There is a rumor that Christ needed to have faith in God like we have faith.
The rumors are false.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not need an ounce of faith in God. He was God.
Faith is what men possess when they hear the word of truth and believe it (Rom 10:17). Faith is not needed by the one man who is the Truth (John 14:6).
Men must have faith in the truth, but Christ was the truth.
Before men hear the truth and believe it, they do not have faith, and do not know the truth.
When people require Christ to have faith (faith and faithfulness are not the same) they are diminishing the truth found in Christ.
There was never a time when Jesus was not full of truth (John 1:14). Truth came by Jesus not to him like it did other men (John 1:17).
Christ did not need faith. Christ is the object of faith (John 14:1).
Faith is the evidence of things not seen (Heb 11:1). There are plenty of things men do not see. That is why they need faith to believe them.
There is nothing the Word cannot see (Heb 4:13; 1 Cor 4:5).
Christ did not need faith in anything. He knew the truth, was the truth, and performed according to the truth.
Faith of Christ vs. Faith in Christ
The idea of Christ having faith comes from the phrase in the Bible “the faith of Christ”.
The phrase “faith of Christ” does not describe the faith that Christ had in God. The meaning of the phrase is found in Phil 3:9:
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” – Phil 3:9
The faith of Christ is what God made available for justification: righteousness by faith (Rom 3:22).
The faith of Christ is different than having faith in Christ.
Faith in Christ describes a person who hears the gospel and believes it. They have faith in Christ unto salvation.
It finds meaning in verses like Eph 1:13:
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,” – Eph 1:13
After they heard about the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, they put their faith in Christ.
The faith of Christ and having faith in Christ are different. Passages like Rom 3:22 and Gal 2:16 make this clear, but neither phrase describes Christ putting faith in the truth like we must. He was the truth.
I put my faith in the Lord who does not need faith in the truth or in God, because he was both.
Christ did not need faith. Men do.
Article Index Published: September 28, 2013
Last Modified: March 14, 2018