A rather odd question, right...did Jesus have faith? But if you think about it, it makes sense to ask it. It is quite easy to prove that the Old Testament patriarchs and the New Testament apostles and disciples of Jesus had—or lacked—faith. The Bible is filled with verses that affirm that these people all had faith in God or in Christ. But what we do not expressly see written in the Scriptures is the declaration that Christ Himself had faith, at least not in so many words. This notion can only be established through careful reading, meticulous interpretation, and theological and logical reasoning on our part.
Not only is this question important, but so are the many other questions that stem from this, for each has numerous implications and ramifications that we must reconcile in order to reach the truth. Among some of these secondary questions are: 1.) If Christ had faith, did He have it with regards to His divine nature, or His human nature? 2.) If Christ had faith, who did He place it in, God the Father, Himself, or the Holy Spirit? 3.) Are we required to have the same kind of faith Christ had in order to be saved? 4.) If Christ has faith, doesn't that mean that God has faith? If so, how? One can quickly see what the consequences of saying that Christ had faith would entail, and that is what we will try to uncover in this article.
In some instances, we will use the ESV and the KJV English translations side-by-side as we try to interpret these key passages and verses.
Faith Defined
Faith is "trust or dependence on God based on the fact that we take Him at His word and believe what He has said." Greek scholar William Mounce, in his Complete Expository Dictionary, states that faith means "belief, trust, and confidence." And according to theologian Millard Erickson, in his Christian Theology book, faith is "a fastening of the heart upon the Divine Word of promise, a leaning upon the power and faithfulness of God...to believe what someone says, to accept a statement as true; belief in and commitment to something or someone."
Faith, then, is basically trusting someone or something; it is a decision we can make or not. The Bible says that our faith is to be in God, in Christ alone. Jesus is what theologians call the "object" of our faith. He is what we place our trust in because He alone perfectly accomplished the work required of God; therefore, He alone truly has the power to save. So now we must ask, if Christ had faith, who was the object of His faith?
Theological Considerations
First, we will survey the biblical data concerning the issue of Christ's faith, and come to an acceptable theological conclusion by way of inductive reasoning. The first verse we will look at is found in Hebrews 11:6, which says: "without faith, it is impossible to please Him [God], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him" (ESV).
This might not jump out at you at first glance, but read the verse again, and ask yourself this: If it is impossible to please God without faith, then wouldn't Jesus have had to possess faith in order to please God? Of course! And when the Father says at Jesus' baptism: "in Him [Jesus] I am well pleased," does this not close the case that Jesus had faith? For, if God the Father was pleased with Jesus, then Jesus must have had faith, because it is impossible to please God without faith!
There is another instance where we can infer that Jesus indeed had faith, and this is found in Matthew 27:43, which says: "He [Jesus] trusts in God; let God deliver Him now, if He desires Him. For He [Jesus] said, 'I am the Son of God'" (ESV). From this verse, which relates a scene from Jesus' crucifixion, we can at least conclude that others believed Jesus had faith in the Father; but, of course, that could be due to others' denial of Jesus' deity. And at most, from this verse, we can infer that Jesus actually had faith in God the Father and demonstrated that fact various times.
The last verse we will look at theologically is Hebrews 10:38 (repeated in Galatians 3:11), which says: "but My Righteous One shall live by faith, and if He shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in Him" (ESV). If the Hebrews passage is talking about the Messiah, which many believe it is, then this is saying that Jesus—the Righteous One—lived by faith. Even if the verse is not talking about the Messiah, it still applies that if the person in question did not have faith, God would not be pleased with him. But as we saw above, God was pleased with Jesus (Matthew 27:43).
Some might say that Jesus had faith in Himself and who He was, and that may certainly be the case (and would not be wrong), but if Jesus is to be an example to us as to how we should relate to God, we believe it is best to say that Jesus had faith in God the Father. In other words, the object of Jesus' faith was His Father. Jesus trusted that the Father would vindicate Him and raise Him from the dead. Now, this makes more sense with respect to His human nature, but perhaps there is room to say that even within the Trinity, there is full trust among each Person.
Grammatical Considerations
One of the translation issues that has confounded the question of whether or not Jesus had faith is a result of an apparent grammatical uncertainty. Consider the following verse, found in Romans 3:21-22, first displayed in the KJV, and then in the ESV (emphases added):
- But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith OF Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" (KJV).
- "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith IN Jesus Christ for all who believe" (ESV).
There is a huge difference between the prepositions "of" and "in," and this difference has been the cause of much theological and translation debates. The KJV verse seems to be saying that it is because of the faith of Christ that we are made righteous—which makes theological sense and sounds nice. The ESV verse seems to be saying that it is because of our faith in Christ that we are made righteous—which also makes theological sense and sounds nice. So, which is it?
There are other verses that have this construction in the Greek that might make sense either way (Philippians 3:9; Galatians 2:16), but our research makes us conclude that the correct translation in all these instances is "faith in Christ," and not "faith of Christ." Part of the question arises from the fact that there is no preposition in the original Greek text, it is only implied, and up to the translators to discover. This reading does not diminish Christ's work and faithfulness to the covenant. Theologian Michael Bird states:
"Let us also remember that 'faith in Christ' is not simply assent to a doctrine about Christ. Faith in Christ means entrusting ourselves to the event of the gospel, which includes the theocentric act of deliverance wrought by God in Jesus which includes his coming, faithfulness, death, and resurrection. Thus, I would say that Jesus’ faithfulness is implied not in the noun pistis [faith] but in christos [Christ]."
For a more in-depth article regarding this issue, read this article by The Gospel Coalition.
The camp that prefers the reading "faith of Christ" asserts that it must be translated using "of" because that emphasizes the fact that only Christ had the kind and/or amount of faith necessary to gain or achieve salvation. These brothers and sisters usually presuppose that faith is a gift that God gives us and that without this gift, we would be condemned. Needing the amount or kind of faith that Christ had in order for us to be saved would make sense if faith is a gift, but our faith is not a gift from God, it is an action and position we take and possess as a result of responding to the Gospel. For more on this issue, visit our article: Is Faith A Work, Gift, or Neither?
Conclusion
There are some who have a problem with affirming that Jesus Christ had faith, for how could it be that Jesus—being God—could have faith?! That makes no sense to some, for what or who would He have faith in? He is the object of our faith! This is a notable objection. But, if we remember that God is a triune God, meaning He is three Persons, this argument begins to lose weight. It could well be that within the Trinity, there is an eternal and perfect trust in each person of the Godhead—much like there is an eternal love among them as well. And it could also be the case that Jesus has faith in who He is as the Messiah, although this is a much weaker counterargument.
It is very attractive to say and hear that Christ's faith alone is what gives us His righteousness and that we have absolutely no part in the salvation process, but this is not what the Bible teaches. Of course, God is the originator and sustainer of our faith—for He gives us the ability to trust someone—but it is one thing to say He gives us the ability to trust and saying that He gives us this faith/trust in Him automatically. If that were the case, all would be saved. It is best not to diminish the action God expects us to take in response to the Gospel: have faith in Christ, not have the faith of Christ.
To be clear, we do not mean to discredit the faith that Christ had and faithfulness He demonstrated to the covenant when we affirm that it is not His faith that saves us per se. Christ did have great faith and was perfectly faithful to the Law, and this fact is indeed part of the reason we are saved when we believe in Him, because He was perfect in every way and pleased God the Father, and was thus the perfect sacrifice for our sins. We simply mean to point out that it is still our responsibility to have faith in Christ in order to be saved and be made righteous; Christ's faith is not infused in us in order to be saved—if that were the case, then we'd be walking perfectly in God's statutes as well. His righteousness is imputed to us, not His faith.
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