[Icon by Aidan Hart]
When it comes to matters of faith, doubt is a bad thing, right? It’s obvious. No question. At least that’s the message in a certain sort of church.
The true believer “just believes”. And anything less than “belief” is clearly a bad thing. Therefore doubt, which must surely be the binary opposite of faith, is bad.
After all, didn’t the disciple Thomas end up with the nickname “Doubting Thomas” when he missed out on meeting the post-Resurrection Jesus on his appearance to the other disciples, and questioned whether it actually happened (John 20:24-9)?
The text of the encounter between Thomas, Jesus and the other disciples is as follows (NIV version, from Biblehub)…
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
At first sight it seems pretty clear. Thomas is adamant that he needs physical evidence “Unless I see… I will not believe.” Actually the Greek is even more emphatic than usually comes across in English translations. Thomas says…
Ἐὰν μὴ ἴδω … οὐ μὴ πιστεύσω
… which literally translated is “If not I see… no not will I believe”
The Greek “no not” is a deliberate double-negative used for extra emphasis. It’s the kind of phrase that could be translated as “never” or “I will certainly not” or “absolutely no way”. The refusal is emphatic. This is not a hesitant, questioning, “doubting” Thomas. This is a stubborn, wilfully unbelieving Thomas.
When Jesus appears and presents himself, and the evidence required by Thomas, Jesus’ admonishment (v.27) in a number of popular English translations (Good News, NIV, Contemporary English) is for Thomas to “Stop doubting and believe”. But in the Greek Jesus actually says…
μὴ γίνου ἄπιστος ἀλλὰ πιστός
… which literally translated is “not be unbelieving but believing”.
Thomas is commanded not to stop doubting, but to stop being apistos and instead be pistos (an adjective meaning faithful or believing).
In Greek, an “a” prefix is added to negate a word, which is where English words such as “atheist” originate (someone who is NOT a theist). Similarly, an “agnostic” is someone who is NOT a knower (gnostic).
So to translate apistos as “doubt” is not just really poor, but misses the sense of direct reversal implied in the change of attitude from unbelieving to believing (apistos to pistos).
And to place the translated word “doubt” into the context of the sentence, making it “stop doubting and believe” succeeds in giving doubt a bad name by implying it’s the opposite of belief/faith.
But, as will now be clear, in this story Jesus is admonishing not a searching, questioning, doubting Thomas but rather someone who is stubbornly and wilfully refusing to have faith. After all “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smouldering wick He will not quench” (Matthew 12:20 referencing Isaiah 42:3).
In summary, Thomas is not “Doubting” but rather “Wilfully Unbelieving” and the opposite of belief is not doubt but active, wilful, unbelief. I’d go so far as to suggest that doubt might even be faith’s constant companion.
The recent film Conclave, from the book by Robert Harris, has the lead figure of Cardinal Lawrence (played by Ralph Fiennes) make precisely this point in a sermon to the collection of Cardinals gathered for the important task of electing the new Pope. The wise Lawrence says to his audience…
“The one sin I have come to fear more than any other is certainty. Certainty is the great enemy of unity. Certainty is the deadly enemy of tolerance…
Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand-in-hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith.”
It’s time to rename Thomas and reappraise doubt.