Unbelieving
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Ἄπιστος can describe someone unbelieving, unfaithful, or not credible. Jesus addresses an unbelieving generation whose failure to trust stands amid His disciples' inability and a suffering family's need.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἄπιστος (G571) · Open the biblical lexicon
Ἄπιστος can describe someone unbelieving, unfaithful, or not credible. Jesus addresses an unbelieving generation whose failure to trust stands amid His disciples' inability and a suffering family's need.
The BSB source-word alignment has 23 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include unbelieving (7), unbelievers (5), unbeliever (3), an unbeliever (2), an unbelieving (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 17:17. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (11), 2 Corinthians (3), Luke (2), 1 Timothy (1).
Ἄπιστος can describe someone unbelieving, unfaithful, or not credible. Jesus addresses an unbelieving generation whose failure to trust stands amid His disciples' inability and a suffering family's need. He tells Thomas not to remain unbelieving but to become believing after presenting the wounds of His risen body. Paul can ask why resurrection should be judged incredible and can also use the adjective for people outside the believing community or for conduct that betrays entrusted responsibility.
The word is stronger than a passing question, yet its pastoral force depends on context. Scripture distinguishes stubborn refusal, limited understanding, honest struggle, covenant faithlessness, and the gracious summons to faith.
Ἄπιστος names unbelief or unfaithfulness in relation to a claim, person, or trust. Jesus confronts unbelief while also supplying truthful grounds and calling people toward faith.
“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me.”
Jesus' lament addresses a generation marked by unbelief within a scene where the disciples fail and a father seeks mercy for his son.
“O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me.”
Mark's account holds communal unbelief beside the father's mixed cry for help, preventing a simplistic division between flawless faith and total rejection.
“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”
Luke preserves Jesus' grief over unbelief while showing His authority to deliver the afflicted child despite human failure.
Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”
The risen Jesus meets Thomas with embodied evidence and a direct summons to move from unbelief to faith, culminating in confession of His lordship and deity.
Why would any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
Paul challenges the verdict that resurrection is incredible by placing the question before hearers who confess God's power.
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.
Greek word. Designates non-Christians lacking saving faith, contrasted sharply with believers in Paul's missionary context.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 23 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
unbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
Read verseunbelieving, incredulous, unchristian, unbeliever
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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 23 lexical occurrence verses.
ἄπιστος is built from these roots:
Highlights the spiritual deficiency confronting Christ.
Spiritual resistance to testimony.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Unbelief is not healed by pretending evidence and confession do not matter. The Synoptic healing scene exposes a generation unable to respond rightly to Jesus, yet He still receives the desperate family and acts with authority. John 20 is especially pastoral: Thomas' refusal is confronted, the risen Christ presents His wounds, and the command moves him toward the confession, 'My Lord and my God.'
Acts 26 presses the reasonableness of resurrection before people who claim belief in God's power. These texts neither celebrate doubt nor crush strugglers. They expose resistant unbelief, provide apostolic witness, and summon trust in Christ. Churches should answer honest questions patiently while warning against a settled posture that continually refuses God's revealed Son.
Matt.17.17
Ἄπιστος negates the adjective πιστός, faithful or believing. Depending on relation and context it may mean unbelieving, unfaithful, or incredible. The referent and implied object of trust determine the nuance.
Israel's wilderness unbelief refuses God's promise despite His works. The risen Christ supplies climactic witness and calls later readers to life through believing the apostolic testimony.
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