One of my favorite verse to summarize the christian walk is 1 Tim 1:5 "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned"
My understanding is that the very final goal (telos - G5056) of the message, the proclaiming,(the instruction from the bible?) (paraggelia - G3852) is the agape love from the following trinity (another one in Paul messages after love, hope and faith Cor 13, spirit, soul and body 1 Thess 5:23 and perhaps others):
- Pure heart: It is quite clear that God looks at the heart - 1 Sam 16:7 and that the heart is made pure by the Holy Spirit, the Words (that are Spirit),by focusing our mind on whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report - Phil 4:8; and by living without hypocrisy
- Good conscience: It is quite clear as the full knowledge of Christ's sacrifice makes us at peace with God, sinless (even if we need to repent or change our direction when we sin)
- Faith unfeigned or without dissimulation or without hypocrisy (anypokritos - G504) is far more difficult to understand for me. The faith is or is not. We have been given the measure of faith (Rom 12:3), and in fact the quantity is not so important (we need only a mustard seed size faith).
I can understand that faith can be hampered by unbelief or disbelief in some areas but could you explain how a faith can be feigned by a true believer?