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DOUBT (from Lat. dubitare, ‘to hold two (opinions),’ ‘hesitate’).—1. In AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘doubt’ (vb. and noun) six times renders a Gr. vb. meaning ‘to be at a loss’ or ‘quite at a loss’; in all these instances except Joh_13:22 RV [Note: Revised Version.] substitutes ‘perplexity,’ following the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] rendering of Luk_9:7; Luk_24:4, 2Co_4:8. In this sense ‘doubt’ is now nearly obsolete; as it is in the meaning riddle, knotty question, which it bears in Dan_5:12; Dan_5:16. Not dissimilar is its use in the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] of Joh_10:24 (‘make us to doubt’), where RV [Note: Revised Version.] , more literally, reads ‘hold us in suspense.’ Quite archaic also is the use of ‘doubt’ for ‘suspect,’ instanced in Sir_6:13 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ). 2. Elsewhere ‘doubt’ has a religious signification, standing in express or tacit antithesis to ‘faith’ (wh. see). (a) In Mat_21:21, Mar_11:23, Act_10:20; Act_11:12, Rom_14:23, Jam_1:6 (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), Jud_1:22 (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), it stands for a vb. signifying ‘to be divided in mind (judgment)’—the same Gr. word is rendered ‘staggered’ in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , ‘wavered’ in RV [Note: Revised Version.] , of Rom_4:20; (b) in Mat_14:31; Mat_28:17 ‘to be of two opinions,’ ‘to waver,’ is the force of the original: the vb. above indicates (1) more subjectively, (2) more objectively, a state of qualified faith, of faith mixed with misgiving, something between whole-hearted faith and decided unbelief. Thus wavering, faith is robbed of its power; hence such hesitation, in regard to Christ and the promises and commands of God, is strongly deprecated and reproved. In the above examples the doubt, affecting the mind of a believer, arises from contradictory circumstances or conscientious scruples; unless this be the case in Mat_28:17 (cf. Luk_24:38, noticed below), it has none of the quality of rationalistic doubt or scepticism. (c) Akin to the above is the expression of Luk_12:29, where ‘of doubtful mind’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , RV [Note: Revised Version.] ) is the rendering of an obscure Gr. word that seems to mean being lifted into the air, and so agitated, held in suspense or driven by gusts (cf. Eph_4:14, Jam_1:4-6). (d) Another group of expressions remains: Rom_14:1 ‘doubtful disputations’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ), ‘decisions of doubts’ (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ); 1Ti_2:8 ‘disputing’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ) or ‘doubting’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ) = ‘reasoning’ (Luk_24:38 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ); ‘disputings’ (Php_2:14). In these passages arguing, questioning is intended, and (in Ro.) matter of argument, debatable questions. This usage lies on the border between 1 and 2; for the questions referred to, except in Luk_24:38, did not directly belong to faith, but their agitation disturbed and tended to weaken it.
G. G. Findlay.