Objection · Case 09 · Atheism
The Greek word elenchos in Hebrews 11:1 is rendered conviction, evidence, or proof by different versions, and the verse is famously hard to translate. And Hebrews 11 praises people for believing promises with no evidence but God’s word.
One objection from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
Response
The translation difficulty is real: the KJV has evidence, the ESV and NRSV have conviction. What the word does not mean is blind guess; every rendering involves being convinced of something. The examples in Hebrews 11 involve trusting a God who had already shown himself trustworthy to Abraham and to Moses, which is the grounded part. Luke 1:1 to 4 and Acts 17:11 show the New Testament commending people who check claims, and the standard lexicons give pistis a range centered on trust and reliability rather than on belief without grounds.
About this exhibit
This objection is to Hebrews 11:1 and the meaning of the Greek word “pistis”.
The New Testament word for faith, pistis, means first of all trust or confidence, and such trust can rest on evidence, the way trust in a reliable friend rests on experience of that friend. Hebrews…
Under Claim 07: In the Bible the word “faith” means grounded trust, not belief without evidence.