What Greek word is used in John 3:16

The word for "believe" is "pisteuo". It is used 220 times in the New Testament, and it means "believe".

The word for "him" is "aujtovß". It is used 3774 times in the New Testament. It means himself, herself, themselves, itself, he, she, it, the same.

This information comes from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.

 

Sorry I'm no Greek scholar but those are two rather simple and common Greek words.

Believe - πιστεύων – pisteuōn
Him - αὐτὸν – autos

οὕτως [so] γὰρ [for] ἠγάπησεν [loved] ὁ [the] θεὸς [God] τὸν [the] κόσμον, [world] ὥστε [that] τὸν [his] υἱὸν [son] τὸν [his] μονογενῆ [only] ἔδωκεν,[he gave] ἵνα [in order that] πᾶς [whoever] ὁ [the] πιστεύων [believe] εἰς [to] αὐτὸν [him] μὴ [not] ἀπόληται [perish] ἀλλʼ [all] ἔχῃ [have] ζωὴν [life] αἰώνιον [eternal]. John 3:16, NA27

There are many simple English-Greek bible resources available for use on the internet for reference.

Rob

 

The Son is God.

 

So has the meaning of John 3:16 changed ? If so, how ? Thanx, in advance.

 

Look it up. You've been given the information. Like it's been said. The word appears hundreds of times in the N.T.. My guess is "believe" will always mean "think to be true". I am as sure Christ died for my sins as I am the sun will rise in the East tomorrow.

I thought Jesus and God the father were one. He stated it was so.

It appears you are looking to cast some doubt on the meaning of one of the most complete statements of salvation in the Bible.

What do you think it means ? How exactly would that verse change, given your hypotheticals ? You say it's a huge difference. Please explain how. Thanx, in advance.

 

Are you waiting for more new insights ?

 

The word believe is generic and cannot in and of itself give a clear definition of itself. Only context and the object of belief can give a clear indication of just exactly what it means.

To believe in God is not the same as to believe in the sunset. The context of the 3rd chapter of John is Eternal life. Jesus makes this clear on the outset with Nicodemus. So any understanding of "belief" is in relationship to a belief that leads to eternal life.

There is another factor that sets up an appropriate context here. Nicodemus thought that his salvation was based on being a Jew or a relative of Abraham or the chosen people. Also he thought that following the law was part of the equation. Jesus made it clear that salvation was a result of being regenerated or born from above.

So the object of the belief here is Jesus the Son of God. The nature of the belief is who He is which is God. But this belief is not an impersonal belief as in a belief in the sun. This is a very personal belief which is made possible in Jesus.

I believe a problem in our society is that we have a habit of throwing words around so frivolously that words like love and believe have lost their meaning. If we are going to truly believe in Jesus then when He says He has come to give us life and give it more abundantly then we will respond to that in a way that shows evidence of that belief. Belief is no different than faith. In both cases there will be evidence of them. To say one believes in God but continues on as if they do not is a lie.

 

I guess when you hate scripture, you try to change what it says.

 

Belief doesn't change you. The Holy Spirit does that and it is a gradual process.

 

The word you might be able to start a meaningful debate about it's meaning, is the word "in". What does it mean and it in what context it was meant. It doesn't merely to translate to "in", rather into, for, towards, unto, and among.

Compare with James 2:19, the word Jesus uses for "believe" is the same one used in John 3:16. In is not enough to believe in God, we have to trust his promise of salvation, and how it came to be. The key to that is "eijß", or the word the KJV translators wrote as "in". Incidentally, that word doesn't appear in James 2:19.