Believe on me: WTF?

[James Smith]

To me, "believe on" and "believe in" are not
synonymous.  "Believe on" fits with the concept of a
Christ literally taking on ills, burdens, and sins.  A
question beyond my ken, but why did the KJV
translators chose "on" over "in": was there a
distinction in the 17th century (and earlier for
earlier translations into English) that is lost in
modern English; do the Greek texts make this
differentiation?

--- James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA> wrote:

> Wilson is right; "believe on" is King James Version
> diction. I have
> on uncommon occasion met people who adhere quite
> dogmatically to the
> language of the KJV and who use "believe on Him" --
> of course, in
> secular things, they would say "believe in", but
> once God is
> involved, the dialect changes (I was about to say
> the register
> changes, but this is a big shift!). These are people
> who reserve
> "thou" and "thee" for God and honestly believe
> (because no one's told
> them otherwise) that this is a high formal form of
> address fit only
> for a deity.
>
> I should add that I've never heard anyone saying
> that atheists believe off God.
>
> James Harbeck.
>
>
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James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.



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