Yesterday we defined faith as confidence or conviction. One of the problem people sometimes have with this sort of definition, however, is that we think that there are degrees of faith, or (to put it another way), faith is on a sliding scale, where one end is “wishful-hope-so-thinking” and on the other end is “absolute certainty.”
Though lots of people like to talk about “degrees of faith” this is not a proper way of thinking about biblical faith.
There are no Degrees of Faith
Faith is more like a light switch (and not a dimmer switch!). Just as a light is either on or off, so also, you either believe something or you don’t. If you are not sure whether or not you believe something, then you don’t believe it. If you are partially convinced, but not yet fully convinced, then you do not believe.
Though Scripture does talk about “little faith” and “great faith” (e.g., Matt 8:10, 26), this is not a reference to the degree of faith someone has, but to the difficulty of the truth believed. Some things are easier to believe than others, and so when someone does not even believe the simple and obvious things, they have little faith, whereas, when someone believes things that are difficult to believe, they have great faith (See my article, “Now That’s Faith” for more.)
You Cannot “Choose” to Believe
What all of this means is that we cannot exactly “choose” to believe something. Belief, or faith, is not a decision we make. Faith is something that happens to us when presented with convincing and persuasive evidence.
Sometimes we might not be able to believe something until we see it with our own eyes. Other times, we might come to faith through reason, logic, and the weight of argumentation. Occasionally, we even come to believe something despite our desire not to believe it.
For example, if a father was told that his son was a mass-murderer, the father might not want to believe it, and would not believe it. But if the father sat through the trial of his son, and saw the weight of the evidence, and maybe even heard the confession of his son to his crimes, the father would be forced to believe what he did not want to believe. The father did not choose to believe, but was persuaded or convinced by the evidence presented, and came to believe something he did not wish to be true.
So while facts, logic, and reason can lead to faith, so also can experience, relationships, and revelation. Even hope and trust, which are not themselves faith, can be transformed into faith.
Faith itself can lead to faith, for once we believe some things about God, it becomes easier to believe other things. Divine revelation itself can lead us to believe things about God, ourselves, and eternity which we may not have believed otherwise (Rom 10:17).
Lots of different things lead to faith, and people have faith in lots of different things. What’s your point? Surely the question is how valid our faith is? Relationships, hope, trust, experience, these are not things that validate faith. Ask anyone who’s had a broken heart.
I am not sure what your point is… but then, it sounds like you are not sure what my point is. So, I guess we’ll just smile and nod at each other and move on?
You’re out of your league.
Undoubtedly. Thanks for pointing that out though.
I think Jesus commended great faith on only two occasions; the centurion and the Syrophrenician woman (both Gentiles). The faith was great because they ignored hence surpassed the obstacle of non-entitlement. Basically, they ‘got it’ (ie the inclusiveness) before His once-and-for-all work of the cross.
Right! They believed something that few others believed at that time.
There might not be degrees of faith, but are there not stages to faith? Faith that starts like a seed and changes and grows as more as time passes, as we develop a history of promises kept. I love the story in Mark 9, where Jesus is asked to heal a father’s mute son.
22 “….But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
23“ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
I have faith, it’s different than it was, in a different stage, but not perfect by any stretch. I believe, and pray continuously that He helps my in my unbelief.
Yes, I am comfortable with thinking about stages of faith. We go “from faith to faith” as it were. Believing one thing helps us believe something else and so on.
Could it also be that they were gentiles and believes in the Almighty of Israel when they were not raised in the Hebrew traditions?
Sure, that might be part of it! Good insight.
The difference between little faith and great faith is not how much a person believes, but in how big they recognize God to be. Jesus characterized all our faith like a grain of mustard, but if we recognized how BIG our God is, then it is enough to cast a mountain into the sea.
Keep up the great daily posts Jeremy. They challenge me to keep wrestling to understand the full scope of God’s truth.
Blessings and Aloha,
John Brangenberg
This is true as well. And good point about the faith the size of a mustard seed. Keep thinking along with me!
I see it that as part of the New Covenant we are now united into Christ and in us the fullness of Christ dwells, therefore i have the same faith that Christ has in me. I do however have unbelief inside me, so to me it is not more faith that i need but less unbelief. Unbelief clouds my faith.
I think that unbelief is simply when we don’t believe certain things, and belief is when we do. We all have beliefs and unbeliefs, and sometimes there is movement between the two. Some things I believe today I did not believe 5 years ago, and vice versa.
The example of Thomas underscores the nature of faith; Jesus commended those who believed, but had not seen—was their faith greater? Good questions.
Jesus must have been talking about future believers – all the discilples in the room had ALREADY seen the resurrected Jesus before they believed. Thomas just wasn’t with them the first time. So I don’t think Jesus was saying the other disciples were more blessed – but that we in the future (who believe without seeing His resurrection body) are more blessed. So maybe that goes along with Jeremy’s description of great/little faith: It takes greater faith to believe something for which we have no physical evidence.
Yes, that is probably how I would say it. Thanks for the great questions and insight.
You write, “… it is not wrong to say that the biblical gospel is Jesus Christ….” yet gospel means good message, good story or good news — the gospel is the message, not Jesus. Jesus is not a message, just as I am not a comment.
Why blur the distinction, why say that Jesus and the gospel are the same?
I find one clue here:
“Even if Calvinism were true…. to equate Calvinism with the entirety of [the] gospel is to replace the infinite glory of Jesus Christ with a small, manmade system of theology.”
Your target in that sentence is theology. You want to be able to claim a gospel faith without having to pin that faith down to a theology.
A second clue is something you wrote in a comment to me which I found odd (not the comment where you called me a troll— an ugly character — that’s totally understandable) I’m talking about when you wrote:
“I wouldn’t say my “faith” changes. I sometimes believe certain things, and I sometimes don’t.”
I wondered how your faith can stay the same when your beliefs change.
If I understand correctly, you want to say that you have faith in Jesus although your actual beliefs change over time, and that you have faith in the gospel but your understanding of the gospel changes over time, too?
In this series you also wrote:
“There are no Degrees of Faith ….. you either believe something or you don’t.”
By making a distinction between your faith which is constant and your beliefs that change, you can claim consistency while being inconsistent, and faith without commitment to any doctrine. Am I getting confused?
Are you saying something like “I believe in Jesus and the gospel although I haven’t got it all figured out?”
I think that’s a reasonable position.But I still can’t understand why you say the gospel and Jesus are the same, because you can say I believe in Jesus and the gospel. Maybe my character’s to ugly to understand you.
Troubleunderfoot,
I am never sure if you are asking questions because you want to learn, or because you just want to cause trouble… 🙂
Either way, you ask good questions.
In my view, a person holds millions of beliefs. So while the theological definition of “faith” remains the same, one’s set of beliefs is constantly be changing based on the evidence presented and the logic and reason they follow.
As for my statement, “the gospel is Jesus,” I am simply saying that the gospel is summed up in Jesus.
Jeremy, that’s a good response. I understand what you’re saying now. No problem.
The comment that “faith is something that happens to us when presented with convincing and persuasive evidence” is not biblically sound. Scripture teaches that We walk by faith and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7. And Faith is the evidence Not Seen. Hebrews 11-1. We were not around to see Jesus die on the cross and pay for our sins with His blood. We were not there to see Him resurrected from the grave yet we use our faith to accept and believe it. Our faith doesn’t kick in when persuasive evidence is presented. That is totally misleading and against biblical teaching on faith.
You don’t need to be a personal eye witness to an historical event to be persuaded by the lines of evidence that prove the validity of that event.
I have written an entire book on faith, and the book shows why this view on faith is biblical.
What then is scripture communicating when it says we must walk by faith rather than by sight? Clearly, there is a difference between sight and faith, and I would posit that ‘sight’ is what we see, which to me means that faith is what we do not see.
I also notice you use the dictionary to define faith and write that faith is ‘confidence or conviction,’ and that ‘trust’ is not faith, but Google tells me that faith is ‘complete trust or confidence. Why do you use the dictionary to say faith is confidence, but declare that faith is not trust? Perhaps because we choose to have trust?
I believe faith is a choice we make, but it seems you do not. I have heard atheists use your exact reasoning as to why they are not Christian. ‘I cannot be a Christian’ they tell me, mourning this fact I am sure, ‘for I cannot make myself believe something that I cannot… see and understand.’ God must make sense to them before they would accept Him. Rather foolish to come to God with that attitude. They would be forced to believe if Jesus appeared to them in the flesh, right? If they could only see! I am honestly doubtful, for I know that seeing does not equal believing. If it did, wouldn’t everyone believe like you and me? Paul says that ‘God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.’ (Rom. 1:20)
It seems everyone really has seen, but only a few believe! The road is narrow and only a few will be saved. Why? Because faith is a choice, and not everyone is willing to make it.
I ended up writing more than I thought I would, and please know this really was more for me than it was for you so please don’t take this as an attack. You are doing good work!
Spurgeon said, “little faith will get you into Heaven, but great faith will get Heaven into you.”