What is the difference between doubt and unbelief?

Well, hey everyone. Here’s a question for us today. What is the difference between doubt and unbelief? We had the privilege of hearing from my friend Tom Hansen, uh, in our service this last Sunday as he shared about his own faith journey. He talked a bit about doubting Thomas and about his own wrestling with doubt, something that many of us deal with.

What is the difference though between doubt and unbelief? There seems to be a crucial distinction, and we need to know this crucial distinction because the Bible seems to make this distinction. And I also think we need to know this distinction because it’s vital for our souls. So, doubt is not the enemy of faith.

It’s not the absence of faith. It is a struggling faith. If you think about the man in the Gospel of Mark chapter 9, and he often gets brought up anytime we talk about doubt or unbelief. This is a man, you can go look at the story, who brings his son to Jesus and to the disciples to heal this man’s son, and the disciples can’t do anything about it.

And so Jesus then steps in, and the man asked Jesus, he says, Look, Jesus, if you can do anything, can you please heal my son? And Jesus said, if I can do anything, all things are possible for those who believe. And then this is where the man says, I do believe, but help my unbelief. So the crucial distinction here is what the man does with his faith.

He has faith, but it’s a struggling faith, and he brings it to Jesus, and he’s upfront and honest about it. And so, and I’m not the first person to use this sort of simile or this picture, we could think of doubt as being like a hand that is being extended out to God. It is an open hand. It may be a trembling hand, it may be a desperate hand, but it is not letting go.

It is, it is bringing that, that, that struggle, that doubt, maybe that uncertainty, those spiritual questions humbly to Jesus. And Jesus always, always responds to that kind of belief, that kind of, uh, faith that reaches out even in the midst of doubt and uncertainty. On the other hand, the distinction between doubt and unbelief in scripture, we could think of, instead of being an open hand, unbelief is really more like a closed fist.

It’s really not wrestling, it’s really more resistance. It’s not simply weakness, it’s really willfulness. It’s not questioning within the confines of a relationship. Unbelief is walking away from the relationship altogether. And so this is where the gospel comes in. When we look at doubts, Jesus deals with people who are dealing with doubt and uncertainty with a measure of compassion and mercy.

He welcomes Thomas’s questions. He invites Thomas to examine him, the resurrected Jesus. Look at my hands, look at my side. He welcomes those doubts. He doesn’t want him to stay in those doubts, but Jesus welcomes him with compassion. When John the Baptist was in prison and was seemed to be dealing with a measure of doubt and uncertainty about, is Jesus really the one?

Jesus didn’t condemn John the Baptist for those questions. And when Peter denied knowing Jesus, Jesus dealt with him tenderly. But the same Jesus called out those who, after having seen so many miracles, still refused to believe. They were resistant, they were hard-hearted, they were stubborn. Jesus grieved over people and over cities that after having seen so much evidence that Jesus is truly the Son of God, the Messiah, they still aren’t satisfied in that.

So, what do we do with this crucial distinction? We bring our doubts humbly before Jesus, and we acknowledge it. We don’t have to hide it. Don’t let your doubt turn into unbelief. We don’t need to stay in that doubt, but neither do we need to feel condemned when we have doubts and uncertainty and we have spiritual questions.

We talk about this all the time around here at the church. Bring those to Jesus with humility, and don’t let it turn to unbelief, but instead let it drive you to our Savior, who will always respond compassionately to that kind of humility. Well, thanks so much for joining us today as we discussed the difference between doubt and unbelief.

I hope it’s been helpful to you.