Greek word - (pistis G4102)
Quiz - Choose the answer that is closest to what you think FAITH is.
A - trust
B - belief
C - religion
D - doctrine
Problem - Misleading, Outdated, Misused
KJV Example - "The just shall live by faith" (Galatians 3:11b).
Explanation
This word has taken on many meanings in our world. Most of them are incorrect when it comes to what faith is in the Bible.
In Greek this word is the noun form of the verb, believe. I discuss believe in my lesson on believe.
These two words should match up in English Bibles, just like they do in Greek.
Let's take a closer look. The Greek word for faith is pistis. This is a noun. The Greek word for believe is pisteuo. This is the verb form of pistis. Notice the same root in both words.
English also has noun and verb forms with common roots. Belief and believe are an example of this. Belief is the noun form of the verb believe.
Faith is a noun but it is not the noun form of believe. Believe and faith do not match up. If faith had a verb it would be to have faith.
For a Bible to use believe as the verb and faith as the noun (as most Bibles do) is wrong. They should match up in English as they do in Greek.
If you are going to continue to say, "Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life," then you also must say that salvation is by belief. Hmmm. That doesn't work very well.
Or if you say that salvation is by faith, then you should also say, "Whosoever has faith in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This second option gives you a better idea of what faith and believe are.
Faith in the Bible is trust. Believe in the Bible is trust. In English, trust is a noun and trust is a verb.
Salvation is by trust and "whoever trusts in Him will not perish."
How did our Bibles end up with two unrelated English words for two related Greek words? The problem goes back to the first English Bible version in 1395. It was written by John Wycliffe. John Wycliffe did not know Greek. He translated the Bible from the Latin Vulgate (which is known to have many problems). In the Latin Vulgate Bible, the Latin words for faith and believe are also unrelated Latin words. Wycliffe was just translating what the Latin said. As newer Bible versions have been written based on the original Greek text, they have not corrected the Latin Vulgate's problem. They just used John Wycliffe's words.
I call on all responsible Bible versions to correct this as I have in the Breakthrough Version and the Breakthrough KJV. Bible versions that do not correct this are misleading their readers. This is important because it has to do with the salvation of souls.
In the Bible, faith is trust.
Modern Synonym - trust
Bible Version Tally (how other versions translate this word) - faith (49 of 50), trust (1 of 50)
Breakthrough Version - "The person who does what is right will live out of trust" (Galatians 3:11b).