Peter's Implicit Faith

Immediately after this, Jesus told his disciples to get into their boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he stayed to get the people started home.

Then afterwards he went up into the hills to pray. Night fell, and out on the lake the disciples were in trouble. For the wind had risen and they were fighting heavy seas.

About four o'clock in the morning Jesus came to them, walking on the water! They screamed in terror, for they thought he was a ghost.

But Jesus immediately spoke to them, reassuring them, "Don't be afraid!" he said.

Then Peter called to him: Sir, if it is really you, tell me to come over to you, walking on the water."

"All right," the Lord said, "Come along!"

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted.

Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and rescued him. "O man of little faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" And when they had climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.

The others sat there, awestruck. "You really are the Son of God!" they exclaimed.

Matthew 14:22-33 The Living Bible

Continuing on in the theme of the life and letters of Peter, I found this account in Matthew about an experience Peter has with Jesus.

I have been reflecting on this passage because I am trying to grasp what Calvin meant by claiming, "Faith is implicit".

This story includes a number of frightening accounts: severe weather conditions, an approaching figure that could be a ghost, and a man walking on the water.

Now consider Peter. Peter is so confident he calls out to Jesus and asks to walk with him.

In my way of thinking Peter seems to have an extraordinary amount of faith. He even goes over the side of the boat and begans walking toward Jesus.

On the other hand he sees the waves and becomes terrified.

Perhaps as a man discovers the trust he has in God he also discovers the distrust he has in God. In this story Calvin's words stand out to me: "In all men faith is always mingled with incredulity."

Note the moment at which Peter begins to sink. He looks at the high waves and begins to go down.

Isn't this just like doubt? It is like a sinking. However much a man may doubt, he may doubt even more. As the human eye fails to find hope in a situation he can continue to fail in finding hope. Presumably Peter could have landed at the bottom of the sea, but is there any limit to the depths of one's doubt?

The Apostle writes that as believers in Christ we are to walk by faith and not by sight. In the same way that Peter's human vision, his reasoning capabilities, his understanding of the storm failed to give him hope, so too our human measures are totally unable to give us the confidence God desires for us.

To have faith we must see what is invisible, we must think about ideas that cannot be thought, we must understand what cannot be understood.

As a child I went with my parents to a concert at Willow Creek in Chicago. I was puzzled by the way the singers would sometimes close their eyes while singing. "Don't they want to know what's happening around them?" I thought. They seemed to do it more on the slow songs.

My mom would explain it to me: "They close their eyes because they're shutting the world out. The things they feel inside are so tremendous and profound that their physical sight only distracts them."

In some ways the Sea of Galilee account is like a story of two Peters. On the one hand we have a Peter who is aware of Christ, his dominion, and his love for Peter. The other Peter is only aware of the height of the waves and the storm. The second Peter sees what is visible, and the first Peter sees what is invisible, and, as the writer of Hebrews notes, what is invisible is eternal.

Another aspect of this passage is how God views our doubt.

"O man of little faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?"

Some people view doubt as a kind of evidence. "You should doubt it, and eventually you will find it cannot be doubted." They say. But everything can be doubted. Those who take up doubting with any seriousness soon discover it cannot be exhausted.

If doubt cannot prove anything one way or the other, then why turn to it? Why did Peter doubt Jesus?

Perhaps Peter just liked doubting Jesus. Some people like chocolate icecream and others like strawberry icecream, but often neither can explain why they like one flavor over the other. Perhaps Peter just liked to doubt Jesus. Perhaps we all like to doubt Jesus.

Something tells me that we do not distrust Jesus just because that seems preferable to us. And so Jesus' question remains:

"Why did you doubt me?"

Certainly there are times when I think I am close to God. I'll have a moment where God seems to speak particularly to me. Then I get on an airplane and it begins to shake. Or some high bills come in the mail. Or I get no grade for a project I turn in. I get anxious and before long I find myself asking with Paul, "Why? Why do I do what I do not want to do?".

How does God view our doubt?

Kierkegaard answered this question in his work Philosophical Fragments. Every situation where one may doubt one also has the opportunity to not doubt as well. This possibility is a constant in all our circumstances, and this possibility is essentially our duty before God.


Praise God that unlike everything in Hollywood or the fantasies of men he has given us stories of people we can identify with! When I read passages like this in the Bible I quickly recall my shortcomings, but God also provides me with a glimpse of how wonderful our relationship can become.

God was able to use an up-and-down character like Peter in great and mighty ways. Like a scultor working with marble, God was able to develop Peter. This development involved learning that we should not be followers of what our physical eyes tell us and also that He has provided us with the chance to trust Him always.