Jesus’ Focus on Faith
Do Christians care more about having enough faith than Jesus did?
St. Scholastica; Gilles Rousselet French; After Laurent de La Hyre French; Publisher Pierre Mariette le fils French; Source: The Met
CEFR Level C1-C2
In the Christian circles I’m most familiar with, it is normal to talk about having faith, having enough faith, having a lot of faith, having too little faith, and having just a little faith. More briefly, the words these Christians use indicate twin beliefs that faith can be measured and that the amount is very important. Are these beliefs supported by Jesus’ words?
Process
I used the NIV translation, BibleGateway, and the general internet. Leave open the possibility that precise data points may change depending on the translation or language used, but I would be surprised if the overall trend changed significantly between Greek and English. Not being a statistician, I look at percentages as loose clumps: Very Little, About an Eighth, About a Quarter, About a Third, About Half, About Three-Quarters, etc. The percentages may change, but if they are less than an eighth, they are still very little of the whole.
How often is “faith” specifically talked about in the New Testament?
I did a keyword search on BibleGateway. The word “faith” shows up in the New Testament 287 times, including variations like “faithfulness.” Arguably, there is a difference between having faith and being a faithful servant, but for this article, I don’t want to get into translation discussions.
An internet search for “how many words are in the New Testament” gives results between roughly 175,000-185,000 words, depending on the English translation. I used the lower number for calculations and rounded to two decimal places. That means that the word “faith” makes up about 0.16% of the English New Testament. Less than 1% of the New Testament specifically addresses faith.
Narrowing to the four Gospels, “faith” is used 44 times. That’s about 0.03% of the entire New Testament. Some of those times aren’t even the actual text, they are the editor-inserted section headings. Remove those, and you end up with 35 verses.
The four Gospels have about 83,000-84,000 words (search “how many words in the Gospels” and have a calculator ready). Again using the lower number, “faith” and variations only make up 0.04% of the text. Given those numbers, one might wonder if Jesus or those who wrote the Gospels didn’t consider faith worth talking about much.
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How often did Jesus talk about measuring faith?
Not all of those instances of “faith” are Jesus talking about measuring faith. Here are the 35 passages where Jesus mentions faith in any context.
Matthew 6:30: If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
Matthew 8:10: When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”
Matthew 8:26: He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
Matthew 9:2: Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
Matthew 9:22: Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.”
Matthew 9:29: Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”
Matthew 14:31: Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Matthew 15:28: Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Matthew 16:8: Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?
Matthew 17:20: He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 21:21: Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.
Matthew 23:23: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
Matthew 24:10: At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.
Matthew 24:45: Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?
Matthew 25:21 (also verse 23): His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!
Mark 2:5: When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mark 4:40: He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Mark 5:34: He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Mark 6:6: He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Mark 10:52: “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Mark 11:22: “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.
Mark 16:14: Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
Luke 5:20: When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 7:9: When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”
Luke 7:50: Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 8:25: “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
Luke 8:48: Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
Luke 12:28: If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!
Luke 12:42: The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time?
Luke 17:6: He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
Luke 17:19: Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Luke 18:8: I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:42: Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.”
Luke 22:32: But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
There are only 14 instances where Jesus uses measurement words with faith. In the context of 83,000 words, that’s a tiny amount of talk about how much faith someone has!
What was Jesus’ focus when he talked about faith?
Let’s look at the context of the times Jesus talks about a measurement of faith. For the sake of space, I won’t copy the surrounding text. You can look up the reference verses and read the context on your own.
In a long teaching about how the Kingdom of God is different from the kingdoms of humans.
Matthew 6:30: If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
Luke 12:28: If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!
When someone challenged what Jesus said.
Matthew 15:28: Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
When someone took Jesus at his word/Recognized Jesus’ power and authority
Matthew 8:10: When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”
Luke 7:9: When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”
When people didn’t use their knowledge of scriptures to inform how they responded to Jesus
Mark 6:6: He was amazed at their lack of faith.
When people didn’t use their past experiences with Jesus to inform how to respond to their present situation.
Matthew 8:26: He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
Mark 4:40: He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Matthew 16:8: Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?
When a situation was so different from anything the person had experienced that they had conflicting thoughts and feelings about the current situation
Matthew 14:31: Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
When people didn’t believe what Jesus said or the words of those who had been with Jesus
Mark 16:14: Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
When humans were trying to imitate Jesus and had different results than Jesus got
Matthew 17:20: He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
When humans felt overwhelmed by what Jesus was telling them to do
Luke 17:6: He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
Conclusions and Questions
Looking over this list, I don’t see anything that indicates how much faith is sufficient for convincing God to do what you want, for getting the help you want, or for being a good Christian. In fact, the only direct teaching Jesus gives on faith amounts is a reassurance that the tiniest bit you can imagine is enough for the impossible to happen.
So why do Christians focus so much on the amount of faith they have? Jesus sure didn’t, and neither do the authors of the rest of the New Testament. So why is faith measurement so important to some Christians?
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