A Woman of Faith: How Faith Works

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything,

But faith working through love.

~Galatians 5:6

Faith working through love.

What a simple yet profound thought!

How does faith work?

Faith works through love!

Think about it. John tells us that we love God because He first loved us. It is that love (Christ’s love for us) that makes faith work. It is His love for us that gives us the gift of faith. It is our love for Him that allows us to continue to walk in, to live our lives in faith. We can’t have faith without His love for us, and we can’t live in faith without loving Him.

The NIV and a couple of versions translate the verse “faith expressing itself through love”, but I disagree with this translation. Here is why: the Greek phrase is pistis energeo dia agape. Now I don’t know if I have that written correctly in Greek or not because I just want to share with you what each of these words means. Pistis means faith.  Agape means love. Energeo means to be active, efficient, to be effectual, to be mighty in, to work. I have not found any place that translates the Greek word “energeo” as expressing itself. Dia is a preposition that denotes the channel of an act so it can be interpreted as by, through, because of, by occasion of, by reason of, etc.  Faith works (is active, is mighty, is effectual) by (through, because of) love.

Faith works through love.

Faith is active through love.

Faith is mighty through love.

Faith works because of love.

Faith is active because of love.

Faith is mighty because of love.

Look at it another way…Faith gets its energy from love.

Like a tree needs water to grow, faith needs love to grow. Without love, faith will wither and die. You can’t have faith without love. Love is essential to faith.