What does Paul mean when he says salvation is through faith in Christ's faithfulness?
Paul means salvation rests not on the strength or amount of our love and faith, but on Christ's own faithfulness to accomplish and keep everything necessary. Believers trust the One who is faithful, who loved them and gave Himself for them.
Les explains this by comparing faith to sitting in a chair. You do not inspect the chair, yet you trust it to hold you; for that trust to be valid, the chair must be faithful. In the same way, Christ claimed to have done everything necessary, and the believer puts faith in that. Les says that when we reach the eternal abode, God will not say it was not what it seemed; He will declare that the blood of Christ is faithful. Paul's point is that salvation is through the faithfulness of Christ—our faith is in the One who is faithful to keep us—because He loved us and gave Himself for us. It is not how much we love Him, but how much He has loved us.
More Questions
What does Paul mean by 'through the faithfulness' in relation to being kept?
Paul is driving at the point that it is through the faithfulness—his faith in the One who is faithful to keep us—that we are kept.