The source I rely on for word definitions in Hebrew and Greek is Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Apparently James Strong had a strong opinion of his thoroughness. That said, James Strong thought Paul used the same word in all his letters that the KJV translators translated "faith." James (Strong) and James' (the king) together they must be correct.
Strong identifies the word as pistis; persuasion, i.e. credence; mor. conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher) espec. reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstr. constancy in such profession; by extens. The system of religious) Gospel) truth itself: assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
The writer of Hebrews defines faith as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Combining that definition with Strong's definitions our assurance of things hoped for, our conviction of things not seen comes from a conviction of a religious truth or the truthfulness of God and reliance upon Christ for salvation.
In 2 Corinthians Paul told the folks to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith. How do we reconcile the Hebrews writer's definition with something we can be in or was Paul telling the folks to examine themselves to see if they had a valid reason for such assurance and conviction.
I often hear questions of saved by faith. I am unable to find 'saved by faith.' I do find the phrase "saved through faith" in Ephesians 2:8 which, at least to me, is a major difference. Do you know where the term saved by faith comes from?
No comments:
Post a Comment