πίστις (Pistis - Faith) and Ἀβραάμ (Abraham) in the New Testament
While doing some prep for a sermon on Hebrews 11:8-19 I dove into a bit of a word study on πίστις which is the word in greek for "faith"
Πίστις occurs 244 times in the NT in 228 verses.
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One of the interesting things of note is the clear cut overlap between the word "πίστις" and "Ἀβραάμ" which is the name for Abraham.
Ἀβραάμ occurs 73 times in 69 verses in the NT.
6 times in Matthew,
1 time in Mark,
14 times in Luke,
9 times in John,
7 times in Acts,
9 times in Romans,
1 time in 2 Corinthians,
9 times in Galatians,
10 times in Hebrews,
2 times in James,
1 time in 2 Peter,
Some overview over the uses of Abraham:
6 uses in Matthew. Three uses occur in the genealogy of chapter 1 which details the "generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham".
There are 10 verses that explicitly include both the words for Abraham and Faith.
Romans 4:9, 12, 13, 16.
Galatians 3:7, 8, 9, 14.
Hebrews 11:8, 17.
While 10 verses may seem to be a small amount, consider the total amount of occurrences of faith (πίστις) and Abraham (Ἀβραάμ) again. 244 instances of faith, and 73 occurrences of Abraham. This means that while these 10 verses may seem like small sections in the grand scheme of scripture, we can see something of a trend among New Testament authors in their understanding of Abraham.
7% of all mentions of Abraham in the New Testament are directly tied to faith within the same verse. You might think on first glance, "7% isn't that much". Consider for a moment the importance of other figures that may also be close to Abraham, such as, his wife Sarah or promised son of the covenant, Isaac.
Sara (Σάρρα without an H in Greek) only occurs 4 times in the NT. In Hebrews 11:11 she has her own separate clause and point of reference apart from Abraham. Meaning that Sara (Abraham's own wife!) is only linked with Abraham 2% of the time (3 occurrences in Rom 4:19, 9:9, and 1 Pet 3:6).
Isaac (Ἰσαάκ in Greek) occurs 20 times in the NT. Isaac is mentioned in the same verse with Abraham 13 times in the NT for a frequency of 9% of the time (4 in Matthew, 3 in Luke, 3 in Acts, 1 in Romans, 1 in Hebrews, 1 in James).
In trying to understand Abraham ourselves, and in learning from the New Testament's own teaching about Abraham, we find inescapable links between Abraham, his wife Sarah, son of the covenant Isaac, and of course, faith! Faith is a cornerstone piece of understanding Abraham's story, framework, and application for future generations!
This is one way in which the versification of scripture is both helpful and unhelpful. While we can create easy data-points that suggest a connection between words in their proximity to one another via the closeness of verses (helpful). Displaying the closeness of words and concepts within the progression of a narrative, argument, or expressed thought can be difficult if the words and concepts are not directly tied to the same adjacent verse or even chapter.
Abraham becomes a symbiotic word, or overlapping word (not quite synonymous but very closely related) with faith in their occurrences. Whenever Abraham appears, a discussion on faith may not be far off.
Πίστις occurs 244 times in the NT in 228 verses.
8 verses in Matthew,
5 verses in Mark,
26 verses in Luke & Acts,
35 verses in Romans,
7 verses in 1 Corinthians,
6 verses in 2 Corinthians,
20 verses in Galatians,
8 verses in Ephesians,
4 verses in Philippians,
5 verses in Colossians,
8 verses in 1 Thessalonians,
5 verses in 2 Thessalonians,
18 verses in 1 Timothy,
8 verses in 2 Timothy,
6 verses in Titus,
2 verses in Philemon,
31 verses in Hebrews,
12 verses in James,
5 verses in 1 Peter,
2 verses in 2 Peter,
1 verse in 1 John,
2 verses in Jude,
4 verses in Revelation,
x
One of the interesting things of note is the clear cut overlap between the word "πίστις" and "Ἀβραάμ" which is the name for Abraham.
Ἀβραάμ occurs 73 times in 69 verses in the NT.
6 times in Matthew,
1 time in Mark,
14 times in Luke,
9 times in John,
7 times in Acts,
9 times in Romans,
1 time in 2 Corinthians,
9 times in Galatians,
10 times in Hebrews,
2 times in James,
1 time in 2 Peter,
Some overview over the uses of Abraham:
6 uses in Matthew. Three uses occur in the genealogy of chapter 1 which details the "generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham".
There are 10 verses that explicitly include both the words for Abraham and Faith.
Romans 4:9, 12, 13, 16.
Galatians 3:7, 8, 9, 14.
Hebrews 11:8, 17.
While 10 verses may seem to be a small amount, consider the total amount of occurrences of faith (πίστις) and Abraham (Ἀβραάμ) again. 244 instances of faith, and 73 occurrences of Abraham. This means that while these 10 verses may seem like small sections in the grand scheme of scripture, we can see something of a trend among New Testament authors in their understanding of Abraham.
7% of all mentions of Abraham in the New Testament are directly tied to faith within the same verse. You might think on first glance, "7% isn't that much". Consider for a moment the importance of other figures that may also be close to Abraham, such as, his wife Sarah or promised son of the covenant, Isaac.
Sara (Σάρρα without an H in Greek) only occurs 4 times in the NT. In Hebrews 11:11 she has her own separate clause and point of reference apart from Abraham. Meaning that Sara (Abraham's own wife!) is only linked with Abraham 2% of the time (3 occurrences in Rom 4:19, 9:9, and 1 Pet 3:6).
Isaac (Ἰσαάκ in Greek) occurs 20 times in the NT. Isaac is mentioned in the same verse with Abraham 13 times in the NT for a frequency of 9% of the time (4 in Matthew, 3 in Luke, 3 in Acts, 1 in Romans, 1 in Hebrews, 1 in James).
In trying to understand Abraham ourselves, and in learning from the New Testament's own teaching about Abraham, we find inescapable links between Abraham, his wife Sarah, son of the covenant Isaac, and of course, faith! Faith is a cornerstone piece of understanding Abraham's story, framework, and application for future generations!
This is one way in which the versification of scripture is both helpful and unhelpful. While we can create easy data-points that suggest a connection between words in their proximity to one another via the closeness of verses (helpful). Displaying the closeness of words and concepts within the progression of a narrative, argument, or expressed thought can be difficult if the words and concepts are not directly tied to the same adjacent verse or even chapter.
Abraham becomes a symbiotic word, or overlapping word (not quite synonymous but very closely related) with faith in their occurrences. Whenever Abraham appears, a discussion on faith may not be far off.
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