But Some Doubted, Part One
Thoughts on Doubt and Faith
by Randy Siever
There’s a fascinating and usually overlooked blip in the highly revered Great Commission in Matthew 28. We usually quote it from verse 18 through 20. This is the primary motivational passage for Christians to do what we call “evangelism.” Here’s the part we quote, from the New International Version:
18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I won’t go into this much, since you’re likely already very well taught on it and I doubt I’d add much to what you already know. But here are the two preceding verses that I find incredibly intriguing…the ones we don’t normally refer to.
16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
Here’s the same two verses in The Message translation:
16-17Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.
I had never really noticed these two verses before, and when I did I immediately asked myself, “Some DOUBTED? Some of WHO? I want NAMES!” Verse 16 tells us who: Some of the “eleven.” That’s the original twelve disciples minus Judas Iscariot. The same guys who literally lived with Jesus for three years as his students. He taught them, he performed miracles in front of them and with them, he corrected them and sent them out to do mission work in his name. They watched him get hauled off to the monkey trial that ended in his execution by crucifixion. They huddled up, scared and depressed (Peter went back to fishing, remember?). But Jesus showed up, alive, just as he said he would. They saw the empty tomb. They were wowed by him just appearing in a locked room with them. Jesus was back.
Then for the next forty days Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, reinforced who he was to these guys (and many, many others as well) by appearing all over the place to individuals and groups as large as 500 (1 Cor. 15:3-7). And now, just before he physically ascends to heaven, he gathers his remaining key leaders for a final charge. He tells them to meet him on a mountain top, and the eleven show up for the appointment. When they get there, it says they “worshiped him,” which seems pretty appropriate given Jesus has pretty much done everything necessary to prove that he is God in the flesh. Once you’re convinced of that, worship is pretty much what happens when Jesus is right in front of you.
And then we read these three words: “…but some doubted.” How could this be? Which of these eleven were still fuzzy about Jesus? It doesn’t tell us (gracious of God, I think), but there is one guy it wasn’t, for sure…Thomas. Remember “Doubting Thomas?” He’s the guy who had the integrity to admit that the idea of a guy, any guy, coming back from the dead was crazy. He wouldn’t believe it unless he saw Jesus with his own eyes, and got to touch the wounds in his hands and side. Jesus shows up and settles the doubt for Thomas (and at that point, presumably for the rest of the eleven) by inviting him to touch his wounds. Remember Thomas’ response? He fell to his knees, crying out “My Lord, and my God.” Thomas was convinced who Jesus was in that moment, for sure. And he worshipped him on the spot.
But that was pretty early in the 40-day resurrection run. By verse 16 we’re at the end of that period. So I’m pretty sure Thomas was not one of the “some” a this point who still doubted because, well…he already crossed that bridge. What’s interesting to me is that this means that there must have been others among the eleven who doubted at the same time Thomas did. They just didn’t have the guts to admit it out loud. Thomas gets a bad rap, and ever since then, doubt has, too.
Ok, back to the story at hand. Jesus is about to give the final marching orders for the new Kingdom of God at hand here, and he’s doing it with his chosen team leaders. I find it disturbing to think that they’re not all on the same page regarding what we have historically believed was an essential doctrine of the Christian faith: Jesus is God in the flesh. This is the acid test for spirits, according to John (1 John 4:2). It’s at the core of our faith and is sort of the line in the sand when it comes to orthodoxy. God became flesh and moved into the neighborhood (John 1:14). His name was Jesus.
So how would you feel at this critical point if you were in Jesus’ shoes? I can’t imagine myself not being totally bummed. I mean, what’s a guy have to do to get a little respect here? This is the birth of the church we’re talking about. We just can’t have any fuzziness about the very nature of Christ the King here…too much is on the line. So, you guys who are doubting…have a seat. I’m going to have a little meeting with the guys who “get it” and we’ll be right back. Sheesh.
But not Jesus. Eugene Peterson, in “The Message” translation, puts verses 18-20 this way:
“Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”
I love that. “Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge:” It didn’t bother Jesus that some of his guys were doubting still. He was undeterred. He went ahead and gave the Great Commission to the whole lot of them…including the doubters. Why? If certainty about the very nature and person of Christ is not what is required to be qualified to be sent on this great mission to make disciples in all the world, what does qualify them (or anyone else) for this mission?
Here’s what I think. The clue is in verse 16. Jesus told them to meet him on the mountain…and they showed up. And because they showed up, they got charged with the massive task of making disciples of Jesus in all the world. They got the commission simply because they were asked to meet Jesus on the mountain and they were obedient. They didn’t have it all figured out, and some of them still doubted what we consider a core issue about the deity of Christ. But they showed up anyway, and Jesus commissioned them all.
If they hadn’t showed up that day…well, I don’t know what would have happened. I’m just glad they did. Because they showed up that day, a lot of stuff happened to and through them that resulted in me knowing and following Jesus today. I’ve never felt more thankful, or amazed, about that than right now.
Next week: Part Two…
February 19th, 2010 · 10 Comments
Categories: DE Thoughts
Pam Marino said
am February 19 2010 @ 11:53 am
Awesome, Randy. “Show up.” Great advice I plan to share with others, and remind myself of whenever I’m in one of those “doubting” times.
Randy Siever said
am March 2 2010 @ 2:55 pm
Ya know…in the Message version, this incident (the Great Commission) almost sounds like it happened right on the heels of the resurrection (instead of 40 days later). Any Bible scholars out there have any insight on this?
Gretchen Carlson said
am March 26 2010 @ 11:35 am
I’m not a Bible scholar. Until you pointed out “some doubted” in verse 17, I had never noticed it. It does raise an interesting question: What did they doubt? You press the point and state, “I find it disturbing to think that they’re not all on the same page regarding what we have historically believed was an essential doctrine of the Christian faith: Jesus is God in the flesh.”
I agree with you that “Jesus is God in flesh” is the essential doctrine of Christian faith, but I’m not convinced that is what they were doubting. Even the Message version hints that the doubt was more in themselves and risk taking, not that Jesus was God. We don’t know what was being doubted and it feels like you are making too big of a case with that phrase. I don’t think the disciples questioned or doubted the deity of Christ as much as you suggest.
They didn’t have it all figured out and we don’t either, but evangelism isn’t about showing up out of obedience. We show up (obey) with belief. James reminds us how faith/belief and action/obedience are tied together.
Thanks for making us scratch our heads and examine our actions!
Randy Siever said
am March 26 2010 @ 12:25 pm
Gretchen,
Thanks so much for your thoughts and comments on this subject. It’s really interesting, isn’t it? Like you, I have read this passage dozens of times and never noticed verse 16 or 17. Scary how we all selectively read the scriptures.
I’m not really a bible scholar, either, but this passage is disturbing in it’s simple and clear message…in any translation, frankly. The contrast in verses 16 and 17 is clearly between those who “worshipped” and those who didn’t, and the “but some doubted” is the defining phrase that separates the two groups. This would seem to imply that the doubt was about whether they should (or could) worship Jesus in that moment, as Peterson’s translation clearly suggests (“some held back”). They may well have had doubts about themselves, as Peterson also suggests in his translation, but the worship issue is the biggee, even for him:
“The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.”
I would submit the uncertainty about “risking themselves totally” might be about the risk involved for a Jew to worship anyone but God. But whatever that second phrase means (included only in Peterson’s translation, as far as I can tell, which he usually does to clarify intention), it is secondary to the initial and primary uncertainty about whether they should or could worship Jesus in that moment.
Now…whether that meant they doubted the deity of Christ, I cannot say with any certainty. But it seems reasonable to conclude that this is the issue, since if one were convinced that Jesus was the one and only God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, one would be compelled to worship…Jew or not. Some of the eleven were so compelled, and some weren’t. I think it’s fair to conclude that those who weren’t had to have issue with whether or not Jesus was, as John put it in the first chapter of his Gospel account, “The Word become flesh.”
The undeniable truth in these verses is that some of them doubted something, and some of them didn’t worship Jesus. Oh…and Jesus included the doubters in the mission anyway. They figured it out later, of course, but I find it very encouraging that there wasn’t immediate disqualification for doubting. As I said, I think I would have ejected those guys, personally.
Also, I still find it amusing that there were other”doubters” back when Thomas was grilled as the only one who didn’t believe. Some things never change.
You’re right…this isn’t evangelism all by itself. But unless we DO show up, evangelism never happens at all. That seems to be the intent of the Great Commission. God has included us in the great rescue mission. He could do it without us, of course, but we get invited in to be part of the restoration of all things. That’s really good news. But we do, indeed, have to at least show up.
Gretchen Carlson said
am March 26 2010 @ 2:07 pm
Okay. I’m listening and still scratching my head. It is probably just some wording that make me uncomfortable. I agree, Jesus invites everyone (despite our doubts) to follow him and join in his rescue mission. But somewhere, sometime we have to acknowledge Jesus as God in flesh, the savior (even if our belief isn’t pure/perfect). Being a Christian is both following Christ and believing in him. In evangelism I don’t just want others to follow Jesus’ teachings, I want others to see/know/believe in Him as God-in-flesh and Savior who died for our sins. This is such a bottom line for me. And I think it is for you too.
Randy Siever said
am March 27 2010 @ 2:37 pm
I doubt if anyone could ever really follow Jesus the Christ without “believing” in him, in the most true and biblical sense of believing. Believing is not an intellectual agreement to a set of propositions about Jesus, but rather a complete and utter entrusting of ones life and destiny to his leadership and authority. The weaker sense of believing is what has led to the possibility of cultural and intellectually consistent “believers” who demonstrate no observable yielding of their life to the Masters. No fruit. No Christ-likeness. But they can pass a written test on the correct doctrines regarding the deity of Christ, the nature of man, the nature of sin, etc. This kind of “faith” is what some have called “beliefism”, or the worship of one’s beliefs (rather than the object of their belief).
I think this is the distinction I am trying to address here (and everywhere else, frankly) when it comes to showing up vs. “getting it” (meaning, having the correct understanding of some set of doctrines, the certainty of truth regarding some issue of faith). The disciples never really did “get it” completely, as far as I can tell…not even after the day of Pentecost (still fought over doctrinal issues, didn’t they?). But they kept showing up, just like they did that day on the mount above Galilee…just like Jesus asked them to.
Our correct understanding may or may not come on every issue, but our faith in Christ is demonstrated by our willingness to obey, to show up, to DO…even when we don’t really “get it” or understand. How we live is the new apologetic (as Todd Hunter suggests). It does not mean we don’t need verbal proclamation or correct doctrine (although we’ll only be totally correct to those who agree with us, honestly…we’ll always have our critics outside that circle). It just means that these formerly persuasive things are not at all persuasive these days without a corresponding life lived in cooperation with Jesus the King. That kind of life is powerfully persuasive and compelling to those seeking God.
Thomas Todd said
am August 17 2010 @ 1:00 pm
Therefore,we shouldn’t be concerned when we encounter occasional doubt as believers. After all, we are still in the flesh and we still have our marching orders.
Thanks, good teachng
Randy Siever said
am August 17 2010 @ 2:24 pm
Thanks, Thomas.
Joe Martin said
am August 27 2010 @ 2:10 pm
I read an article on these verses a while back and the author pointed out that the word “some” should not even be there. The definition of distazō (Strongs G1365) is “to doubt, waiver”. Even though every translation I’ve used to look up this verse says “some” or another similiar word, it seems questionable that it should be there. The author pointed out that there is a distinct Greek word for “some”: “tis” which could have easily been added if only some doubted. He went on to say that to read the text litrally it would read, “And when they saw him they worshipped him but they doubted.” Your thoughts?
Randy Siever said
am August 27 2010 @ 5:03 pm
Joe,
I can’t argue about what should or shouldn’t be there in the scriptures. I didn’t take Greek or Hebrew (just a slacker MA guy), so I’m not near qualified to offer an opinion. I think it’s significant, however, that NO translation I’ve been able to find has omitted “some” (as you pointed out). So I have to assume there is some reason for this consistency among some really divergent translators, since they do not always agree on various other passages. When Young’s Literal Translation and Darby’s translation and the NIV and The Message ALL agree…well, that’s darn near miraculous!
I’m going to go with the weight of agreement over centuries of translation by individuals and groups of scholars who are way smarter than me on this one.
But I could be wrong, of course.
And if I am, while I would concede that there weren’t some who worshipped and some who didn’t (due to their doubt), still…I think my main point remains essentially intact in that it would then appear that doubt and faith lived quite well together in the original 11 disciples in this critical moment of commissioning…and Jesus was not deterred by it one bit.
So I’m ok either way. But I’m sticking with the larger body of scholarship for now.
Thanks for pitching in on this, Joe!