O Ye of Little Faith

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall ye not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Matthew 6:30

I believe there is a misunderstanding regarding Jesus' use of the term O ye of little faith. The phrase is found four times in the gospel of Matthew. The first reference is Matthew 6:30, quoted at the top. Here are the additional references:

And he said unto them, Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. Mat. 8:26

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Mat. 14:31

Which, when Jesus had perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason you among yourselves, because you have brought no bread? Mat. 16:8

It is easy to imagine that the Lord used this term as a gentle rebuke, intending to point out his disciples' lack of faith. We commonly use the phrase today in that context. In fact, when I google "O ye of little faith", the top search return takes me to this definition:

This is the rebuke leveled at the disciples of Christ, when seeming to doubt his divinity. The phrase is also more widely used to describe any Christian doubter.                      (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/262250.html)

But I don't believe this was the intention of the Lord at all when he used this phrase. Matthew 6:30, the first instance of this phrase, falls under the context of the Sermon on the Mount where there were no circumstances which would have provoked such a rebuke from the Lord. The Matthew 14:31 reference occurs after Peter has stepped out of the boat and briefly walked on the water toward the Lord Jesus. Surely Jesus wasn't so calloused that he would rebuke Peter, who briefly faltered after taking such a huge step of faith.

I believe that rather than pointing out his disciples' lack of faith, Christ's use of the term O Ye of Little Faith is an endearment, and points out the disciples' status as followers of Christ.

You see, the Greek text that is translated O ye of little faith is actually from a single word, oligopistos. This in turn is a Greek word that is created from the combination of oligo (meaning few, or little), and pistos (meaning faith or belief). That the two terms were forged together to create a new word indicates that the Lord was using this as a name, not an indictment. He was calling his followers Little Believers. There is not so much rebuke in this, as there is affection, as in when I call my four year old son "little man, or as in when Master Po called young Caine "grasshopper."

Consider also the following:

Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Mark 10:15

We all become oligopistos followers of Christ when we begin our faith journey. The term emphasizes the fact that biblical faith is not simply a positive attitude, or mental assent, but it is rather a progressive journey of obedience to the one we have put our faith in. "Faith children" grow into mature sons of God over time as they hear and obey the Master's voice.

This is counter intuitive if we primarily think of faith as an emotion. It may be true that we will never feel so much faith as we do when we initially come to Christ. But biblical faith is not a feeling. Neither is it simply learning a set of doctrines. The faith of Jesus Christ is a discipline that we enter and grow in, as he remakes us in his own image.

Faith children are students in the school of Jesus Christ, just like the crowd of disciples that sat on the hillside when Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount. We are little believers who aspire to grow to the fulness of Christ's own stature (see Eph. 4:13).