What does Jesus think about doubt?
It is common in Christian circles today to require faith and certainty before people are allowed to serve. We feel people need to be sure that Jesus was the Messiah, was God in the flesh, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead before we give them an opportunity to follow Jesus into the world.
Until people get this faith and certainty, we often don’t feel they are fully qualified to serve in church. Instead, we recommend they read a book on proofs for the Christian faith, attend a class about the basics of Christianity, or perform some sort of other study so that they can gain the faith and certainty we feel is necessary for followers of Jesus.
It does not appear that Jesus feels the same way.
Throughout His entire ministry He was calling and inviting people to follow Him who knew next to nothing about Him, and were sometimes even antagonistic to who He was and what He stood for. But Jesus knew that if they followed Him, they could learn about Him while they were in the midst of loving and serving others.
One event in the Gospels shows this more than any other.
After Jesus died on the cross, and after He has risen from the dead, and after He has appeared numerous times to His apostles, and after He has eaten with them, talked with them, and let them touch His resurrected body, He appears to them again.
And this time, Matthew 28:16-17 says that some of the apostles bowed to Him, but others did not bow, because they doubted.
Do you see it?
Some of the apostles still doubted.
There is lots of debate in the commentaries and scholarly articles about whether it was really the apostles who doubted or someone else, and whether or not they really doubted, or it was just an inquisitive faith, or maybe they didn’t really doubt Jesus, but they doubted that this person who appeared to them this time was really Jesus, and on and on it goes.
But let’s call a spade a spade.
Some of the apostles doubted.
The Greek word for “doubted” is tricky here and very rare, but let’s not use fancy seminarian hermeneutical tricks to remove the force of the text. Some of the apostles did not bow to Jesus. Why not? Because they doubted.
Does Jesus care that some doubt? Not one bit.
The very next section in Matthew is one of the most important in the Bible. It contains the Great Commission. The greatest task ever given to mankind by God is given to this motley crew of apostles, some of whom believe, and some of whom doubt. He takes all the power and authority that is in heaven and on earth and gives it to them. Yes, all of them. The doubters too. And he says, “Go. Be like Me to the world.”
I love this about Jesus.
People who have been with Him for three years. Have seen Him work miracles. Have heard His teachings. Have eaten meals with Him. And after He dies and rises from the dead, while some of them believe, others still doubt.
And Jesus just shrugs His shoulders and says, “It’s good enough. Go. Whether you believe or whether you still have doubts, you can still act like me, and talk like me, and love like me, and serve like me in this world. Go. Be Me in the World.”
When some of the disciples doubt, Jesus shrugs His shoulders and invites them to follow Him in loving others anyway.
So do you believe? Do you doubt? Maybe you have some odd mixture of both? Either way is fine with Jesus.
For now, He just wants you to be like Him in this world. To follow Him in loving and serving others.
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Hey Jeremy,
This is very good!
If all of us were truly honest we would admit we have doubts also.
Here is a link to another blogger who addressed this recently.
http://firstcenturystory.wordpress.com/2012/04/08/something-to-think-on-this-easter/
Thanks, David! I will go check that post out.
i totally feel this way too… well some kinda odd mixture to tell the truth.
it is curious to see how doubt feels so good or comfortable to some folk, and taken as a hindrance by others. While hate is not the true opposite of love, doubting is contrary to faith.
“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
[Matthew 14:31]
“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”
[Luke 24:38]
“And he that doubts is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
[Romans 14:23]
“But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”
[James 1:6]
“And have mercy on some, who are doubting”
[Jude 1:22]
Mercy!!
Yes. But we are all a mixture of faith and doubt. None of us believe perfectly as we should.
“Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!”
[Mark 9:24]
Great thoughts…that God uses chronic doubters is a prime example of his grace, love, and sovereignty.
Benjer,
Yes. There is hope for all of us! 🙂
Even though the rain also wets my garments, thankfully I have no doubts. I can see the house in which I live and the lord of the house. Soon, so shall you. (Obscure C.S. Lewis reference.)
Hmmmm…. I know that reference.
I disagree entirely, doubt is of the devil
It is the first tool he uses in Genesis “Did God really say that?” and continues as his favoured seed of germinating lack of faith.
You of little faith, why do you doubt?
http://www.thechristiannetwork.com (a blog where there is nodoubt some good articles)
Doubt is of the devil!?! Yikes!
Doubt can lead us away from God, but doubt can also lead us away from error and into the truth.
The only way to learn the truth is to doubt what you currently think you know.
Doubting my previous view of God is what led me to this blog amd a deeper understanding of God im Christ! Keep up the good work Jeremy!
one of my favourite comments that i received from a saintly leader in our church community during a particularly troubling time for me was “well Jesus loved Thomas too”.
there’s always room for doubt with Jesus and i do find it comforting that i can be loved amidst my unbelief.
Ian, being loved by Jesus is never in doubt (so to speak). Jesus loved everyone: Pilate, the Pharisees, even His executioners!
Thomas came to quit his doubting and know/express faith. That’s how/why Thomas lives today. We all begin with doubts, but who will discard them?
Ian,
Jesus does love us all, and is willing and able to use us all, despite out doubts! Very encouraging!
Marshall,
Yes, I do believe God wants to bring us from doubt to a position of faith, but this takes time, and right now, we see in a mirror dimly, and will not fully know the truth until after death (1 Cor 13:12).
Jeremy, now is the day of Salvation. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life doubting or doubtful? This is a call to faith.
When we ask in faith, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!”, do we not receive the help from Him we have requested?
I Corinthians 13:12-13 reminds that we now see by faith (faith, hope & love). Faith is to seeing “in a mirror dimly”.
James reminds the man who is doubting he should not surmise to be obtaining anything from the Lord; a man double-souled, turbulent in all his ways.
[ref: James 1:6-8]
The more you “know”, the more you can “know” how much you don’t really (for certain; without a doubt) know… y’know?
[What a funny word, eh? The more you stare at it in text, the funnier it even looks! We all use it so much too…]
I prefer to reference the “biblical” word wisdom (there is that which “is from above”; “Christ, the wisdom of God”). When scripture uses the word “knowledge” it is not often positive… it “puffs up”.
Ah, semantics!
– M.
I forgot to mention that along with the word “believe” used by our Lord and the first apostles (Peter, etc.), Paul seems to often refer to our Hope or calling. Notice I’m not saying they are strict synonyms, or replacements!
Hope is a good word for us to go along with “believe”. Our hope/trust/belief is only as good as that in which it is placed? Ourselves? Money? Friends/family?
Off target!
“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” – the Life-giving Spirit of Christ!
See ya’ll there.
When we see Him “face to face”.
As you already referenced [1 Cor.13], Jer. “Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these [is] love.”
Peace, in Christ alone.
-M.
Mark, I love that about the word “know.” I laughed when I read it, because it is certainly true of me.
The more I learn, the more questions I find.
Marshall,
Are you honestly saying that you don’t have any questions or doubts whatsoever about anything at all related to God, Jesus, the afterlife, or Scripture? You’ve got it all figured out, all your questions answered, and know for certain that you are 100% correct in all of it?
On the one hand, that sounds like a very boring way to live, and on the other hand, very dangerous. After all, what if you are wrong? How would you know?
We should not permit reason to class “questions” with doubting. Neither is faith to be described as “got it all figured out”. Contrary to an innate omniscience, faith requires and abides the “mirror dimly”.
But if you have wrongly assumed that complete & child-like faith is about knowing all things, than possibly you haven’t actually been living in doubt after all.(?)
Trust is the issue. Do you/we have faith viz-a-viz trusting our Father in all things? There is no doubt in trust-faith, and as He deserves are full trust in all things — things known and things unknown.
Doubt, faith, belief, trust, hope, questions, certainty….
All words in which there is much disagreement and ambiguity.
All I can add is that I’m forever grateful God doesn’t seem to have a problem with those with “doubts.”
For myself, in my early recovery, I became enmeshed in the occult and the “metaphysical” christ. I was so much the wiser because I was able to see the ‘secrets’ of the Bible and the Lord’s teachings (ie, *The Gospel of Jesus The Christ* and other ‘lost treasures’ of the Essences and their ilk that were found on the trash piles of history.
But, God said to the Israelites, “test me on this.” And looked upon David, as a man after his own heart.
We’re told, knock and it shall be opened, and seek and you will find. I don’t see any question that would alienate God from us for using the gifts He’s given us, that most important being free will and the ability to exercise it.
It seems kind of silly to me to even suggest for a moment God would have a problem with us trying to figure it all out with what He has revealed. Or that he would not understand since He meets us at our point of need.
To me, it just kind of ties in with those that need and desire “milk” and hopefully, start to crave the “meat.”
assuming that we are not referring to curiosity or inquisitiveness as being “doubt”…
Christ’s working with Thomas demonstrates that He does “have a problem” with doubt in a man.
[John 20]
Anxiety, worry, doubt, fear of man… all these are unbelief: contra to faith. Jesus makes quite a point of it that Thomas leave behind His doubting, while this generation seems slow to be hearing Him.
Marshall,
Out of curiosity, how do you understand the verse I mention in the post above? Were the apostles doubting or not?
yes, Jeremy, from Matthew 28:17, the eleven hesitated uncertain whether to bow down or… they might have greeted Him, “Master,…”, as they had done in times before. This is doubt for what to do in the present moment.
I see. I like “hesitated” as a translation here, and I see how you understand this verse. Hesitation in the moment on what to do. Hmmm… so do you think they were hesitating about whether they should bow down (and worship) Jesus?
With Matthew 28:17, we could be tempted to “Monday morning quarterbacking”; to figure that if it had been us, we would have known straightaway to bow down — no hesitation. But these men had been with Jesus before and after His resurrection, and as He had joined them to Himself. They may have been trying to think it through in the moment, much as people may do for situations in which protocol is not super clear.
This little note from Matthew 18 is a gentle remind that the eleven had not yet received by full measure “power from on high”.
I do not doubt Him but I frequently doubt myself. Do know wit certainty that I am goin to Heaven ? No. But I have hope. Jesus is frequently refered to as our ‘hope’ of salvation. I feel my doubts make me a better christian because they spur me to constantly seek improvement.
It is a true statement.
My name was not given on the basis of apostle Thomas but I am skeptical like him :p
The last couples of years I’ve gone through a very difficult patch in my faith. The last few weeks, after hitting a crisis in my personal life, I cried out to God. I didn’t feel anything, I just prayed because it was all I had left. He answered my prayer and he’s been speaking to me since. But yet, I’m steeped in so much doubt. Since I was 13 to about 40, I was such a “strong” Christian and couldn’t understand people who doubted or lost the feeling of God’s presence, but the last three years, I’ve felt it keenly. I would say this article is just the special “umph” God is giving me to take that leap of faith. Even though I don’t feel him and have so many doubts, I can still be that person I want to be. And I’m going to be. Thank you so much!
I want to believe, but am a doubter too .
Reading Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
This makes me afraid that I will not be saved. How can I believe in my heart if I am still doubting?
Gus
Jesus has become so wrapped in religion that many miss the simple lesson of the man, not necessarily the religious figure. As with the rest of us, Jesus had three options on Palm Sunday; unlike the rest of us, he chose to do the right thing, volunteering for the most painful treatment in history.