GodsGrace
CF Ambassador
- Dec 26, 2015
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Hi Hospes,You give a very specific definition to a greek word. I'm a bit baffled when applying the definition to some of the scriptures using the word. A few instances:
Matthew 21:32
For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.
Matthew 24:23–26
Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.
Luke 1:20 (ESV)
And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
Romans 6:8 (ESV)
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
When I try to apply your definition to the word in these passages, I find it akin to applying a wrong key to a lock or getting Cinderella's step-sisters' foot into the slipper.
Do you think maybe the word broadly means simply the same as the English words for "belief" and "convinced?"
The Greek word for belief/believe does not mean the same as the English.
However, this is the problem with trying to apply Strong's to the bible. Each version of believe can be different...but the way that Watchman 2 is using the word in reference to BELIEVING in Christ is correct...it means more than a mental belief. It really means belief as in being in accord with and following that or whom you believe, a believing which is more of the heart than of the mind.
Much as Mary came to KNOW Joseph...it was more than a mental knowing....