Passage Explorer
Word study · Greek

oligopistos

of little faith

Say it: oh-lee-GOH-pis-tos (approximate)

ὀλιγόπιστος

What it means

A word Matthew uses mostly for the disciples, built from "little" and "faith." It describes faith that is real but small, not an absence of faith: they follow Jesus and still panic in a storm (8:26), forget the bread (16:8), and sink on the water (14:31); in the sermon it's said to listeners who worry about clothes (6:30). Luke uses it once.

Range of meaning

  • Small faithReal trust that gives way under pressure.

In Matthew

  • Chapter 14

    "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (14:31).

  • Chapter 16

    "You of little faith," about the forgotten bread (16:8).

  • Chapter 17

    "Because of your little faith" (17:20, the related noun).

Every verse (4)

Verses where G3640 is tagged in the Hebrew text: STEPBible Data (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. About our sources