Answers: faith, belief and pistis

Short, sourced answers about faith, belief and the Greek word pistis, from Matthew Wong, author of The Weight of God: How to Believe.

• What does the Greek word pistis mean in the Bible?

  Pistis (πίστις) is the New Testament Greek noun usually translated "faith". Its core sense is trust and reliance placed in a person judged reliable, not simply agreement that a statement is true. The same word also means "faithfulness". Its verb, pisteuō, is usually translated "believe", and its adjective, pistos, means "faithful" or "trustworthy".

• What does it actually mean to believe in Jesus?

  In the New Testament, to believe in Jesus (pisteuō eis) is to trust him with your whole weight: to stop relying on yourself and rely on him. It is more than accepting facts about him. It pairs with repentance (metanoia), a turning away from old foundations, and it is ongoing: a present, continuing reliance, renewed whenever a person's trust slips.

• Is there a difference between faith and belief in the Bible?

  In the New Testament there is no difference of word: "faith" translates the Greek noun pistis and "believe" translates its verb, pisteuō. English uses two unrelated words for one Greek word group. The real biblical distinction is between believing that something is true and believing into a person: trusting and relying on them.

• What does "believe in him" mean in John 3:16, and what is the difference between "believe that" and "believe in"?

  In John 3:16 the Greek reads pas ho pisteuōn eis auton, literally "everyone believing into him". The preposition eis (εἰς) normally means "into" and implies movement toward something. New Testament Greek distinguishes pisteuō hoti, "believe that" a statement is true, from pisteuō eis, "believe into" a person: trust that commits the self to them.

• Is Christian faith just believing something without evidence?

  No. In the New Testament, faith (Greek pistis) means trust placed in someone judged reliable, not belief held without evidence. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith with two concrete terms, hypostasis (an underlying foundation; in papyri, a title deed) and elegchos (proof, conviction). "Blind faith" reverses the Bible's own definition.

• What does James 2:19 mean when it says even the demons believe and shudder?

  James 2:19 shows that correct belief about God is not the same as saving faith. The demons accept that God is one, the central confession of Judaism, and they shudder, yet they do not trust him. James is warning that agreement with true statements, without reliance on God that changes a life, is not the faith that saves.

• Do Paul and James contradict each other about faith and works?

  No. Paul argues that no one is made right with God by "works of the law", that is, by performance; James argues that a claimed faith which produces no action is dead. If faith (pistis) means trust that actually rests on God, both are true: trust establishes a person's standing, and genuine trust inevitably changes how they live.

• What do "assurance" (hypostasis) and "conviction" (elegchos) mean in Hebrews 11:1?

  Hebrews 11:1 defines faith (pistis) using two Greek nouns. Hypostasis (ὑπόστασις), literally "that which stands under", means foundation, substance or reality, and Greek papyri use it for property documents. Elegchos (ἔλεγχος) means proof or evidence. Read this way, faith is the foundation under what is hoped for and the proof of what is unseen, not belief without evidence.

• What did Jesus mean by "little faith" and "faith like a mustard seed" in Matthew 17:20?

  In Matthew 17:20, Jesus tells the disciples they failed "because of your oligopistia" (ὀλιγοπιστία, "little faith"), then says faith "like a mustard seed" can move mountains. The Greek hōs (ὡς) means "like", not "the size of". Scholars such as D. A. Carson read oligopistia as faith that is poor in quality or misplaced, not faith that is too small.

• What does the word Amen actually mean?

  Amen (Hebrew אָמֵן, amen) comes from the Hebrew root aman (אמן), meaning to be firm, reliable or established. Saying Amen affirms that what was said is firm and binds the speaker to it. It is more than "I agree". In Deuteronomy 27 Israel says Amen to accept covenant curses, and in Revelation 3:14 Jesus is called "the Amen".

• What do the Hebrew words batach, aman and emunah mean, and how are they used in Proverbs 3:5, Genesis 15:6 and Habakkuk 2:4?

  Three Hebrew words carry the Bible's idea of trust. Batach (בָּטַח) means to trust, rely on or feel secure (Proverbs 3:5). Aman (אמן) means to be firm or reliable, and in one verb form to believe (Genesis 15:6). Emunah (אֱמוּנָה) means firmness or faithfulness (Habakkuk 2:4). The New Testament translates this idea with the single Greek word pistis.

• Did the word "believe" mean something different in the Bible than it does now?

  Yes. The New Testament's pistis and pisteuō meant trust and reliance on a person, a sense rooted in everyday Greek contracts, oaths and military loyalty. Through Latin (fides, credere) and English (faith, believe), the words gradually came to mean holding an opinion. The Greek text did not change; the meaning English readers hear did.

• What does Genesis 15:6 mean when it says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness?

  Genesis 15:6 says that Abram trusted the LORD's promise of countless descendants, and God counted that trust as righteousness. "Believed" is he'emin, from the Hebrew root aman (firm, reliable): to treat God as reliable. "Credited" is chashav, to count or reckon. Paul quotes the verse in Romans 4 and Galatians 3 to argue that a right standing with God comes through trust, not works of the law.

• Can a Christian have real faith and still doubt?

  Yes. The New Testament records believers who doubted while trusting Jesus. A father cries, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24), and Jesus heals his son. Peter sinks while walking to Jesus, and Jesus catches him. Biblical faith (pistis) is trust in someone reliable, so it can be real while still mixed, wavering, or partly resting on oneself.

• What does it mean to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart in Romans 10:9-10?

  In Romans 10:9 "confess" or "declare" translates homologeō (ὁμολογέω), from homos ("same") and legō ("say"): to say the same thing as, to agree, to acknowledge openly. "Heart" is kardia (καρδία), the centre of a person's thinking and will, not only feeling. The verse pairs an inner trust in the risen Jesus with an open acknowledgement that he is Lord.

• How can I have more faith, or make my faith stronger?

  In the New Testament, the strength of faith depends on what it rests on, not on how much of it a person can produce. When the apostles asked Jesus to "increase our faith" (Luke 17:5), he answered with a mustard seed. Faith (pistis) is trust, so it grows by relying more fully on God, and less on yourself, not by trying to feel more certain.

• If we are saved by faith, isn't believing just another work we have to do?

  No. In Paul's argument, faith is the opposite of working for a wage: "to the one who does not work but trusts God", faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4:5). Faith (pistis) means trust, and trust receives rather than earns. It becomes a kind of work only when a person relies on their own act of believing instead of on God.

• Is faith in God the same thing as trusting God?

  In the New Testament, largely yes. The Greek noun pistis, translated "faith", has trust and reliance as its core sense, and the same word also means faithfulness. English "faith" has since drifted towards "religious belief" or "belief without proof", while "trust" has kept the older sense of relying on someone. Biblical faith is trust with a particular object: God.

• What does "the righteous will live by faith" mean in Habakkuk 2:4 and Romans 1:17?

  "The righteous will live by faith" comes from Habakkuk 2:4, where the Hebrew says the righteous person will live be'emunato, "by his faithfulness": steady, enduring trust in God while waiting for his promise. The New Testament quotes it three times (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38), using the Greek pistis. Paul uses it to argue that people are put right with God through trust, not by keeping the law.

• What does Proverbs 3:5-6 mean by "trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding"?

  Proverbs 3:5-6 tells the reader to rely on God completely rather than make their own judgement the thing that holds them up. "Trust" is batach, to rely on and feel secure in; "heart" is lev, the whole inner person including mind and will; "lean" is sha'an, to support yourself on something. The verse is not against thinking: Proverbs prizes understanding. It warns against resting your life on it.

• What does the Greek word metanoia (repentance) mean in the Bible?

  Metanoia (μετάνοια) is the New Testament Greek noun translated "repentance". It means a change of mind: a turning of a person's whole thinking and direction, not a feeling of regret. Its verb is metanoeō (μετανοέω). The New Testament keeps it distinct from sorrow: 2 Corinthians 7:10 says godly sorrow brings repentance. The English sense of guilt and penance came largely through Latin paenitentia.

• What does childlike faith mean, and is it the same as naive or blind faith?

  Childlike faith is dependence, not naivety. In Matthew 18:3–4 Jesus tells his disciples to "become like little children" and names the point of comparison: humbling oneself. A young child relies on a parent it knows to be reliable. Childlike faith rests on God in the same way: trusting a known character, without keeping a backup plan, rather than believing without thinking.

• What is saving faith, and how is it different from just believing that God exists?

  Saving faith is trust in Christ himself, not only agreement that statements about him are true. The New Testament describes it as believing "into" (eis) or "upon" (epi) Jesus, the language of reliance on a person. It includes knowing and accepting the gospel's content, but it is complete only when a person rests on Christ rather than on themselves.

• What does John 3:16 mean, phrase by phrase, in the original Greek?

  John 3:16 says God loved the world in such a way that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes into him (pas ho pisteuōn eis auton) will not perish but have eternal life. "So" (houtōs) means "in this way" as much as "so much"; "one and only" (monogenēs) means unique; "believes" is a present participle of pisteuō with eis, "into": continuing trust in a person, not only agreement about him.