Episode
What Is Faith, Really? Why the Greek Word Pistis Changes Everything
- Podcast
- Vine Abiders Podcast
- Published
- Mar 7, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1998
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Summary
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 picture of it is incomplete. Both Bates and McKnight argue — and I think the early church would agree — that the gospel is the objective facts concerning the entire career of Jesus as Messiah . That includes: * His pre-existence (he was with God in the beginning) * His incarnation * His death for sins * His burial * His resurrection * His post-resurrection appearances * His enthronement at the right hand of the Father * The sending of the Holy Spirit * His future return This is why the four books are called Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — the whole story matters. Paul lays this out exp…