believe(-ing, -r), faithful(-ly), sure, true

Although this term only occurs in Acts 5:14¹⁴And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) (Acts 5:14); and 1 Timothy, it is perhaps the best general name for those who are saved; expressing, as it does, the principle of salvation—faith, and not being so generally adopted by the unconverted as “Christians.”

In Scripture belief is, in a testimony, in a person, and thirdly with regard to what is future it has the character of trust. To define it simply as trust is erroneous. The word translated “trust” is never used to mean “faith” but “hope.” The two words are contrasted in 1 Tim. 4:10¹⁰For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. (1 Timothy 4:10). Believing with the heart does not mean the affections but the man himself believing. Faith in God is no way different as regards the faith from faith in any material fact; the reason that believing God brings eternal life is not on account of anything in the faith, but because our moral nature is so depraved by the fall that to believe truly what God says is a proof of the new birth.

Number:

Greek:

πιστός

Transliteration:

pistos

Phonic:

pis-tos’

Meaning:

from 3982; objectively, trustworthy; subjectively, trustful

KJV Usage:

believe(-ing, -r), faithful(-ly), sure, true