K. H. Ting’s One-Sided Interpretation of Xin (信) as a verb

Abstract

K. H. Ting has challenged traditional Reformed theology with xin (信), since he understood the Chinese word xin so differently from the Religious Reformers, e.g., Martin Luther, understanding the NT Greek concepts πιστεύω, πιστός and πίστις to the point that Ting proposed to dilute its role in justification (danhua yinxin chengyi；淡化因信称义). I hereby aim to explore the distinction of and reason for Ting’s understanding which departs from traditional Reformed theology from within the framework of traditional “Chinese” conception of religion and ethics; in the meanwhile the NT Greek and Reformation Latin traditions have also been studied as a subsidiary role insofar as they illumine the Reformers’ positions. This study is not conducted through political theology, but in the light of systematic and semantical, especially conceptual analysis, because the former has been well studied but the latter approach has not been explored well enough. Both πίστις and xin have many layers of meaning in NT Greek and Chinese classics, literature, or even common parlance, but Ting paid attention only to the connotation of xin as a verb. When Ting discussedthe doctrine of justification by faith, he had neither distinguished clearly enough the differences among πιστεύω, πιστός and πίστις, nor among credo, fidelium and fides. In addition to a verb, xin is used also as an adjective, a verb-noun, an adjective-noun and a noun, but because of his one-sided interpretation Ting has understood xin differently from Martin Luther and other Western predecessors.