ὀλιγόπιστος

From the study of Matthew 14:31

Range of meaning

"Having little faith/trust", made from oligos (little, small) and pistis (faith, trust, reliance). In the Gospels it always describes people who already belong to Jesus but whose trust fails when they are under pressure: worry about food and clothes (Matt 6:30; Luke 12:28), terror in the storm (8:26), sinking here (14:31), anxiety about bread (16:8). The related noun oligopistia appears in 17:20.

Against the English

"Of little faith" (KJV, BSB, WEB, ESV, NIV) is accurate. YLT's bare "Little faith!" keeps its force as a direct address. NLT's "You have so little faith" turns the address into a statement, so the nickname-like tone is lost. Modern readers sometimes hear "little faith" as "no faith" or "not a real believer." Matthew keeps the term for insiders, and he uses a different word, apistia (unbelief), for Nazareth's rejection of Jesus (13:58).

Used elsewhere in the period

Almost unknown in Greek before the Gospels. Of its five New Testament uses, four are in Matthew. It matches a Hebrew expression found in rabbinic literature, qetanne amanah ("small ones of faith"). Babylonian Talmud Sotah 48b says that whoever has bread in his basket and asks "What will I eat tomorrow?" is one of the "small in faith," which is very close to Matt 6:30–31. The Mekilta (an early rabbinic commentary on Exodus) uses similar language for the Israelites who gathered extra manna (Exod 16).

From the study of Matthew 6:30

Range of meaning

'Little-trusting', having faith or trust that falls short. It is built from ὀλίγος 'little' + πίστις 'faith, trust, reliance'.

Against the English

'Of little faith' can sound like 'having too little religious belief' or 'too little faith-power'. In the Gospels it means trust that gives way under pressure: people who truly follow Jesus but act, in a particular moment, as if God will not come through.

How it drifted

In modern English 'faith' often means holding religious beliefs or a body of doctrine. πίστις here is reliance on a trustworthy person. The idiom 'O ye of little faith' is also used jokingly for any doubter.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is not found in Greek literature before the Gospels. In the NT it occurs only on Jesus' lips, almost all in Matthew: 6:30; 8:26 (the storm); 14:31 (Peter sinking); 16:8 (worry about bread); the noun form is in 17:20; elsewhere only in Luke 12:28, the parallel to this verse. A close rabbinic counterpart is qeṭannê ʾămānāh, 'small ones of faith': 'Whoever has bread in his basket and says, What shall I eat tomorrow? is among those of little faith' (b. Sotah 48b, credited to R. Eliezer the Great). This is a later source, but it shows the same idea in a Jewish setting.

From the study of Matthew 8:26

Range of meaning

'Having little faith/trust', literally 'little-trusting'. It describes trust that exists but is too small to hold up under strain. It is not unbelief.

Against the English

English versions are fairly uniform ('of little faith'). NLT turns it into a statement ('You have so little faith!'). In modern English 'O ye of little faith' is mostly a teasing put-down of skeptics, people who doubted a claim. Matthew uses it for committed followers whose trust in Jesus wavers in a crisis.

How it drifted

The KJV phrase passed into everyday idiom as a jokey jab at doubters. That shifts the sense from 'wavering trust in a person' to 'doubting a statement'.

Used elsewhere in the period

This is almost exclusively Matthew's word: 6:30 (worry about food and clothing), 8:26, 14:31 (Peter sinking), 16:8 (worry about bread), and the related noun oligopistia in 17:20. Outside Matthew it occurs only at Luke 12:28. A close Hebrew equivalent, qeṭanne amanah ('small ones of faith'), appears in later rabbinic tradition. In b. Sotah 48b, R. Eliezer says that whoever has bread in his basket and asks 'What will I eat tomorrow?' is one of those of little faith. That is the same link between little faith and anxious self-preservation that Matthew 6:30 makes.