UNFEIGNED FAITH

“Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from SINCERE FAITH” – 1 Timothy 1:5

The Faith of God that Believers are commanded to live and walk by is a SINCERE or UNFEIGNED FAITH: “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from SINCERE FAITH, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm” (1Tim.1: 5-7). The King James Version reads: “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and of FAITH UNFEIGNED” (v.5). These texts imply that a semblance of faith can be feigned, false, or contrived.

Paul also commended this virtue of Unfeigned Faith in his spiritual son, Timothy, and in Timothy’s grandmother and mother: “When I call to remembrance the GENUINE FAITH that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also” (2 Tim.1:5). Paul was well acquainted with this family, but what particularly impressed him was their faith. What a wonderful legacy to pass on from generation to generation – this Jesus-kind of Faith that’s Genuine, Sincere, and Unfeigned! Over the years, the daily trying experiences of members of this family, whether in the home or elsewhere, were all met with sincere Faith! Whenever Paul recalled the lives of these dear ones, it gave him joy, comfort and a spiritual lift (2 Tim.1:4).

For Paul to have qualified Timothy’s faith as un­feigned, implies that back there in the early church many had a sort of general, average faith. But his was distinct: His sincerity, the genuineness of his profession, his unassuming way of living, marked him off from others. There was nothing about him that was merely for show, like much of present-day Christianity: Much of mere profession, and so little of godly living. “Unfeigned” means: Something sincere, wholehearted, heartfelt and hearty, genuine in feeling. Sincere stresses absence of hypocrisy or any falsifying embellishment or exaggeration; earnest devotion without reservation or misgiving.

The term “unfeigned’ is also used in scriptures to describe God’s unhypocritical and sincere Love, as well as His impartial Wisdom:

“LET LOVE be WITHOUT HYPOCRISY. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good” (Rom.12:9).

“By purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by SINCERE LOVE” (2 Cor.6:6). Here, when Paul’s apostleship was challenged, he defended his ministry by describing his life as an open expression of these virtues, including love unfeigned.

“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in SINCERE LOVE of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1Pet.1:22). Here, Peter described the fruit of the New Birth, as Unfeigned Love of the brethren – sincere, fervent, from a pure heart; not love as duty or an obligation.

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” (Jam.3:17). Unfeigned Wisdom is impartial and unhypocritical.

Unfeigned Faith is therefore sincere, genuine, pure, impartial, and without hypocrisy. This faith means what it says, and its actions stem from a pure heart. It is not a self-driven, lust-laden, evil-motived, secret agenda beneath the disguise of devotion to Christ.

Unfeigned Faith is genuine, sincere, honest; a pure mixture of motives or desires. It’s a Faith in Jesus that is not just an outward display of godliness, rotten on the inside. In contrast, feigned faith is convinced only in mind but not in heart. Feigned faith is the faith that lies to self, and in doing so, misleads and stumbles others. The fruit of the new birth is not the ability to rattle off bible verses or heartless busyness in church activities. The Word of God should not only be received with the mind but with the heart. Unfeigned faith is activated when the Word does not merely inform us about truth but makes truth one with our very nature!