Mark 11:22 Have faith in God.

Spoken to
Apostles

Peter tells Jesus that the fig tree he cursed has withered.

KJV

Mark 11:22 Have faith in God.

NIV

Mark 11:22 Have faith in God,

3RD (NLT, if not otherwise identified)

NLT Mark 11:22 Have faith in God.

LISTENERS HEARD

Have a Divine's trust.

MY TAKE

Trust is as trust does.

GREEK (Each Word Explained Bottom of Page)
GREEK ORDER

Ἔχετε πίστιν        θεοῦ:
Have  trust.    of a Divine's

LOST IN TRANSLATION

This verse does not have the preposition usually translated as "in" in the "trust in" phrase (see this article.). The Greek word for "faith" didn't have the religious implications in Jesus's time that our word has today. It was much closer to our general idea of having confidence or trust in a person or his words rather than the general idea of religious belief. It isn't clear whether Jesus is saying we want to trust a divine or that the divine can have trust in us. This verse could also mean "have confidence of a god" or "have a god's trust."

The word for "God" here appears without an article. This is very unusual. Jesus usually refers to God as "the Divine." Here he does not use the Greek article beforehand and it is in the form used as the possessive, so the sense is "a god's" or "a divine's."

 

 

# KJV TRANSLATION ISSUES
1
  • WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "in" means "of."

 

# NIV TRANSLATION ISSUES
1
  • WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "in" means "of."

 

# 3RD TRANSLATION ISSUES
1
  • WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "in" means "of."

 

EACH WORD of KJV

Have -- The word translated as "have" means to "have", "possess", "bear", "keep close", "have means to do",  "to have due to one", or "keep" and many specific uses. This verb isn't used to form past tenses as it is in English. 

faith -- The term translated as "faith" is closer to our idea of having confidence or trust in people, especially their word, rather than having religious belief.

in -- (WW) There is no preposition here so this is taken from the genitive from of the following noun.  The form of this word requires that addition of extra words in English to capture its meaning.  The most common is the "of" of possession, but it can also mean "belonging to," "part of", "which is", "than" (in comparisons), or  "for", "concerning" or "about" with transitive verbs. 

God. -- The word translated as "God" means "God" and "deity." It is almost always introduced with an article, which is missing here. Jesus usually says "the Divine" perhaps to indicate the one God as opposed to the pagan gods. The fact that it is missing here makes this look more like "a divine."

EACH WORD of NIV

Have -- The word translated as "have" means to "have", "possess", "bear", "keep close", "have means to do",  "to have due to one", or "keep" and many specific uses. This verb isn't used to form past tenses as it is in English. 

faith -- The term translated as "faith" is closer to our idea of having confidence or trust in people, especially their word, rather than having religious belief.

in -- (WW) There is no preposition here so this is taken from the genitive from of the following noun.  The form of this word requires that addition of extra words in English to capture its meaning.  The most common is the "of" of possession, but it can also mean "belonging to," "part of", "which is", "than" (in comparisons), or  "for", "concerning" or "about" with transitive verbs. 

God.. -- The word translated as "God" means "God" and "deity." It is almost always introduced with an article, which is missing here. Jesus usually says "the Divine" perhaps to indicate the one God as opposed to the pagan gods. The fact that it is missing here makes this look more like "a divine."

EACH WORD 3RD (NLT or as noted)

NLT

Have -- The word translated as "have" means to "have", "possess", "bear", "keep close", "have means to do",  "to have due to one", or "keep" and many specific uses. This verb isn't used to form past tenses as it is in English. 

faith -- The term translated as "faith" is closer to our idea of having confidence or trust in people, especially their word, rather than having religious belief.

in -- (WW) There is no preposition here so this is taken from the genitive from of the following noun.  The form of this word requires that addition of extra words in English to capture its meaning.  The most common is the "of" of possession, but it can also mean "belonging to," "part of", "which is", "than" (in comparisons), or  "for", "concerning" or "about" with transitive verbs. 

God. . -- The word translated as "God" means "God" and "deity." It is almost always introduced with an article, which is missing here. Jesus usually says "the Divine" perhaps to indicate the one God as opposed to the pagan gods. The fact that it is missing here makes this look more like "a divine."

COMPARISON: GREEK to KJV

Ἔχετε[181 verses]( verb 2nd pl pres imperat act or  verb 2nd pl pres ind act) "Have" is echo, which means "to have", "to hold", "to possess", "to keep", "to have charge of", "to maintain", "to hold fast", "to bear", "to keep close", "to keep safe," and "to have means to do."

πίστιν [26 verses]( noun sg fem acc ) "Faith" is pistis, which means "confidence", "assurance", "trustworthiness", "credit", "a trust," "that which give confidence," and, as a character trait, "faithfulness."

θεοῦ[144 verses] ( noun sg masc gen ) "God" is theos, which means "God," "divine," and "Deity." Since there is not article before the noun, the sense is "a god."

Unimportant Opinions and Imaginings

In Jesus's time, the idea that we could trust in God on a personal basis was revolutionary.

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