Review of "Faith" Words in the NT

Status update:

Again, it is time for a reminder of where we are in this study, especially for new readers. For a period of four and a half years we studied faith in the Old Testament; primarily, but not exclusively, focusing on the 16 Saints named in Hebrews 11 who were born witness to by their faith (Volumes 1 & 2.) Then in June 2008 we began in the New Testament. Our methodology is to examine all contexts wherein seven different words relating to faith are used. The King James Bible is being used and as with any version there are some Greek words in the original manuscripts that are translated with different English words, depending on what the translators believed was required to convey the meaning of the Greek. At this point we are still in the Gospels, i.e., Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and have completed the study of three words:

1. The Greek word pistis is used 244 times in the New Testament, usually translated “faith” but sometimes with other words such as assurance, belief, etc. (Smith's Greek-English Concordance # 4002.) We have studied each of the 24 occasions it was used in the Gospels where we found that Jesus generally used it to point out the faith of some who He healed and the lack of faith of His own people Israel (Vol 3, No 11- 20.)

2. The word pistos is used 66 times, usually translated “faithful” but sometimes translated with other words such as believe, believing, faithfully, etc. (Smith's # 4003.) We have studied the 12 times it is found in the Gospels where Jesus used it to teach the qualifications necessary to enter His Kingdom on earth (Vol 3, No 22- 25.)

3. We just finished with the Greek word Oligopistos, used only 5 times, exclusively in Matthew and Luke where it is always translated “of little faith.” (Smith's # 3540) Every time Jesus used this word it was to point out His disciples' little faith. (Vol 3, No 26- 31)

Looking forward to the immediate future we will be studying what the following words teach in the Gospels:

4. Pisteuo is used 248 times, unusually translated “believe” but sometimes with other words such as “commit unto,” “commit to (one's) trust,” etc. The Gospel writers used it some 135 times: Matthew 11; Mark 15; Luke 9 and John by far the most with 100. (Smith's # 4000.)

5. Apisteo is used 7 times where it is always translated “believe not,” found four times in the Gospels and three in Paul's epistles (Smith's # 569.)

6. Apistia is used 12 times where it is always translated “unbelief,” found five times in the Gospels and seven times in Paul's epistles (Smith's # 570.)

7. Apistos is used 23 times, unusually translated “that believe not” but sometimes, unbelieving, faithless, etc. It is found five times in the Gospels; once in the book of Acts; 16 times in Paul's epistles and once in Revelation (Smith's # 571.)

After we finish in the Gospels we will go into Acts and then the Pauline epistles.