xìnxīn

xìnxīn (xìn·xīn believing · heart → [faith; confidence] 信心) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

The seventh part of the fruitage of the spirit listed is faith.— Jiālātàishū (Jiālātài·shū Galatia · Book → [Galatians] 加拉太书 加拉太書) 5:22, 23.

As shown above, the current Mandarin version of the New World Translation Bible (nwtsty) translates the English word “faith” using this week’s MEotW, “xìnxīn (xìn·xīn believing · heart → [faith; confidence] 信心)”.

As with “àixīn (ài·xīn loving · heart → [love] 爱心 愛心)”, a past MEotW, “xìnxīn (xìn·xīn believing · heart → [faith; confidence] 信心)” includes “xīn (heart 心)”, meaning “heart”, as one of its morphemes. Why is this especially fitting when discussing the fruitage of the spirit?

The Mandarin culture and language correctly recognize that the heart is deeply involved in spirituality. In fact, as mentioned in Appendix A2 of the current Mandarin version of the New World Translation Bible (nwtsty), one of the expressions that the current version of the Mandarin NWT Bible uses to translate the English word “spiritual” is “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit [→ [spiritual]] 心灵 心靈)”, which is a past MEotW. This expression literally means “heart spirit”.

So, it is especially fitting that the Mandarin expression chosen to translate the English word “faith” in reference to the fruitage of the spirit connects both to faith and to the heart.