The Bible calls us to faith.

Many Christian thinkers have seen faith as a moral

virtue. At the same time, the Bible pictures Jesus as our moral exemplar. He’s the
example after whom we should model our lives. What’s curious is the Bible never
says that Jesus had faith. It would be odd if our moral exemplar lacked this
primary Christian virtue.

Did Jesus have faith?

One may be lead to think Jesus did not have faith. This, I think, could be plausibly
argued for. I don’t think it follows merely from the fact that the Bible never says
Jesus had faith. This would be an argument from silence and we need to be
careful in basing a claim on silence. A position like this should be motivated, I
think, by other considerations. Ultimately, the issue seems to turn on what we
mean by faith.

One of the most influential figures in the history of Christian theology, Thomas
Aquinas, saw this. He said:

Faith…implies a certain defect…and this defect was not in Christ.

And hence there could be no faith in Him (ST, ch. 9: ques. 7: article
3).
I would certainly agree that if faith implied a defect, then Jesus did not have faith
since, as Christians, we are committed to a sinless Christ. But it’s not clear to me
that faith necessarily implies a defect. What is the defect? For Aquinas, it is the
lack of directly beholding God. Faith, for Aquinas, was a way of having knowledge
of religious matters without direct experience of those things. We do not directly
behold God–that is, he is unseen–therefore, we must know God by faith. Faith, he
thought, was the for things unseen in his reading of Heb. 11:1. Unlike us, Aquinas
thought Jesus had a kind of direct vision of God throughout his earthly life such
that religious matters were not unseen for him. He didn’t have this defect or this
lack. So faith was unnecessary for Jesus.

What is faith?
Now if Aquinas was right that faith is a way of knowing and this way is
necessitated because of a lack or defect, then surely it follows that Jesus did not
have faith. I just don’t think Aquinas is right here. As I’ve argued before, even
though there are a number of epistemological issues related to faith, I don’t think
faith is an epistemology. That is, on my view, faith is not a way of knowing.
The gist of the view is that faith is a form of active or, what I call, ventured trust. It
is where we stake our faith or trust in some object. I venture my life on the well-
functioning of an airplane…but only when I get on board. This is analogous to
Christian faith except that I venture my life on the person of Christ and truths of
the gospel. Epistemology comes into it precisely because I need to know who (or
whom) I should trust. Evidence should guide us to those things that are worthy
of our ventured trust.

Jesus indeed had faith

But if faith is ventured trust, then it seems Jesus is a paragon of faith. We see, in
Christ, a full and whole life ventured in trust on the reality of God. Again, even if
Jesus had a direct view of God, then this in no way counts against his having faith
understood as ventured trust. In fact, if Jesus had a direct view of God, then this
would provide him with ideal reason to trust. Jesus could rest certain (literally)
in the trustworthiness of God.

A benefit of this view is it avoids the awkwardness of saying Jesus is our moral
exemplar but except for faith. It seems much more plausible to think of Jesus as
our model for all the virtues.

Evidence is important
Seeing evidence as important for faith is, I think, good news because evidence
matters for most areas of our lives. Why should our Christian beliefs be any
different? With this understanding, if someone has doubts or questions, then
they should investigate the evidence. In other words, investigating is not
somehow inconsistent with having faith. It is, in my view, part of what it means
to pursue the knowledge of God.
What do we find when we investigate the evidence? Do we have reason to
venture our life on the reality of God? I and many others find the evidence very
compelling and have given our lives to it.
In order to examine whether or not Jesus had faith, we must first examine what faith
is.

Faith is often defined as believing something without evidence. But that's not the
biblical kind of faith. In John 20:25-28 we have the account of doubting Thomas who
did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. He wanted evidence. He said,
"Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of
the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe,” (John 20:25). Eight days
later Jesus appeared to him and said, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands;
and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but
believing," (John 20:27). So, Jesus taught that it's okay to have faith that is based on
evidence. It does not mean that such a faith is blind or without basis.

But with Jesus, it's a bit different because he is God in flesh and since he knows all
things (John 21:17), how is it that he could have faith? And, who or what would his
faith be in?

If I see a chair in the room that I have sat in hundreds of times before and I go to sit in
it again, I trust that it will support me. My faith in the chair is based on the knowledge
gained from past experience. But, I do not know for absolute sure if it will support me
until I sit in it. So faith, in this sense, is a knowledgeable trust in something based on
past experience.

As a man, Jesus had experience with God the Father since he was under the law of God
(Gal. 4:4) and worship the Father (Matthew 4:10) and would have absolute trust in
him. The exact kind of faith that Jesus would have had is not something we can know
for sure because we cannot reach into the mind of Christ and examine it. But, there
was probably a sense in which he was trusting the Father with his own life.

But then if Jesus had all knowledge and knew everything, could even have faith?
Actually, we need to ask whether or not Jesus was, so to speak, accessing the divine
attribute of omniscience as he walked this earth. It seems from Philippians 2:5-8 that
Jesus had emptied himself and was cooperating with the limitations of being a man.
What this means exactly we do not know. But, in Luke 2:52 Jesus increased in wisdom
and stature. So, there was a sense in which Jesus was not accessing the full attributes
of divinity which includes divine omniscience. We do not understand completely how
this works, but he was, after all, made under the law (Galatians 4:4). So, we can
conclude that as a man, Jesus was cooperating with limitations of being a man, and he
probably would have had faith in the work and plan of God the Father. So, Jesus acted
on that belief and trust in God the Father as he went about daily doing his Father's
business.