Amen and alleluia! You can’t do it. I can’t do it. Satan can’t do it. No one can nullify the faithfulness of God. St. Paul uses the strongest possible Greek formula of denial here. By no means! God’s faithfulness cannot be nullified. The value of God’s gifts cannot be nullified, even though one may lose its benefits through unbelief. For instance, our riding lawn mower has the power to mow the lawn. If I refuse to believe it an use the push mower instead, I have not stripped it of its power. I have simply robbed myself of the benefits of its power.
Let God be true though everyone were a liar. For the Jew to deny the power of God’s Word of failure, or declare it ineffective and useless because he himself did not believe and obey it, was to call God a liar, the crassest blasphemy. For the Christian to deny the power of God’s Word, or to declare it ineffective or useless because he himself does not trust it to do what God has promised, or because he does not like its effects, is to call God a liar, the crassest blasphemy. Rather than being disappointed in what God’s oracles and gifts have accomplished in the small picture, one must merely step back and look at the big picture to have their disappointment turned into awe. Who can criticize God’s justice and faithfulness when he views history? Has God not spared us numerous misfortunes we rightly deserved? Was God not unbelievably patient with Israel, especially considering her obstinacy and disobedience? Has God not blessed our own land in spite of our manifold wickedness and kept us safe from the tragedies and catastrophes so many other nations regularly experience? Has God not been patient with each of us individually, even in suffering, especially in suffering?
No one can nullify God’s faithfulness. And when we find ourselves trying to do so, the only thing to do is confess our wrongdoing and turn to God, because, try though we might, it is impossible that we have nullified his faithfulness. We may have rejected and denied it, but we could never nullify it. In fact, in our turning we justify him in his words. While that may make it sound like you lose in the process, nothing could be further from the truth, because the triumph of God’s faithfulness always benefits God’s faithful, that is, those who receive his promises and gifts through faith. That’s you, no matter what you fear may have nullified his faithfulness in the past. Amen and alleluia. By no means could you ever have nullified his faithfulness! By no means let us fail to rejoice in that.