The Qualities of Great Faith

The New Testament is relentless in its emphasis on the need for faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). We are saved by believing (Rom. 10:9). God commands us to believe (1 John 3:23). The purpose of John’s gospel is that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name (John 20:31).

It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of faith. The noun pistis (faith, faithful) and the verb pistuein (to believe) occur over 240 times. Christians are, by definition and designation, believers (Acts 2:44). Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6). As the man of faith, Abraham is the father of all those who believe (Rom. 4; Gal. 3; Heb. 11; James 2).

Faith can be described in many ways. Most well-known is the definition in Hebrews: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (11:1). That's not all the New Testament tells us about faith. Faith is the fruit of election (Acts 13:48), the result of regeneration (1 John 5:1), the work of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3), enabled by the Father (John 6:65), and authored by Jesus (Heb. 12:2). Faith is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29), and it is the responsibility of man (John 3:16; 1 John 3:23).

Two Gentiles are commended by Jesus for having “great faith.”

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Yet not all faith pleases him. The woman in our text had a faith that pleased Jesus. In fact, he called it a “great faith”. What are the qualities of great faith - the faith that pleases Jesus?

1. A Faith that is Born out of Human Desperation -7:24

Notice Mark's placement of this incident in the district of Tyre (modern day, Lebanon) immediately following the discussion of clean and unclean. This provides a concrete example of Jesus' disregard for the scribes and Pharisees concept of defilement. Jesus' response to a Gentile woman of faith and humility in the pagan environment of Tyre is the appropriate consequence of his teaching in Ch. 7:15. The faith of the Syrophoenician woman contrasts dramatically with the determined unbelief of the Pharisees and the scribes from Jerusalem, and her witty reply to Jesus indicates a degree of understanding which puts the disciples to shame (cf. 7:17 f.). Bill Lane suggest that “it is possible that Mark regards this episode as a symbol and prophecy of the gospel which will be proclaimed with power in the Gentile world. There can be no doubt that Gentile readers would be vitally interested in the account.”

We learn in 7:24 that Jesus had left the Jewish provinces and went into Gentile territory, Tyre, in order to get some rest. But it doesn't work. A woman hears of his arrival and makes her way boldly to Jesus. Though she’s a Syrophoenician, because of Tyre's proximity to Judea she would have known the Jewish customs. She knows that she has none of the religious, moral, and cultural credentials necessary to approach a Jewish rabbi - she is a Phoenician, a Gentile, a pagan, a woman, and her daughter has an unclean spirit. She knows that in every way, according to the standards of the day, she is unclean and therefore disqualified to approach any devout Jew, let alone a rabbi. But desperation for her daughter’s health drives her past all the barriers. She enters the house without an invitation, falls prostrate at the feet of Jesus and begins begging him to deliver her daughter from her severe demonic bondage. The verb beg here is a present progressive - she keeps on begging. Nothing and no one can stop her.

Reading from Matthew’s parallel account in Matthew 15:21-23, “And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 

Notice Jesus didn’t initially say anything. But she won't take no for an answer and keeps on pleading with Jesus. Impatient with her persistent following and crying out, the disciples said, “Send her away!” We are not sure whether they meant, “Give her what she wants and get rid of her” or just “Get rid of her!” In either case, they were not showing much compassion for either her or her demonized daughter.

Tim Keller asks, “You know why she has this burst of boldness, don't you? There are cowards, there are regular people, there are heroes, and then there are parents. Parents are not really on the spectrum from cowardice to courage, because if your child is in jeopardy, you simply do what it takes to save her.”

What made her seek Jesus? Oddly enough, a demon. A loved one’s problem drove her to Jesus for her daughter’s healing and her salvation. She falls at Jesus’ feet and begs Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

This is faith in its rawest form—not polished theology, not proper credentials—just a broken mother who knows where help can be found. True faith always begins by coming to Jesus, no matter how unworthy we feel.

2. A Faith that Believes so Much on so Little Biblical Revelation

A Gentile, and a cursed Canaanite, brought up in a pagan culture, renowned for its wickedness and perversion. She had no heritage of God’s Word, very little knowledge of the true way of worship, no access to Bible schools, printed materials or churches. Yet she heard about Jesus, his person and work. How he was a friend of sinners, a healer of the sick, a helper of the helpless, a savior of sinners, and she sought him out, believing that he was the only answer to all her needs and those of her family.

What are the Traits of Great Faith?

Great faith is not measured by the amount of truth one possesses, but the amount one practices the truth, not the ability to have a positive outlook, but to give a practical obedience.

1. A Request Evoked from a Deep Sense of Unworthiness.

Because this woman was a Canaanite, "of Syrophoenician ethnicity" (Mark 7:26), she was probably a worshiper of Astarte and other pagan deities that were popular in that region. The fact that she came to Jesus, a Jewish teacher and healer. indicates she was disillusioned with the idolatry and immoral debauchery that characterized her religion. In turning to Jesus, she was turning from the way of Satan and sin to the way of God.

She was a heathen in religion, an alien in race, a dweller in a city renown for wickedness. She had been doubtless a worshipper of the Syrian goddess whose worship covered the Levant; the deity who personified the fulness of Divine life which fills the world; who was loved by the purest because they deemed her the giver of their children; and yet worshipped with loathsome devotion by the vilest because she was supposed to sanction all action of human lust. Yet this is the woman whose faith receives a tribute of highest praise from her Savior.

The woman's plea reveals that she knew she did not deserve Jesus' help, that she was unworthy of Him, and that her only hope was in His gracious mercy. By definition, the person who asks for mercy asks for something undeserved. This woman did not come demanding but pleading. She did not ask Jesus' help on the basis of her own goodness but on the basis of His.

Mercy is integral to God's redemptive work for man. From the time of the Fall, man has had no way back to God except through His merciful grace. It is not surprising, therefore, that in the New Testament and the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) various forms of the verb (to have mercy) are used some five hundred times.

2. A Rightly Directed Faith – Matt. 15:22b – “O Lord, Son of David”

Great faith must, of course, be directed at the right object. Those who believe that somehow in some way, by some means everything will ultimately work out for the good have faith in an illusion. To declare, "Somewhere there's somebody who hears every prayer" or "I believe in the darkest night a candle glows," is to believe in nothing more trustworthy than your own imagination and wishful thinking. It is unbelievably foolish to put ultimate trust in something or someone you know nothing about. Great faith is not faith in your faith.

For faith to be saving and healing it must be placed in a trustworthy object, and as the Canaanite woman turned her back on her idols she placed her faith in the Lord, the Son of David. Despite her pagan background, she had heard of the Jews' coming Messiah, who was called the Son of David; and she reverently addressed Jesus as her sovereign and omnipotent Lord. She had heard of the Messiah's great power and sensed His great goodness; and she treated Him with both dignity and expectancy. She approached Him in the same reverent, trusting spirit as the leper who met Jesus after the Sermon on the Mount "and bowed down to Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean " (Matt. 8.2).

After the irreverent treatment of the Lord by the scribes and Pharisees - who had called Him a drunk, a companion of sinners, and demon-controlled - it must have been refreshing for Jesus to hear this Gentile woman come to Him with such respect and submission. Although she did not yet understand the full meaning of Christ's lordship or messiahship, she came with a sense of awe and wonder.

This woman loved her young daughter more than her own life, and she came to the only source of help she knew of. Her faith was great because she turned from faith in false gods, dumb idols, and pagan deities to faith in Jesus Christ.  Her faith in Astarte may have seemed satisfactory while things were going well but when her daughter became cruelly demon-possessed, the mother discovered she could get no help from a goddess of stone. She therefore left her religious system, left her pagan family and friends, left her false belief that had no answers or power, and came to the only One who could help her. By her appeal to Christ, she publicly affirmed His power over her former gods of wood and stone and metal. Like the Thessalonian believers, she had "turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God" (1 Thess. 1:9).

3. A Resolute Persistence in the Exercise of Faith

Great faith does not give up; It is not deterred by obstacles, setbacks, or disappointments. Jesus therefore tested the faith of this woman by setting up a series of barriers. Some people have to struggle against strong doubts before they come to fully trust Christ for salvation. Others have to struggle against the objections and arguments of friends and family. Still others struggled to believe because they have never heard the gospel clearly presented or because they see inconsistencies in the lives of Christians they know. This woman, however, had barriers placed in her way by the Savior himself.

1. Her faith overcame the silence of the Lord. – Mt. 15:23a
2. Her faith overcame the spurning of the disciples. – Mt. 15:23b
3. Her faith overcame the severity of the Lord. – Mt. 15:26; Mk. 7:27

Whatever effect Jesus’s response had on the disciples, it must have been a painful blow to the woman. Most people would have indignantly said, so much for your God of love, your message of compassion, and you're narrow, bigoted religion. I want nothing to do with the God or religion like that. But this woman had no resentment or bitterness, only an abiding love for her afflicted little girl and a determination to have her freed from her demonic torture. She also knew that the gods her people worship did not care. She knew Jesus was the only hope that she had.

4. A Real Humility that Accepts the Word of the Lord – Mark 7:28

Jesus’ response shocks us: “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

At first glance, this sounds harsh - even offensive. But Jesus is doing something deeper.

• The children represent Israel, God’s covenant people.
• The bread represents the blessings of the kingdom/covenant.
• The dogs—while softened by a household term—still indicates those outside the covenant.

Jesus is stating the order of salvation history: to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. But notice, He does not say no. He says first. Jesus is testing whether her faith will retreat or persist.

Faith that is real is often refined by delay, silence, or apparent refusal.

Jesus was not playing games with the woman, nor was He trying to make the situation more difficult. He was drawing out of her a growing response of faith. She immediately seized on His illustration about the children’s bread, which was exactly what He wanted her to do. We may paraphrase her reply: “It is true that we Gentiles do not sit at the table as children and eat the bread. But even the pet dogs under the table can eat some of the crumbs!” What a tremendous testimony of faith!

Two different Greek words are used in the New Testament for dogs. One refers to the mangy and often vicious mongrels that ran in packs and lived largely off garbage and carcasses of dead animals. The dogs referred to here, however, were household pets that were sometimes treated almost like family.

Even so, Jesus' remarks were far from a compliment. The woman knew that “children’s” referred to Jews and dogs referred to Gentiles, because both figures were commonly used by Jews. Jesus' words sounded much like the insults Jews frequently cast at Gentiles and that the woman had probably heard many times before.

Amazingly, she doesn’t take offense; she doesn't stand on her rights. She says, "All right. I may not have a place at the table—but there's more than enough on that table for everyone in the world, and I need mine now." She is wrestling with Jesus in the most respectful way, and she will not take no for an answer.

Undaunted by being called a dog by Jesus, in an incredible flash of insight, she picked up on Jesus’s own illustration, saying yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master’s table. She knew she was a sinner and unworthy of anything he had to offer and was willing to concede that she was less deserving than Jews. In doing so she demonstrated a complete absence of the pride, self-reliance, and self-righteousness that characterized most of us. She was willing to settle for the crumbs which fell from the master’s table, because that would be enough to meet her needs. A tiny leftover of Jesus’s great power could heal her daughter, and that was all she asked.

Several years ago, a feminist scholar wrote an essay giving a scathing critique of Jesus' response to the Syro-Phoenician woman, saying that His insensitivity and harshness were so severe on this occasion, that He so demeaned this woman in typical chauvinistic fashion, that He transgressed all boundaries of courtesy and crossed the line even into slander. This text, she charged, is Exhibit A that Jesus was not sinless, because He wronged this innocent woman by calling her a dog.

The reformer, Martin Luther, was amazed and moved by this encounter, because he saw the gospel in it. This woman saw the gospel—that you're more wicked than you ever believed, but at the same time more loved and accepted than you ever dared to hope. On the one hand, she is not too proud to accept what the gospel says about her unworthiness. She accepts Jesus's challenge. She doesn't get her hackles up and say, "How dare you use a racial epithet about me? I don't have to stand for this!" Can you hear yourself saying that? But on the other hand, neither does this woman insult God by being too discouraged to take up his offer. See, there are two ways to fail to let Jesus be your Savior. One is by being too proud, having a superiority complex—not to accept his challenge. But the other is through an inferiority complex— being so self-absorbed that you say, “I am just so awful that God couldn't love me." That is, not to accept his offer.

This is one of the most remarkable statements of faith in Scripture. She accepts her unworthiness. She trusts Jesus’ abundance. She believes that even a crumb of His mercy is enough. She is saying, “I don’t need to be first. I just need You.” This is faith that clings to grace, not entitlement. Great faith is not demanding, it is dependent.

3. A Faith that is Blessed with Divine Compensation – Mk. 7:29-30

Matthew 15:28, “O woman, great is your faith - let it be to you as you desire.”

It was this faith that Jesus acknowledged, and immediately He healed her daughter. It is worth noting that both of the persons in the Gospel of Matthew who had “great faith” were Gentiles: this Canaanite woman and the Roman centurion (Mat 8:5-13). In both cases, Jesus healed the one in need from a distance. Spiritually speaking, the Gentiles were “afar off” until Calvary, when Christ died for both Jews and Gentiles and made reconciliation possible (Eph 2:11).

The irresistible confidence of the woman in Jesus delighted him. Her interpretation of his statement bore eloquent witness both to her humility and her simple trust in his power to confront the demonic when all human help fails. This is the faith which is alone capable of receiving miracle. She placed herself unconditionally under Jesus’ lordship and received his acknowledgment and promise: “on the ground of this saying, go.” The command to return home is important, for in Mark Jesus speaks in this manner each time he perceives the profound confidence of those who request healing (Chapters: Mark 2:11; Mark 5:34; Mark 7:29; Mark 10:52). In Mark 2:5 Jesus perceives “their faith”; in Mark 5:34 and Mark 10:52 “Your faith has made you well.” The absence of an explicit reference to faith in Mark 7:24-30 isn’t left out by Matthew, when Jesus said to the woman, “Great is your faith.” No word of healing was spoken, but the woman was given the strong assurance that the demon had been expelled from her daughter. She returned home where she found her child lying on her bed. An Ethiopic translation has a remarkable reading here, which gives a very different, and, I think, a better sense. “And she found her daughter clothed, sitting upon the couch, and the demon gone out.”

This woman never lets go of Jesus - not because she is strong, but because she knows He is merciful. And the good news for us is this: The Savior who honored her faith still honors faith today.

The gospel loaf contains blessings for the whole man. Forgiveness, deliverance, healing - but it is for the children. Are you covered under the terms of the new covenant?