If Ye Had Faith As A Grain of Mustard Seed: A Word Study of ΠΙΣΤΙΣ

Πίστις is a word occurring over 200 times in the New Testament that means belief, confidence, faithfulness.

These are nebulous concepts that can be roughly arrayed under four rubrics.

ΠΊΣΤΙΣ As Faith

Πίστις often means a faith, belief or confidence in someone or something.

This can be the objective genitive constructions “πίστιν θεοῦ” (faith in God), “ἐπι τῇ πίστει τοῦ ὀνόναμτος αὐτοῦ” (by faith in his [Jesus’] name) or the πίστις (faith) that Paul regularly pits against ἔργα (works) or the πίστις) that is counted as δικαιοσύνην (righteousness) in Romans 4:5.

This faith varies in degree and can grow or perish but, like the mustard seed, even a little can uproot a mulberry tree.

ΠΊΣΤΙΣ As Faithfulness

Faithfulness is a concept more canvassed in the Old Testament than the New, and is an attribute of God that the Psalmist is continually praising and a human attribute the prophets would zealously have Israel aspire to.

This idea of πίστις as a state of having or “being in” faith is not a common usage in the New Testament but Matthew has Jesus condemn the scribes and Pharisees for tithing mint, dill and cumin and neglecting the weightier matters of “τὴν κρίσιν καὶ τὸ ἔλεος καὶ τὴν πίστιν" (justice, mercy and faithfulness).

The Apostle Paul lists “πίστις” (faithfulness) as one of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:23 along with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.

ΠΊΣΤΙΣ As Virtue

The idea of πίστις as a cardinal Christian virtue is seen in Acts 6:5 when Stephen, a man “πλήρης πίστεως καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου” (full of faith and the Holy Spirit) is chosen by the disciples to take over some charitable duties from them and when the Apostle Paul urges the Ephesian community to take up “τὸν θυρεὸν τῆς πίστεως” (the shield of faith) to do battle with the evil one.

Sometimes having faith is equivalent to being a Christian. The Apostle Paul describes a Christian as one who walks “διὰ πίστεως” (by faith) and “οὐ διὰ εἴδους" (not by sight).

Technical Interlude

Πίστις, εως, ἡ is a feminine third declension noun that declines as follows:

ΠΊΣΤΙΣ As Doctrine

Finally, πίστις can be used in the New Testament in the sense of “body of faith” or teaching and, by extension, the church itself.

Jude exhorts his readers to contend for "πίστει" (the faith) against the “ἀσεβεῖς” (the impious ones) and in Timothy 4:1 the Spirit says that some will depart from “τῆς πίστεως”(the faith).

The Nature of ΠΊΣΤΙΣ

Faith is a concept that is by nature very difficult to pin down. The four classifications above are an attempt to provide a framework, albeit rickety, on which to hang the meaning of this word when you meet it in your reading of the New Testament.

There is no guarantee that every instance of this word will fall neatly into one of these compartments; in fact, the meaning may lie across two or more of them or perhaps occasionally outside of them altogether e.g. Acts 17:31 where it is used in the sense of a pledge, but you, as a reader of NT Greek, can reach for your Greek dictionary and decide for yourself.

Cognate Words

Faith is at the heart of the New Testament and, as such, πίστις has a number of important cognates.

The most important of these are the verb πίστευω (I believe (in), have faith (in)) which occurs 241 times in the New Testament and the adjective πίστος, ή, όν (faithful, reliable, trusting) which occurs 67 times..

Perhaps the most interesting of the cognates is an adjective that occurs only five times in the Gospels, always as a substantive, always in the vocative plural, always on the lips of Jesus and always addressed to his disciples: “᾽ὀλιγόπιστοι” (o ye of little faith).