אָמַן support.  (cf. πιστεύω below). The basic sense support is stated by Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) Lexicon: “1. as vb. support" (pg. 52).  See Photographic Lexical archive. This is the most important theological word in the Hebrew language. The fundamental sense of the root is "support", to which words like Amen, faithfulness, faithful, owe their origin, often mistranslated or misinterpreted as barely "believe", "believer", "faith" or "truly".  It is critically important to understand that in Hebrew and Greek, the words typically translated faithfulness, faith, fidelty, faithful, believe, believer, Amen, truly, so be it ALL come from one root in Hebrew, and one root in Greek, and that theologically the Hebrew sense determined the Greek sense.  Read the lexcial definitions, and then work through the concordance at the right. 

Hiphil: adds the idea of make or cause to the verb, variously expressed by prefixing words like give, put, find, bring, make to the verb idea.

1. put one’s support (in), (on) or (to) someone or something.

commit oneself to, put oneself in the care of, entrust oneself to

2. give one’s support to someone or something.

commit to, obey, comply with, be faithful to, be loyal to, intrust to

3. make stick fast to something or make stand fast,

stand still, immobolize

4. find support in, or for someone or something.

5. hang or fasten support to someone or something.

Participle:

1. one supporting another.

committing, being faithful to, supporting, being loyal to

Noun:

1. support of a truth or fact.

2. a physical support.

temple pillars, supports, a support

3. abstractly: supportiveness.

faithfulness, commitment, loyalty, steadfastness, determination

Adjective (Niphal):

1. supportive

faithful, steadfast, determined, supported, sticking-fast, confirmed

Interjection: Amæn— let it be supported, which is a loan word from Hebrew directly into Greek, English and other languages. It was meant to be learned and used in Hebrew, not translated as typically "truly".

 

πιστεύω: for the verb sense, it is best to compare the noun and adjective uses of this word from BDAG, “commitment”, hence to commit, and “faithful”, hence to be faithful, committed, supportive. Sometimes, the King James version was compelled to get it right:

 

Luke 16:11 who will commit to your trust the true riches?

John 2:24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them

Romans 3:2 unto them were committed the oracles of God.

1 Corinthians 9:17 a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.

Galatians 2:7 the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me

1 Timothy 1:11  which was committed to my trust.

2 Timothy 1:12 that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Titus 1:3  which is committed unto me

 

The verb πιστεύω  works two ways like the English verb “commit”. If you commit yourself to someone, then you are entrusting yourself to them, as in putting yourself in the care of someone. At the same time you are supporting them. The two sides are really the summary of a covenantal relationship. You are entering into a trust with the Almighty that invovles a mutual trust to keep one’s promises and obligations in the trust. A phrase that will express the whole of the idea would be, ‘to faithfully entrust oneself’. 

 Greek Lexical definitions (and to a lesser extent אָמַן in Hebrew) of πιστεύω show considerable bias toward the definition “believe”, but the Hebrew Lexicon’s give strong witness to the actual sense of אָמַן, and the Greek are not without some testimony of the equivalent sense in Greek.  Here are some of their citations:

 

1. BDAG, “to entrust oneself [to a person] in complete confidence, believe (in), trust w. implication of total commitment to the one who is trusted” (pg. 817, 3rd ed.).

2. “2. to believe, comply, obey" (Liddell & Scott’s, XXIVth edition, 1891, pg. 561).

3. “2. to comply” (LSJ, pg. 1408, 1968 edition).

4. “4...finally persons, in which case [πιστεύω] can acquire the nuance ‘to obey’” (TDNT, vol. VI, pg. 178). (We see from the Hebrew sense how this comes to be).

5. “2b Ac. 2:44; Ro 3:22; 1Cor 14:22ab; 1Th 1:7 (those) who made their commitment.” (BDAG, pg. 317).

6. “2. to instrust a thing to one, i.e. to his fidelity: Lk. xvi. 11; Jn. ii. 24; to be instrusted with a thing: Ro. iii. 2; 1 Co. ix. 17; Gal. ii. 7; 1 Th. ii. 4; 1 Tim. i. 11; Tit. i.3.” (Thayer).

 

That John means πιστεύω in this sense is made plain in John 3:36: “He who is committing to the Sõn holds onto age-enduring life; but he who does not obey the Sõn shall not see life, but the wrath of the Almĩghty abides on him.”

The Greek Lexicon’s are most negligent in giving the correct sense, except for the third edition of Bauer (BDAG) cited above, “to entrust oneself [to a person] in complete confidence, believe (in), trust w. implication of total commitment to the one who is trusted”, but even BDAG fails to give a useful gloss, leaving it with “believe (in), trust”, when the the gloss that agrees with the definition is actually, “faithfully entrust oneself”.  The fundamental meaning of πιστεύω seems to be to enter into a trust with someone either concerning facts stated or the person themself.  The trust is mutual.

The almost exclusive use of the English word believe is due to the antinomian conflict in Christianity, and further, some translators have devolved to the point of translating the adjective for “faithful” as believer.  Further despite the lexical and linguistic proof that the noun means “faithfulness” and “commitment”, translators are bound and determined to render it “faith” in as many places as they can get away with, and then in turn, interpret it to mean “belief”.   My use of the word “committing” in the NT is due, I admit, to not radically departing from precedents.  However, in the pop up boxes will appear the senses of “give support to” and “faithfully entrust oneself to” as acceptable glosses.

A key text is Gen. 15:6.  Literally it says, “And he made his support on Yahweh....” The preposition “on” may also be rendered “with”, “in” or abstractly, “in connection to”. The idea expressed is exactly, “faithfully entrust {oneself, himself, ourselves} to”.  Yahweh is the support on which one hangs their support.  Our support to be put on his support is our obedience, our loyalty, our commitment.  The old saying “trust and obey” sums it up nicely.