John 20:29

20:29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are the people ¹  who have not seen and yet have believed.” ² 

Luke 1:45

1:45 And blessed ³  is she who believed that ⁴  what was spoken to her by ⁵  the Lord would be fulfilled.” ⁶ 

Luke 7:9

7:9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed ⁷  at him. He turned and said to the crowd that followed him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith!” ⁸ 

[20:29]  ¹ tn Grk “are those.”

[20:29]  ² tn Some translations treat πιστεύσαντες (pisteusante") as a gnomic aorist (timeless statement) and thus equivalent to an English present tense: “and yet believe” (RSV). This may create an effective application of the passage to the modern reader, but the author is probably thinking of those people who had already believed without the benefit of seeing the risen Jesus, on the basis of reports by others or because of circumstantial evidence (see John 20:8).

[1:45]  ³ sn Again the note of being blessed makes the key point of the passage about believing God.

[1:45]  ⁴ tn This ὅτι (Joti) clause, technically indirect discourse after πιστεύω (pisteuw), explains the content of the faith, a belief in God’s promise coming to pass.

[1:45]  ⁵ tn That is, “what was said to her (by the angel) at the Lord’s command” (BDAG 756 s.v. παρά A.2).

[1:45]  ⁶ tn Grk “that there would be a fulfillment of what was said to her from the Lord.”

[7:9]  ⁷ tn Or “pleased with him and amazed.” The expanded translation brings out both Jesus’ sense of wonder at the deep insight of the soldier and the pleasure he had that he could present the man as an example of faith.

[7:9]  ⁸ sn There are two elements to the faith that Jesus commended: The man’s humility and his sense of Jesus’ authority which recognized that only Jesus’ word, not his physical presence, were required.