Is it okay to doubt?

What the Bible says

Doubt is not only for people without faith. The Bible is full of people who doubted. The best known is Thomas. When the risen Jesus first appeared to the disciples, Thomas was not with them. This is how he took their report.

But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.”

John 20:25

Eight days later Jesus came again and invited him to see and touch, just as he had asked. What came out of Thomas's mouth was one of the greatest confessions in the Gospels.

Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!”

John 20:28

Another is John the Baptist. John had pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God. Then he was thrown into Herod's prison, and from there he sent his disciples with a question.

“Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?”

Matt 11:3

Jesus does not scold him. He tells them to report what they see and hear (Matt 11:4-5), and then praises John highly (Matt 11:11).

The Psalms are full of doubt and protest. "How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?" (Ps 13:1). The writer of Psalm 73 sees the wicked prosper and confesses, "my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped" (Ps 73:2). Psalm 88 is a prayer that keeps crying out in the dark to the end. Such songs in the Bible show that God is not ashamed of honest questions.

Faith and doubt can even sit in one heart. A father whose son was tormented cried out:

“I do believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:24

Jesus did not reject that prayer. He healed the boy. And on the mountain in Galilee after the resurrection, the Gospel says plainly that as the disciples worshipped, "some doubted" (Matt 28:17). Yet Jesus gave those very disciples the mission to the world.

God even invites us to use reason.

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD.

Isa 1:18

And Jude tells the church:

And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt;

Jude 1:22

The church's witness

The church has long tried to treat doubters with patience. Augustine, at the opening of his Confessions, says that the human heart is restless until it rests in God Augustine, Confessions 1.1. He himself came to faith after years of questioning.

The Fathers divide over John the Baptist's question. Ambrose reports a reading in which John "doubted therefore though not in faith, yet in love," since it was hard to accept that the one who was to come must suffer death Ambrose. Hilary takes the opposite view: "John then is providing not for his own, but his disciples’ ignorance" Hilary. Matthew Henry gives both readings and writes:

Where there is true faith, yet there may be a mixture of unbelief.

Matthew Henry

On Thomas, Chrysostom explains why Jesus waited eight days instead of appearing at once:

in order that the admonition being given in the presence of the disciples, might kindle in him greater desire, and strengthen his faith for the future.

Chrysostom

Thomas met Jesus in the gathering of the other disciples: a doubter does well to stay in the community. Gregory says of Thomas's confession: "Because he saw one thing, believed another; saw the man, confessed the God" Gregory.

On the father in Mark 9, Matthew Henry says: "Those that complain of unbelief, must look up to Christ for grace to help them against it, and his grace will be sufficient for them" Matthew Henry.

In the original languages

The New Testament has several words that are translated "doubt." The verb distazo (διστάζω) is used when Jesus asks the sinking Peter, "why did you doubt?" and of the disciples on the mountain. It means to hesitate between two ways. Jesus reaches out and takes hold of such a person (Matt 14:31).

diakrino (διακρίνω) in James 1:6 and Jude 22 basically means "to separate, to distinguish," and describes a divided heart tossed back and forth. Jude 22-23 has a complicated manuscript history, and translations read the sentence in different ways (the King James Version has "making a difference"). Still, most translations and the church read it as a command to show mercy to those who doubt.

apistia (ἀπιστία) is "unbelief," the word behind the father's "my unbelief" in Mark 9:24. He puts belief and unbelief in a single breath and asks God for help against the unbelief. The "unbelieving" of "Stop doubting and believe" to Thomas is a cognate, apistos (John 20:27). It is an invitation to a doubter, calling him to faith.

Common objections

"Does James not say the doubter will receive nothing from God?" Many tormented doubters stumble over this verse. James says to ask for wisdom "in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind" (James 1:6). In context, what James has in view is not an honest question but a double-minded person who asks God while keeping a divided mind (James 1:8). Just before, James says God "gives generously to all without finding fault" (James 1:5). Thomas and the father both came to God and asked. A doubt that questions toward God differs from unbelief that turns away from him.

"Did Jesus not rebuke Thomas, and bless those who do not see?" Yet Jesus gave Thomas exactly what he had asked for (John 20:27). The blessing on "those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29) is an encouragement to later believers, not a condemnation of those who seek evidence. John goes on to say that he wrote his Gospel "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" (John 20:31). Faith is not believing without evidence but trusting on the strength of it.

"If the doubt will not go away, is honesty not to give up faith?" This deserves a serious answer. Honesty matters, and Scripture itself says to "test all things" (1 Thess 5:21). Suppressing a doubt and pretending is not faith. And some people do leave the faith after long doubt. The church should not despise them but pray and wait. Still, an unresolved question is not a verdict that the faith is false. We trust many things we cannot fully know. Jesus also said, "If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own" (John 7:17). Some questions of the head are settled only as one takes a step of obedience. So this essay urges you not to hide your doubt but to keep seeking with it, staying close to God and to the church. The conclusion is yours.

Going further

Doubting does not mean God has abandoned you. What matters is what you do with it. Scripture and the church show four ways through. First, community: Thomas stayed with the disciples and so met the Lord again (Heb 10:25). Second, Scripture: the writer of Psalm 73 says, "until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end" (Ps 73:17). Third, prayer: tell God the doubt as it is. "Help my unbelief" is the shortest and most honest of prayers. Fourth, patience: some questions are answered only after a long time. And when doubt comes with deep sorrow or depression, do not treat it only as a matter of faith. You may need help (Is depression a lack of faith?).

You might ask yourself some questions. What is my doubt really asking? Have I told God about it? Might some of my doubts come not from a need to understand but from reluctance to obey?

To read further, see What is faith? and Does God exist?.