Why does John's Gospel use 'believe' frequently, but never 'faith'?

Question

John gave the purpose for his Gospel as:

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30–31, ESV)

He used the verb πιστεύω, usually translated believe, 98 times in 85 verses of his Gospel (based on NA28). Why does he never use the noun πίστις, usually translated faith, in his Gospel? John did use the adjective πιστός once in 20:27, which translators still translate as believe.

Why does John use the word believe and not faith in the gospel of John?

Answer 1

Looking at the senses of the verb πιστεύω (believe) and the noun πίστις (faith) in the New Testament graphed at the bottom, the meanings are basically the same. Most commentators did not see a significance in John not using the noun. Bulm is the only commentator I found who commented on this. Blum pointed out that most of the occurrences of πιστεύω are in the present tense; thus emphasizing "active, continuous, and vital trust in Jesus." John emphasized the action of the verb over the noun.

The key word in the Gospel of John is “believe” (pisteuō), which occurs 98 times. The Greek noun “faith” (pistis) does not occur. (A few times, however, the NIV translates the Gr. verb with the Eng. “put … faith in.”) The Greek verb pisteuō is frequently used in the present tense and in participial forms. Apparently John wanted to stress an active, continuous, and vital trust in Jesus. -- Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 270). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Senses of the verb in the New Testament (from Logos Bible Software)

Senses of the noun in the New Testament

A side issue is the Hebrew word the verb translates in the Septuagint (LXX). This is the root of אָמֵן .. adv. verily, truly (Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1977). Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (p. 53). Oxford: Clarendon Press.). This Hebrew word is our word amen ἀμήν. Jesus used this Hebrew adverb 50 times in 25 verses of John.

While this example is from Luke 16:11, it gives insight into the language Jesus used in the discourses in the Gospel of John. Note how the words based on this root are common in the Gospel of John.

Second, Jesus asks the pointed question, “If you have not been faithful in unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the truth to you?” (Lk 16:11, my translation). This text exhibits a play on words in Aramaic, which was the language Jesus spoke at home. He says:

 If you have not been amin [faithful]
 in the unrighteous mammon [your material possessions]
 the amuna [the truth]
 who will ja’min ith kun [entrust to you].

The root amn, which appears in the word amen, is used here four times. It makes the point that anyone who cheats on his or her taxes will never understand the gospel. Those who have been unfaithful before God with material possessions cannot expect God to reveal his greater treasure to them, which is the truth of God. -- Bailey, K. E. (2008). Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels (pp. 378–380). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? (ESV)

εἰ οὖν ἐν τῷ ἀδίκῳ μαμωνᾷ πιστοὶ οὐκ ἐγένεσθε,* τὸ ἀληθινὸν τίς ὑμῖν πιστεύσει; (NA28)

Answer 2

        πιστεύω    πίστις
 Mat      11         8
 Mar      15         5
 Luk       9        11
 Jhn     100         0

Indeed, John used the verb to believe overwhelmingly 100 times but never used the noun faith at all. These interesting statistics confirm that the book of John is rather different from the other 3 synoptic gospels.

Why does John's Gospel use 'believe' frequently, but never 'faith'?

John explains in chapter 20:

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

Faith comes from believing. It seems that John wrote in such a way to show the actions of believing. That's his focus. He wanted to emphasize the acts of faith.

Answer 3

Well, it is going to come down to what your understanding of faith is - because some understandings of ‘faith’ are inextricably interwoven with ‘belief’. For some these are not separable.

Essentially there is no clear distinction between ‘faith’ and ‘belief’ - they ‘come’ as a package that’s un-dividable.

Faith requires belief. If you believe, you’ll have faith. Belief requires ‘seeing’. You can not believe anything unless you ‘see’ it. And when you ‘see’ it, you have evidence. This then complies with Hebrews 11:1.