[B-Greek] PISTIS, faith or faithfulness

Bryant J. Williams III bjwvmw at com-pair.net
Sat May 12 19:14:50 EDT 2007


Dear Mitch,

NIDNTT, Vol 1, pp. 587-606 deals with PEIQOMAI and PISTIS. In the
Introduction, O. Becker states,

Faith, Persuade, Belief, Unbelief
The words dealt with here are basically concerned with that personal
relationship with a person or thing which is established by trust and
trustworthiness (including their negation). If this relationship comes about
through persuasion or conviction, the vb. PEIQOMAI is used. The perf. tense
PEPOIQA expresses the firm conviction and condifence that has come about.
The words of the PISTIS group are derived from the same verbal stem. They
denote originally the faithful relatiohship of partners in an agreement and
the trustworthiness of their promises. In a broader sense they came to
denote the credibility of statements, reports and accounts in general, both
sacred and secular. In NT Gk. they gained a special relationship with God in
Christ: the trusting acceptance and recognition of what God has done and
promised in him." (pp. 587-588)

On page 593, "PISTIS, faith; PISTEUW, believe; PISTOS, pass. trustworthy,
faithful, act. trusting, believing..." Therefore, PISTIS, will refer to the
individual's faith or belief and/or doctrine; while, PISTOS, will refer to
in the passive to what is trustworthy or faithful with regards to
statements, account, reports, etc.; in the active, it is the actual
believing/trusting, thus one's own act regarding the testimony, etc.

I should note that it is no accident that PISTIS+ cognates translate the
Hebrew, )man + cognates, true, truthful, faith, faithful, trust,
trustworthy, reliable, reliability. This especially true of Genesis 15:6 and
Habakkuk 2:4.

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mitch Larramore" <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com>
To: "Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw at com-pair.net>; "B Greek"
<b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2007 2:15 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] PISTIS, faith or faithfulness


> My question is not concerning a specific usage, but
> more general in scope. When one comes across PISTIS,
> for example, a word that can be either Active (faith)
> or Passive (faithfulness), can one understand BOTH
> semantics of a particular verb in a particular context
> or do you have to go with one or the other?
>
> Mitch Larramore
>
> --- "Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw at com-pair.net>
> wrote:
>
> > Dear Mitch,
> >
> > What text are you referring to?
> >
> >
> > Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Mitch Larramore" <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com>
> > To: "B Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 4:16 PM
> > Subject: [B-Greek] PISTIS, faith or faithfulness
> >
> >
> > > I understand that the word PISTIS can be
> > translated as
> > > 'faith' (in the active sense) as well as
> > > 'faithfulness' (in the passive sense). If a
> > context
> > > allows for both, can it be translated something
> > like
> > > "faith/faithfulness"? (As in, "I have heard of
> > your
> > > faith and faithfulness...")
> > >
> > > Mitch Larramore
> > > Sugar Land, Texas
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
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