Subject: Saved by belief or belief and baptism? |
Bible Note: Greetings Doc! They don't really add much to the discussion for one simple reason. They do not belong to the same word 'group' or 'family'. The examples you provided are examples of secondary meanings. Allow me to illustrate! 1) 'Plerophoreo' is a verb that means 'to fulfill'. It has a secondary meaning in the passive voice of 'to be convinced'. So, here, Luke is referring to the 'things about which we have been fully convinced' or 'the things which have been fulfilled'. 'Believe' would not be a good translation of this word. 2) 'Pitho' is a verb that simply means 'to convince'. In Acts 17:4, it refers to some Jews who had been persuaded by Paul's arguments. 3) 'ek' is a preposition. It means 'from' or 'out of'. It is not the word translated 'believe'. The next word in the sentence is 'pistis'. The clause literally reads 'to be Himself just and the justifier of the of faith of Jesus'. Smoothed out it would read 'that He might be both just and justifier of him who (has) faith in Jesus'. 4) 'oligopistos' is more relevant since it is a compound form of 'pistis'. It simply means 'little faith'. To me, 'little faith' is simply 'no faith'! ;-) One cannot trust God a little! 5) 'elpis' is 'hope' and is not translated as 'faith'. Some manuscripts of Rom. 5:2 use 'pistis', while others do not include it. Concerning the supposed distinction between 'belief' and 'faith', it simply isn't present in Greek. The most that can be said is that one can believe something or not, and that one can act upon that belief or not. Just because someone believes something does not necessarily mean that the person will act upon that belief in any way. :) Reading English meanings back into Greek words can be very dangerous! One of my favorite examples is the KJV of 2 Thess. 2:7: "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." Here, the word 'letteth' actually means 'He who holds back' or 'He who restrains'. Of course, 'let' used to mean 'hinder', but now it means 'allow'. This is why it is best to let the words of Scripture define themselves. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |