‘The one who calls you is trustworthy’

Abstract

Abstract This chapter explores the trustworthiness of God, together with human trust in the God who, through Christ, has revealed God’s trustworthiness in a radically unexpected way. It considers the risks involved both for God, who must trust humanity ‘therapeutically’ to respond to the Christ event, and for human beings, who must trust that God has done a ‘new thing’, put their trust in Jesus Christ as God’s son, and trust themselves not to fail in trust. It considers the implications of the trust relationship variously for Jews and gentiles, and its relation to covenant and law. It investigates the relationships between trust and belief, trust and reliance, and divine trust and omniscience. The final section explores how a number of New Testament writers draw on a scriptural vision of God as creator which puts care, and the trust intrinsic to it, at the heart of the divine‒human relationship. It shows how Genesis is often invoked to affirm that Christ, as the one who pre-exists with God and participates in creation, is trustworthy as God is trustworthy, and exists in the same relationship of trust and care with the faithful as does Godself. These passages have a strong eschatological orientation, affirming that trust in God and Christ will ultimately restore humanity, and, with humanity, creation as a whole to the divine‒human relationship for which it was created. This restoration is not only humanity’s, but creation’s best hope for itself in the present time.