Faith and Faithfulness 信心与忠心

Faith and faithfulness are closely related as if they are the two sides of a coin. In fact, pistis, is the Greek word used for faith and faithfulness. When the word is used in the Bible, the “faith” dimension indicates trusting God, whereas, “faithfulness” is following God’s instructions all the time. Faith could happen at a point of a person’s life, and faithfulness is a process.

As we relate faith and faithfulness to human relationship such as marriage, they can be relevantly applied for a life-long relationship. It means that the couple trust one another and get married. This implies that they have faith, believing one’s spouse is trustworthy. Beside that, as they have committed themselves towards one another for a life-long marriage, they have to be faithful towards one another until one has left this world.

As human beings are imperfect and vulnerable of the negative influence, the Christian marriage requires the married couple to trust their marriage into God’s hand at the time of wedding ceremony. Beside that, they are to be faithful to God and trust Him for strength to be faithful to their spouse. By being faithful to God in the marriage, they have to be faithful to keep their promises made at the wedding ceremony for the rest of their life as husband and wife.

信心与忠心密切相连，即如同一塊硬币的两面。事实上，pistis, 在希腊文是指信心，亦是忠心。当圣经使用这个字时，在”信心“方面是指信靠上帝，而“忠心”则表示遵行上帝的指示。信心可能在某个时间出现在一个人的生命中，而忠心则是一个过程。

当我们把”信心”和”忠心”应用于人际关系如婚姻时，这两方面是可以適当地描述夫妻的关系。这意味着一对男女因为有信心，即互相信任而结婚。此外，由于他们已经在结婚时相互承诺，他们從此必须彼此忠心，直到一方离开这个世界。

由于人不是完美的，且容易受到负面影响。而基督徒在结婚时，必须把婚姻交给上帝。從此，他们要依靠上帝忠于自己的配偶。正因为他们在婚姻关系要忠于上帝，他们務需彼此忠心地过着夫妻生活。