[B-Greek] to what extent... PISTEUW

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Fri Aug 21 02:00:28 EDT 2009


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Lightman" <lightmanmark at yahoo.com>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>; "Luke Firth" <luke.firth.mail at gmail.com>
Sent: 21. august 2009 04:23
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] to what extent... PISTEUW


> --- On Thu, 8/20/09, Luke Firth wrote:
>
> <To what extent is there justification for any kind of idea that says
> that the word PISTEUW (I believe (in), have faith, trust) has lost
> much of it's Greek meaning by simply translating it as "believe"???
> As the word believe in (at least Australian culture) is more of a... I
> THINK (with my mind) that this happened... as opposed to... I TRUST in
> this.
> Wouldn't it be of much more significance to this culture to even
> translate it as "trust in" - As does David H. Stern in his 'Complete
> Jewish Bible'>
>
> Hi, Luke,
>
> Sometimes it would yes, and sometimes it would not.
>
> In John 11:26a PISTEUW means something like "I trust in" but in John 11:26b,
> it does not mean this at all. It means something like "I think this to be 
> true."
> As they used to say on Saturday Night Live, New Shimmer is a floor polish AND
> a desert topping.
>
> Mark L
> Φωσφορος

In the translation project in Africa that I have been involved in, we use 3 
different words to translate PISTEUW. If the object is a person, we use a word 
meaning "have complete trust" in that person. If the object is a statement or 
concept, we use a word that means "believe/accept/agree to". The first of these 
is used in John 11:26a, and the second in 11:26b. We have a third word that is 
stronger than "accept", and it includes both accepting something as true and 
responding positively in action to that acceptance. So, the word chosen depends 
on context. It happens all the time in translation that the range of meaning of 
one word in one language is covered by several words in another language.

Louw and Nida list 4 senses for PISTEUW:

a. think to be true: pisteuw#31.35 (to believe something to be true and, hence, 
worthy of being trusted - ‘to believe, to think to be true, to regard as 
trustworthy.’)

b trust: pisteuw#31.85 (to believe to the extent of complete trust and 
reliance - ‘to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust.’)

c have Christian faith: pisteuw#31.102 (to believe in the good news about Jesus 
Christ and to become a follower - ‘to be a believer, to be a Christian.’) e.g. 
Acts 4:32, Rom 1:8,16

d entrust: pisteuw#35.50 (to entrust something to the care of someone - ‘to 
entrust to, to put into the care of.’) Rom 3:2.

Iver Larsen 




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