But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like the waves of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. [James 1:6-8, ESV]
In the last part of our verse-by-verse study through the book of James, we discussed how God is the source of all wisdom, and how we can (and should) ask Him for wisdom. Today’s passage explains to us what we must have in order to receive wisdom from the Lord: faith.
This passage includes three verses. Let us begin by examining James 1:6:
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. [James 1:6, ESV]
The first thing that stands out to me about this verse is how it tells us that we must not have any doubt. The reason why this stands out to me is because of what Jesus tells us about faith in the book of Matthew:
He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. [Matthew 17:20, ESV]
In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells us that we only need to have faith that is the size of a mustard seed, but James tells us that we must have faith, “with no doubting”. How can these verses coexist?
In my understanding, Matthew 17:20 is about the power of faith, rather than a general rule. Let us examine some another passage where Jesus talks about faith:
Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. [Mark 11:23, ESV]
This verse tells us that we must have faith, that we must not have doubt in our heart, and that we must believe that what we have said will come to pass. Only then will the thing we pray for come to pass. This verse does not talk about praying in faith, however. If you go back and read Mark 11:23, you will notice that Jesus is describing what can happen if we say to a mountain “be taken up and thrown into the sea”. Does this contradict what Jesus says in the book of Matthew? No, it does not.
When I read the passages that we have examined, the explanation that I have for the apparent contradiction is that Jesus is making a larger point about faith, rather than describing a rule. For example, in Matthew 17:20, the verse begins with “He said to them”, which makes it sound like Jesus is responding to some people. If we go to Matthew 17:19, we read about the disciples asking Jesus why they could not drive a demon out of a boy who had been possessed. The boy in question had been brought to Jesus. The father of the boy told Jesus about the way the demon had been causing his son to have seizures, and had tried to burn and drown him. The father tells Jesus that he had already asked Jesus’ disciples to cast the demon out of his son, but the disciples were unable to cast the demon out. In verse 18, Jesus rebukes the demon, and immediately the demon comes out of the boy.
When the disciples asked Jesus why they were unable to cast out the demon from the boy, Jesus responds to them. This is the context of Matthew 17:20. Jesus tells the disciples that, had they possessed faith as small as a grain of mustard seed, they could command a mountain to move.
Is Jesus telling the disciples that they could literally move mountains if they have even a tiny bit of faith? If the Lord wills it, then they would be able to move mountains. However, faith is not some kind of magical ability or something that gives us the ability to move mountains and perform other miracles whenever we want to. Sure, God could allow us to move mountains, but Jesus is not being literal here. The point of what Jesus is saying to the disciples is that faith is what gives us the power to cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead, and move mountains. Faith is so powerful that even if our faith is the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. Faith is powerful, faith is what gives us the authority to declare something and it be so, and faith is what allows us to receive wisdom from the Lord.
In the context of Mark 11, Jesus had cursed a fig tree, and the fig tree had withered. When Peter saw that the tree had withered, Jesus replied to him. That is the context of Mark 11:23. The point of Jesus’ response is not that we can do whatever we want as long as we have faith, the point is that faith is incredibly powerful, and that faith is what gives us the ability to see miracles happen.
There are many other passages that we could examine, but the point has already been made. Let us return to James 1:6.
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting…
This continues from what verse 5 says about how God will give us wisdom when we ask Him for it. When we ask God for wisdom, we must ask in faith, and we must not doubt. We cannot have doubts about whether or not God is the source of wisdom, nor can we doubt that He gives wisdom to those who ask for it.
…because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
This part of verse 6 is designed to explain why we cannot doubt when we ask God for wisdom. When we doubt, we are like a wave of the sea. Waves of the sea go up and down, crash into other waves, and are unpredictable in their direction. We must be firm in our faith, rather than being thrown to and fro by doubt and uncertainty.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [James 1:7, ESV]
Verse 7 tells us what we should expect when we do not have faith: nothing. Why would we be given wisdom if we do not have faith? What use would wisdom serve if we lack a solid foundation in our faith? What good would it do to have the wisdom of God if we do not know what to do with it?
…he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. [James 1:8, ESV]
This verse gives us more information about why we must have faith when we ask God for His wisdom. If we do not have faith, we are double-minded. To be double-minded is to be uncertain about what we think. A double-minded man has two ways of thinking, with them competing with each other in his head. We are to be of one mind, set upon Christ Jesus, founded on faith. When we have faith, when our mind is focused entirely on Christ, we will receive wisdom when we ask for it.
This part of our study through James ended up being longer than I had originally intended, but not as long as it could have been. I hope that you all have received something from the Lord as we spent time looking deeper into His Word. God bless you all!
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