Loyalty

God’s loyalty to his people

God’s covenant loyalty

Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV84

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

See also 1 Ki 8:23; Ne 1:5; Ps 25:10; Ps 89:28; Ps 103:17–18; Ps 106:45; Is 54:10; Is 55:3

God’s faithfulness to his promises

Hebrews 10:23 NIV84

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

See also 1 Ki 8:56; Ps 91:14–16; 1 Co 1:9

Loyalty to God

The loyalty of God’s people

1 Ch 29:18; Je 2:2

See also 1 Ki 8:61; 2 Ch 32:32; 2 Ch 35:26; 2 Ch 17:6

Examples of those loyal to God

Nu 12:7 Moses; Nu 14:24 Caleb; Jos 24:14–15 Joshua and his family; Job 23:11 Job; Is 38:3 Hezekiah; Ac 4:19 Peter and John; Ac 20:24 Paul

Failure to show loyalty to God

Hosea 6:4 NIV84

“What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.

See also Ps 78:8; Ps 78:37

Divided loyalties

2 Kings 17:33 NIV84

They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.

See also Mt 6:24; Lk 16:13; 1 Co 10:21; Jas 1:8

Loyalty in human relationships

Loyalty and covenant

1 Samuel 20:8 NIV84

As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”

The loyalty of friends

1 Sa 20:42; Pr 17:17

See also 2 Sa 16:17; Pr 27:10

Loyalty within the family

Ruth 1:16–17 NIV84

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

See also Ge 20:13; Ge 38:8; Ge 47:29; Dt 25:5; Ru 3:9; 1 Co 7:3

Loyalty to those in authority

Romans 13:1 NIV84

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

See also Ezr 7:26; Ec 8:2; Mt 17:27; Mt 22:21; Tt 3:1; 1 Pe 2:13–14

Examples of loyalty to rulers

2 Samuel 15:21 NIV84

But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.”

See also 1 Sa 22:14 David’s loyalty to Saul; 2 Sa 3:8 Abner’s loyalty to Saul’s family; 1 Ki 12:20 the loyalty of Judah to David’s house; 1 Ch 12:33 the men of Zebulun’s loyalty to David

The loyalty of believers

Ro 12:10; Php 4:3

See also 1 Co 4:17 Timothy; 1 Co 16:15–16 the household of Stephanas; Col 1:7 Epaphras; Col 4:7 Tychicus; Col 4:9 Onesimus