What is Paul driving at about faith and the faithfulness of Christ?
Paul's point is that faith rests in Christ's faithfulness—His finished work and reliability to keep us—rather than in how much we love Him or the strength of our own faith. Christ has done everything necessary, and because He is faithful and gave Himself for us, we can trust Him.
Les teaches this through the chair illustration: people sit down without inspecting whether the chair will hold them, and their faith in the chair requires the chair to be faithful. If the chair failed, they would go to the floor, but it holds them. Likewise, Christ claimed to have done everything necessary, and the believer puts faith in that. Les explains that when we reach the eternal abode, God will not say it was not as it seemed; He will declare that the blood of Christ is faithful. Christ is faithful, and that is why we can trust Him. So Paul is driving at the truth that it is through the faithfulness, the believer's faith in the One who is faithful to keep us, because He loved me and gave Himself for me. The issue 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.
What is Paul driving at about faith and the one who is faithful?
What Paul is driving at is that salvation comes through the faithfulness of Christ—our faith resting in the One who is faithful to keep us.