Greek · The Great Words

Pistis: Faith

Pistis is the Greek word for faith, meaning trust and faithfulness together, not blind belief but resting your weight on what has proved trustworthy.

The original word

How the Bible uses it

What it means

Pistis is often heard as ‘believing things without evidence’, but that is not the biblical sense. The word means trust, the kind you place in a person who has kept their word, and it also means faithfulness, the quality of being trustworthy yourself. The two meanings belong together: we trust the faithful.

Hebrews 11 defines faith not as certainty about ideas but as confident reliance, ‘the substance of things hoped for’. It is less like guessing and more like a bridge you decide to walk across because you have reason to trust it will hold.

And Christ

In the New Testament, faith is never faith in general; it has an object. It is pistis in a Person: ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 16:31). And Scripture speaks not only of our faith in Christ but of Christ’s own faithfulness to us. Faith rests its weight on him precisely because he has proved worthy of it, above all at the cross and the empty tomb.

Frequently asked questions

What does pistis mean?

Pistis (Greek πίστις, Strong's G4102) means faith, trust, and faithfulness. It is not blind belief but confident reliance on what has proved trustworthy, along with the quality of being trustworthy oneself.

Is faith believing without evidence?

Not in the biblical sense. Pistis means trust, the kind you place in a person who has kept their word. Hebrews 11:1 calls it 'the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen', confident reliance rather than a guess.

What is the object of biblical faith?

In the New Testament faith always has an object: it is trust in God and specifically in Jesus Christ ('believe on the Lord Jesus Christ', Acts 16:31), grounded in his character and his resurrection.