“Where is your faith? What manner of man is this!”
The full verse · Luke 8:25 · KJV
he unto , ? they being , one to , What manner of ! he the , they .
Asked by
Jesus: the Son of God and promised Messiah, who had just been woken and had rebuked the wind and the raging of the water (Luke 8:24); Disciples: "his disciples" (Luke 8:22), the followers of Jesus with Him in the ship on the lake; after He rebuked the wind and the water, they "being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this!" (Luke 8:25)
Asked to
Disciples: "his disciples" (Luke 8:22), the followers in the ship who had awakened Jesus, crying, "Master, master, we perish" (Luke 8:24); He asked them, "Where is your faith?" and they then spoke "one to another" (Luke 8:25)
The Scene
On the lake, after the disciples wake Jesus in a storm and He rebukes "the wind and the raging of the water" so that "there was a calm" (Luke 8:22-24).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionJesus had said, "Let us go over unto the other side of the lake" (Luke 8:22), yet when the storm came the disciples cried, "Master, master, we perish" (Luke 8:24). His question asks where their trust went when they needed it. Matthew Henry writes, "Many that have true faith have it to seek when they have occasion to use it." Gill notes these were disciples who had professed faith in Him but now showed very little.
The disciples' question rose from fear and wonder together. They had seen the wind and water obey Him. Barnes, commenting on the parallel, exclaims, "What a vast display of power! and how far exalted above mortals must he be!" Henry says, "They might as well have said, Who is a God like unto thee?"
The Response
What Scripture recordsThe disciples gave Jesus no answer. Instead, "they being afraid wondered" (Luke 8:25). Their own question carries its answer inside it: "for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him." Only One has that kind of authority. The next scene presses the point: on the other shore a possessed man falls before Him and calls Him "Jesus, thou Son of God most high" (Luke 8:28). Later Peter will answer the question for the disciples: "The Christ of God" (Luke 9:20).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsLuke calls it simply "the lake" (Luke 8:22-23) and says that across it lay "the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee" (Luke 8:26). Barnes notes that "this lake was subject to sudden squalls," which is why a storm could "come down" so fast (Luke 8:23).
In the Greek, "being afraid" (phobēthentes) and "wondered" (ethaumasan, they marveled) sit side by side: fear and awe together. "Commandeth" (epitassei) is in the present tense. Each Gospel words Jesus' question differently: "O ye of little faith" (Matthew 8:26), "how is it that ye have no faith?" (Mark 4:40), and here, "Where is your faith?"
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyJesus' question reveals His patience. He calmed the storm first, then asked about their faith (Luke 8:24-25). He did not leave them in danger to teach them a lesson. Yet He did ask, turning their attention from their safety to their faith.
The disciples' question points straight to God. In the Psalms it is God "which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves" (Psalm 65:7). Henry uses that same language: "It is God's prerogative to still the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves." Jesus does with a word what Scripture says God does. The question "What manner of man is this!" opens the door to the answer Luke keeps building toward.
Look Closer
In Luke, what did the disciples cry when they woke Jesus?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Lord Jesus, when storms rise and You seem quiet, where is my faith really resting?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- The disciples had faith, but they could not find it in the storm. What tends to make your faith hard to find when you need it?
- Tell about a time when fear and wonder came together as you saw God act.
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
Jesus' question is not a scolding to keep you from calling on Him. The disciples went to the right Person, and He calmed the storm. But He also asked where their faith was. Faith remembers who is in the boat. When fear rises, recall what Jesus has said and who He is.
This does not mean that faith makes storms disappear. Jesus Himself led them onto the lake (Luke 8:22), and still the storm came. Faith rests in His presence and His word in the middle of it. Let your fear turn into the kind of wonder that asks, "What manner of man is this!" and keeps looking to Him for the answer.
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”
“Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?”
“What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
“What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!”