Meaning
Believers be-lev'-ers (in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) of Ac 5:14, for posteuontes, the Revised Version, margin "believing"; in the King James Version of 1Ti 4:12 for hoi pistoi, the Revised Version (British and American) "them that believe"): Equivalent phrases, they (he, she) that believe (for hoi pepisteukotes; hoi, pisteuontes; (adj.), pistos, etc.) occur frequently as a regular description of those who professed their faith in Christ, and attached themselves to the Christian church. The one essential condition of admission into the Christian community was, that men should believe in Jesus Christ (Ac 16:31). The actual experiences of the men thus denoted varied with all the possible degrees and modifications of FAITH (which see). Believers are nowhere in the New Testament distinguished as a subordinate class from the "Christians who know" as in the Gnostic antithesis of pistikoi and gnostikoi, "believers" and "knowers."
T. Rees
