As mentioned in my introduction to faith post, I was in Sunday School class a while back and had the opportunity to discuss Christian maturity with the teacher, and as you may have guessed, we wandered off into the subject of faith.
Faith
He had told me there are a number of Greek words in the New Testament that are translated “faith” in our English Bible, and I let him know I thought otherwise.
So I came home and did a quick study, using Blue Letter Bible web site. The following table gives a summary of the New Testament Greek words used when describing our English word “faith”.
| Strongs # |
Greek |
Transliterated |
English Equivalent |
| New Testament (Greek) for “faith” |
| G571 |
ἄπιστος |
apistos |
that believe not, unbelieving, faithless, unbeliever, infidel, thing incredible, which believe not |
| G1680 |
ἐλπίς |
elpis |
hope, faith |
| G3640 |
ὀλιγόπιστος |
oligopistos |
of little faith |
| G4102 |
πίστις |
pistis |
faith, assurance, believe, belief, them that believe, fidelity |
| G4103 |
πιστός |
pistos |
faithful, believe, believing, true, faithfully, believer, sure not tr |
| G6066 |
ὀλιγοπιστία |
oligopistia |
littleness of faith |
I’m glad he challenged me to look it up and I think we were both sort of correct.
The root word found in each of the above greek words is pistos/pistis, and when checked in that web site I like (see above), both are derived from the Greek word “peíthō”.
Strong’s Definitions
πείθω peíthō, pi’-tho; a primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy, to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively, to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty):—agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) conflent, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.
For future posts, I would like to explore the concept of faith, and each of the terms found in the table above. But for now, I would like to consider the root word peíthō.
Peíthō
In the Strongs Concordance definition above I have italicized a number of synonyms that are synonyms for the root word Peíthō.
Consider the following shade of the Greek word Peíthō.
Yield
This synonym, in my thoughts, is linked to “obey”
Granted, in terms of the process of obeying, yielding will obviously be a decision made prior to the act of obedience.
And this yielding will also be dependent on having the knowledge of His will, agreeing to it (see above) and then following through with the obeying.
To “Peíthō” is to yield to the One who is the object of faith.
When I starting looking into this short study, after chatting with my brother in Sunday School, I thought I knew the direction I would go with it. Thankfully, the Word is so full of truth gems that even a dolt like myself can fall into a deeper understanding of faith. For this I am thankful and would happily consider your thoughts on the subject.
By the way, how is your Peíthō?
Are you agreeable to the One on the throne, believing and growing in confidence is His wisdom and abilities, obeying the known will of the Father and actively yielding?
Our next study will begin with the greek word “Apistos” Hope to see you then!
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