What's a word study?

Why should I do one?

Words, Language, and Scripture. All things that are related in way or another:

In terms of the Bible and its doctrines, it is an obvious statement to say that the Bible is composed of words. But what is so oft over looked is the reality that the Bible needs to be studied in its original languages.  For those unfamiliar, the Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek. 

The Hebrew portion of the Bible consists what is commonly referred to as the "Old Testament" or Genesis-Malachi.  The Greek portion of the Bible contains what is commonly referred to as the "New Testament" or Matthew-Revelation. 

Each portion of the Bible was written by authors of the respected time period under the exact inspiration of the Holy Spirit which means that Bible is God-breathed, and are God's words to mankind. It is. remarkable thing to think about: That the God of the universe, even in our wretched state, extends his grace so mightily that we may receive HIS ACTUAL words through the instrument of language. 

Therefore, it is the duty of the believer (and unbelievers even) to accurately pursue the Words of God in the original language. You may be wondering how the Bible came to be and how do we know what is considered cannon or not. That will be mentioned in a later post, but for now we are focusing on Word Studies: 

First you need access to Tools that allow you to read scripture in Greek and Hebrew. There are many publications in print that you can use to look at the text word for word and line for line. Publications such as Nestle's Greek New Testament,  and the  Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia  allows you to read the accepted cannons of the Old and New Testament in the original language. However, you will also need a lexicon, grammars and other linguistic books. 

However, a really simple and free tool that I use to this day is the Blue Letter Bible,  an online user-friendly website that allows one to read, study, and analyze scripture with free lexicons and grammars. This is the tool that I will be using to demonstrate a word study. As time progresses, I will also demonstrate how to use some more advanced tools and programs such as Complete Biblical Library and the LOGOS software. 

Word study: Faith πίστις

The word faith has so many construed meanings in Christendom that it has lost its true sense and has become a conflated "spiritual" word associated with feelings and experiences. This is further from the true meaning of the word, and this can be seen through appropriate word study.

The easiest thing to do is search the word "Faith" on Blue letter bible and go to the Lexicon tab. Then scroll down past the Hebrew section (for now) and look for the Greek word that is firstly identified as meaning "faith" and not a word which faith is assigned as a secondary meaning. This is because secondary translations such as this can be misleading and are often incorrect. 

The word faith has been misconstrued for so long and therefore it is given a theological definition and not based solely on context alone. I challenge you to read all instances of the word, trying your best to set aside your preconceived ideas of the word and find out what it really means. I am convinced it means "The Doctrines we believe" Why do you ask? Because the bible talks about having "little of it" or the needing to grow in it. It is impossible to grow in something that is not tangible or is truly steeped in reality. Therefore faith is not conviction, emotion, or some sort of assurance. Now pistis can give us all these things but it is the stepping stone we need to first understand everything else. Thus to grow in faith is to grow in the Word of God and understanding of who HE is.