What Is Faith, Really? Why the Greek Word Pistis Changes Everything

About this episode

The episode explores the deeper meaning of faith in the New Testament through the Greek word 'pistis' and its implications for understanding the gospel.

A deep dive into the gospel, allegiance, and why understanding one Greek word resolves some of the New Testament’s most perplexing tensions. Most of us think we know what faith is. You believe something. Maybe you trust it. It happens in your head, it’s invisible, and according to a lot of modern Christianity, that’s basically the whole thing — have the right belief in the right moment, and you’re in. But what if the word we translate as “faith” in the New Testament carries a far richer, more demanding, and ultimately more liberating meaning than that? This post is inspired by two scholars who have done substantial work on this question: Matthew Bates , author of Salvation by Allegiance Alone and Gospel Allegiance , and Scot McKnight , author of The King Jesus Gospel . Their thesis — and I think it’s compelling — is that we’ve fundamentally misunderstood both what the gospel is and what faith means . And getting both of those things wrong has enormous consequences for how we live as Christians. First Things First: What Is the Gospel? Before we can talk about faith as a response to the gospel, we have to be clear on what the gospel actually is. Because there’s a good chance your…

People in this episode

Host: Chris White

Topics covered

• faith
• gospel
• New Testament
• Greek word pistis
• Christianity
• allegiance
• understanding faith

Keywords

• faith
• gospel
• pistis
• New Testament
• Christianity
• allegiance
• Matthew Bates
• Scot McKnight

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Salvation by Allegiance Alone, Gospel Allegiance, The King Jesus Gospel

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