[B-Greek] PISTIS, faith or faithfulness

Bryant J. Williams III bjwvmw at com-pair.net
Sat May 12 20:20:09 EDT 2007


Dear Mitch,

You probably meant, Ephesians 1:15, DIA TOUTO KAGW AKOUSAS THN KAQ' hUMAS
PISTIN EN KURIWi IHSOU KAI THN AGAPHN THN EIS PANTAS TOUS hAGIOUS.

The context would determine whether "faith" or "faithful" is to be used. The
use of the noun PISTIN with EN KURIWi IHSOU leads me to translate it as
"your faith in the Lord Jesus." Now PISTIS could be translated as
"faithfulness" here, but the Ephesians "faithfulness" is based on their
"faith." They both go hand in hand. One must have "faith in the Lord Jesus"
to have "faithfulness." Faithfulness is acting out of one's faith whether it
is negative or positive. The converse is also true, "Unfaithfulness is the
acting out of 'unbelief.'"

Note:
The Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, Timothy Friberg, Barbara
Friberg and Neva F. Miller, editors, page 314, gives an active and passive
for PISTIS and for PISTOS as faith and faithful. PISTIS, EWS, is the noun,
while PISTOS is the adjective. It is interesting that in the passive,
PISTIS, could refer to "faithfulness," but also "pledge, means of proof,
guarantee (Acts 17:31). It is one's faithfulness to one's faith (set of
beliefs/doctrines).
I do not know if this will help, but the context will ALWAYS determine the
meaning.

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 4:35 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] PISTIS, faith or faithfulness


>
> --- "Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw at com-pair.net>
> wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> My Greek dictionary gives definitions of PISTIS as (1)
> Active: faith...(3) Passive: faithfulness
>
> When I read this I was trying to determine when the
> Active sense is to be understood, and when the Passive
> sense is to be understood. But then I wondered if BOTH
> could not be understood. That is why I originally
> asked if I could translate this word something like:
> "I have heard of your faith/faithfulness..." and by
> this indicate that the context does not restrict
> PISTIS to its Active or Passive sense. How about this
> example:
>
> AKOUSAS THN KAQ' hUMAS PISTIN EN TWi KURIWi...
> (Ephesians 1.17a)
>
> Can I say this: having heard of your
> faith/faithfulness in the Lord...
>
> But my bigger question is HOW DO I DECIDE whenever I
> come across any word that has both an Active and
> Passive sense and the context doesn't seem to
> eliminate one? Can such ambiguity be intended,
> rhetorically or whatever? (Hope my question is clearer.)
>
> Mitch Larramore
> Sugar Land, Texas
>
>
>
>
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