Faithfulness of Jesus

Having been perfected and inaugurated as the mediator of a new covenant, Jesus speaks with a blood superior to Abel's, for while Abel's blood cried out against his murderer and brother-killer, Jesus' precious blood not only pleads for mercy from the Father on behalf of the world but also cleanses us for justification through its sanctifying power. Therefore, we ought to consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who remained faithful to the One who appointed him.

He is indeed a high priest and apostle who proved faithful even unto death and the cross, having offered himself in accordance with the Father's good pleasure, so that we might become his imitators, unafraid to endure death should it come to us through piety and obedience to God. The blessed Peter affirms this, declaring that Christ died for us, leaving us an example to follow in his footsteps, and the Savior himself declares that whoever wishes to follow him must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him, as stated in Matthew 16:24.

To call the Son faithful does not diminish his glory, for this attribute is most befitting of God and the Father alone. As it is written, God is faithful, and there is no unrighteousness in him; he is righteous and holy, the Lord. One of Christ's disciples taught that those who suffer according to God's will should commit their souls to the faithful Creator, and Paul affirmed that God is faithful, through whom we were called into fellowship with his Son. In these contexts, 'faithful' signifies nothing less than what is safe, reliable, and worthy of trust in regard to what God says or does.

The Son demonstrated this faithfulness to the Father even in his humanity, enduring the cross and death to fulfill what he knew to be right. He declared that he came down from heaven not to do his own will but the will of the One who sent him, as recorded in John 6:38. And this is the will of the One who sent him: that he should lose nothing of all that has been given him, but raise it up on the last day, as also stated in John 6:39-40. We were given to the Son as Savior and life-giver, and this was the work entrusted to him by the Father.

For the Father accomplishes all that he wills through the Son in a manner worthy of God, because the Son is the Father's power and wisdom. The Son himself testified that his witness is greater than John's, for the works the Father gave him to complete bear witness that the Father sent him. David also sang, 'Command, O God, your power; strengthen, O God, what you have worked in us.' Let us consider, if it seems right, what kind of priesthood the Son possesses—whether it is servile and ministering to another's glory, or whether it rightly belongs to the Son himself.