“belief,” “faith,” “faithfulness,” “fidelity,” “pledge,” and “proof.” It implies conviction of the truth of anything. It also implies faithfulness or character that can be relied upon. By combining oligos and pistos we get the idea of having little conviction of the truth of something or someone.

Jesus first uses oligopistos in Matthew 6:30–31 during his discussion about anxiety in the Sermon on the Mount:

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?”

In this instance, Christ does not seem to be addressing a particular person’s actions. Instead, his words are part of along discussion on worry and anxiety. Did you notice how he links the state of having little faith with the action of worry? This is key to understanding faith and overcoming worry. Faith is the theological concept. Worry and anxiety are the practical issues of life. Here is clear evidence that the practical issue of worry in our lives is intensely affected by our theology. We cannot separate the two.

In Matthew 8, Christ uses oligopistos again. Jesus is asleep on a boat in the middle of a raging storm. His disciples cry frantically to him, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” Jesus responds, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:25–26). $is rebuke comes not because they ran to him with their problem, but because they greatly feared the outcome. $eir fear was the practical effect of their lack of faith.

The disciples’ response here is particularly interesting because they have just witnessed Christ heal a leper, a centurion’s servant, Peter’s mother-in-law, and several others from an unnamed group. By now they should have a little more confidence in him than they are demonstrating. For an even clearer example of this cycle of Christ’s provision and his disciples’ forgetfulness, consider Matthew 16. In the chapter just before, Jesus feeds over four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. The disciples not only witness this, but they also give the food to the people and gather the remaining baskets of food. On top of that, this is the second time Christ has performed such a miracle in front of them. Yet they forget the miracle so fast that it would make me laugh if it weren’t so pathetic. When the disciples begin discussing, in Matthew 16,that they have no bread, they are once again rebuked by Christ with oligopistos, “You of little faith”(v.18).