Objectively, trustworthy; subjectively, trustful
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G4103 describes someone or something as faithful, trustworthy, reliable, believing, or belonging among believers. Its sixty-seven governed forms apply to God, Jesus Christ, divine words and promises, apostolic sayings, servants and stewards, ministry coworkers, congregations, and people identified as believers.
Reader summary
Full entry for πιστός (G4103) · Open the biblical lexicon
G4103 describes someone or something as faithful, trustworthy, reliable, believing, or belonging among believers. Its sixty-seven governed forms apply to God, Jesus Christ, divine words and promises, apostolic sayings, servants and stewards, ministry coworkers, congregations, and people identified as believers.
The BSB source-word alignment has 67 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include faithful (31), [is] faithful (5), believe (3), believers (3), [This is a] trustworthy (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 24:45. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Timothy (11), Revelation (8), Luke (6), 1 Corinthians (5).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G4103 describes someone or something as faithful, trustworthy, reliable, believing, or belonging among believers. Its sixty-seven governed forms apply to God, Jesus Christ, divine words and promises, apostolic sayings, servants and stewards, ministry coworkers, congregations, and people identified as believers. English wording changes because the adjective can emphasize reliability or a person's believing relationship. Grammar and context, not a single gloss, determine the sense.
God is called faithful in passages about calling, temptation, sanctification, promise, forgiveness, and protection. Christ is the faithful witness and the One called Faithful and True. These claims ground confidence in God's character; they do not promise that every desired outcome will occur, excuse presumption, or make a human representative equally reliable. Trustworthy-saying formulas in the Pastoral Epistles introduce claims that must be read in their immediate context rather than used as detachable slogans.
Human beings are called faithful as stewards, servants, witnesses, teachers, coworkers, women, household members, and believers. Such descriptions commend tested reliability or identify faith, but they do not confer infallibility, erase accountability, or require trust without evidence. Texts set within slavery and household structures must not legitimate exploitation. A leader who invokes faithfulness to demand secrecy, loyalty, unpaid labor, unsafe endurance, or silence about abuse contradicts the accountable service these passages require.
Sixty-seven governed forms describe divine reliability, Christ's faithful witness, trustworthy speech, believing identity, and accountable human service.
God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful
God's character sustains the calling that frames Paul's appeal to a divided church.
This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance
The formula introduces the confession that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, illustrated by Paul's reception of mercy.
Its rider is called Faithful and True
The title belongs to Christ within Revelation's judicial and royal vision.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Dual nature: passive sense means trustworthy/reliable; active sense means believing/faithful in trust.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 67 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
trustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read versetrustworthy, faithful, believing
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 10 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 67 lexical occurrence verses.
πιστός is built from this root:
God’s covenant reliability remains intact despite human unbelief.
Trust rooted in revelation.
The believer’s ultimate hope rests in the unwavering character of God.
Assures believers that forgiveness rests on God’s covenant reliability.2 Timothy 2:8-13
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G4103 joins trustworthiness with trust, but Scripture does not distribute the adjective carelessly. God's faithfulness grounds calling, endurance, forgiveness, promise, sanctification, and protection. Christ bears the title Faithful and True. Trustworthy sayings direct attention to specific gospel and pastoral claims. Human servants are described as faithful when their conduct shows reliable stewardship, and other forms simply identify believers.
This range protects pastoral teaching from two errors. We should not project human betrayal onto God, and we should not project God's perfect reliability onto leaders. Faithfulness in ministry remains evidenced, accountable, open to correction, protective of the vulnerable, and subordinate to the faithful Lord.
1Cor.1.9
The governed corpus has sixteen morphology labels across gender, number, case, and two vocative forms. The nominative masculine singular dominates because many clauses predicate faithfulness of God, Christ, a saying, or a male referent. Form alone cannot decide whether the adjective means reliable, believing, or believer; syntax and referent control the English sense.
Israel's Scriptures repeatedly praise the covenant faithfulness of God and the reliability expected of entrusted servants. New Testament writers apply that scriptural confidence to the Father and Christ while continuing to distinguish perfect divine faithfulness from accountable human service.