Question: Why does The AV7 Bible use the word "faith" in
Galatians 5:22 when so many others use the word "faithfulness"?
Answer: The correct translation is "faith." The word
"faithfulness is an incorrect translation.
The Greek word "pistis" (or "pistiV") appears 37 times in the New Testament, and
this crucially important word is uniformly and universally translated as "faith"
throughout the entire New Testament ... except in one curious instance in which some
versions of the Bible have departed from that uniform consistency by translating
"pistis" as "faithfulness" in Galatians 5:22.
This departure from consistency in translation is particularly curious because the word "faithfulness" has a meaning that is significantly different than the word "faith." One must wonder why some versions of the Bible have chosen to depart from the
otherwise uniform consistency of translating "pistis" as "faith" in just this one instance?
"Faith" is an extremely important attribute of the fruit of the Spirit.
"Faith" pertains to believing in and trusting in God, and it is, of course, a major
theme and topic in hundreds of passages throughout the Bible. While "faithfulness"
is a very desirable character trait, it is more reflective of one's own efforts
and abilities in being loyal and reliable; and that is a very, very different thing
than having "faith," which is believing in and trusting God. One would do well to
carefully consider the dictionary definitions of these two words, "faith" and "faithfulness" to fully appreciate how very different their meanings are.
Faith comes to believers as a gift from God rather than as a result of one's own efforts in being faithful, loyal, and reliable. Therefore, it would seem to be very important to
preserve the otherwise entirely uniform consistency that exists in translating the
Greek word "pistis" as "faith" in Galatians 5:22, as it is in every other instance.
A link will be added here later to provide documentation to show where every
instance of the the Greek word "pistis" is found in the Bible and how it is
universally translated as "faith" except in this one instance where most
versions incorrectly translate this crucially important word.