What Does Not Exist (1)

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it shall happen.”  Matthew 21:21  NASB

Doubt – “A fascinating insight into the subject of doubt can be gained from examining the root words themselves, as always in Torah. The Hebrew word for doubt is ‘safek,’ and for certainty, ‘vadai.’ Amazingly, these commonly-used words are not to be found in the entire biblical writings! Nowhere does the Torah mention the Hebrew forms for doubt or certainty. Both these words are of Rabbinic origin.”[1]

Rabbi Tatz’ insight raises a very interesting question.  If the word for doubt doesn’t exist in Torah, how is it that it is expressed on the lips of Yeshua?  Is Yeshua also a product of the rabbinic development of this word?  Is His thought an addition to Torah?

When we investigate the Greek text of Matthew, we find even more bizarre circumstances.  In this passage (and in only a handful of other New Testament verses), the Greek word diakrino is translated “to doubt.”  But the TDNT tells us that this meaning is not known prior to the New Testament.  Reflect on this for just a moment.  This means that in classical Greek, in the LXX and in other Greek texts, diakrino never means “to doubt.”  In fact, the usual choice of Greek verbs for “to doubt” is distazo.  When you read the translation of Matthew 14:31 (“Why did you doubt?”), you are not reading the verb diakrino.  You are reading distazo.  Distazo is a verb about wavering, hesitating, delaying.   It is not about mental confusion or questioning.  It is about lack of action!  When Yeshua extends His hand to pull Peter from the waves, He does not ask if Peter’s cognitive framework is confused.  He asks why Peter didn’t follow through.  “Why didn’t you keep walking?”  This kind of “doubt” has nothing to do with our minds.  It’s not Greek.  It’s Hebrew!  Reading Matthew 14:31 as if it involves the Greek idea of mental confusion is importing a paradigm into the interpretation of the text.

But diakrino is a different story.  If this Greek term never meant “doubt” in the sense of mental lack of certainty before it shows up in the New Testament, then is it possible that Yeshua could have used a Hebrew word with such a meaning?  Only if Rabbi Tatz’ insight prevails.  The translation of Yeshua’s Hebrew expression into the Greek text of Matthew means that the translator had to be familiar with the rabbinic development of doubt and he had to pick a Greek word that expressed this unusual usage.  But in the New Testament, diakrino is usually used in the sense of distinguishing between things (e.g. Romans 10:12 – God does not make a distinction between Jew and Gentile).  In the few texts where diakrino is translated as “doubt,” it takes on a meaning that exists only in the rabbinic sense.  TDNT points out that this concept of doubt is never about human doctrine.  It is always a question about the authority and veracity of God’s Word.[2] Büchsel makes this very telling remark in his discussion of diakrino.  “Linguistically, diakeinesthai in the sense ‘to doubt’ is a product of Greek speaking Christianity.”[3]

Perhaps you need to read that last remark again.  Diakrino as “doubt” comes about in Greek speaking Christianity!  Wait a minute!  Büchsel just told us that the idea of mental uncertainty in this Greek word is not a Hebrew notion.  Does that mean that our idea of doubt arises from a paradigm that is not part of the Tanakh?  It seems so.  As my son said when we discussed this verse, “Action move mountains, not thoughts.”  If Yeshua really intended to communicate the Greek idea of cognitive dissonance, He would have had to use a word that came from Hellenized rabbinic Judaism, not the Torah.  Is that possible?  Certainly, but if it is the case, doesn’t it change the way we understand what He said?

With this in mind, what might Yeshua mean when He says, “Have faith and do not doubt.”  I suggest to you that He is really saying something very Hebraic.  To have faith is to act on the words of God without hesitation.  To have faith is to obey.  Then what is doubt in this context?  To doubt is to delay obedience.  It is not to have mental confusion or cognitive dissonance.  To doubt is to not step forward.

Many Christians have been taught that if they have enough faith, God will do whatever they ask of Him.  When what they ask doesn’t happen, these poor souls are asked to examine themselves to see where they doubted.  In other words, they are told to do an inner search of their mental constitution to see if at any point they have questions or uncertainty.  Questions, of course, are sins because questions belie the certainty of faith.  But this is heresy (There, I said it).  God doesn’t do what we are supposed to do.  If you pray for God to act, but you don’t act, then you demonstrate your lack of reliance on God.  It’s not your thinking that’s the problem.  It’s your follow through.

Remember Boaz.  Boaz calls for God to bless Ruth for her hesed.  And then Boaz steps forward and causes the blessing he asked from God to happen in Ruth’s life.  Boaz trusted God to do it – and then he fulfilled what God would do.  That’s what it means to have faith and not doubt.

Topical Index:  doubt, distazo, diakrino, Matthew 21:21, Matthew 14:31, Akiva Tatz