:

"Does it mean:”
........................

I believe it will take a study of what *Faith truly is.
We must take into consideration that key words have been passed down through *tradition, and have by good,.. may I say, BAD reason of Satan to get *distorted.
*faith is one of those, .. ever so important Words.
Please consider what I say, and get The Word of God,.. and *the teacher,... The Holy Spirit ,.. and let Him teach us the true meaning, .. as He see’s it/defines it,.. to teach us.

Here is key things to study:

* How Abraham and Jesus loved God more than anything else ,.. self,.. or in the whole world.
”¢Abraham,... heard from God, and went out, (*obeyed) not knowing what it would entail,.. and later, he heard God’ Voice again, to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,.. *he went out to *obey.
*hear/obey, that is *Faith.

..*that was the *love of *faith, that they had....

*Faith:hear and obey,... ((2) phase)
*faith cometh by *hearing,and *hearing by the Word of /from God.”
...............
And Jesus’ ( His type of faith) *Faith in His Father’s Word to Him,.. *hearing /*obeying.
Jesus lived a *death to His will all His life, and a *faith in/and to God, His, and our Father.
...............
So, I believe that the love of *faith is,.. to love this type of *faith so much that, we love God so much , that we *obey,... that we love *His Word that we are *hearing , more that *our Word,.. or our will,..... it’s a death thing.
...............
Nuff said for now,
Bless you, ..and not only you,.. but us, as we walk w/Him,
................
elizabeth

I want to thank all of you who responded to my comments and questions concerning "Faith Working Through Love." I haven't been able to get back to each of you in detail. Yet, I have read your responses and made note of them.

I was allowed to bring the message last Sunday in our morning service, and I spoke on "Faith Working Through Love" In the message, I used some of the comments you good people made. Even if I didn't use all of the comments directly, the flavor of them was in the message.

I came away from the message a bit surprised. People were not just sort of interested. They were real interested in learning what "faith working through love" means." As well as very interested in wanting the love of God to fill their hearts deeper than ever before. We prayed earnestly together as a congregation for this to happen to each other individually and as a corporate body of believers. Therefore, I'm thinking this desire is probably common in most true Christians today than I was aware of. How can we stoke that desire so it becomes red hot in each of us?

Thank you again.