The Dividing Line Between Belief and Unbelief
By Pastor Brandon Phillips
Before his conversion, Augustine of Hippo was a man torn between two worlds—the world of truth and the world of pleasure. He wrestled deeply with conviction but remained bound to his desires. He sought fulfillment in philosophy, rhetoric, and sensual indulgence, yet his heart remained restless.
One day, Augustine heard a story that would change his life forever. A Roman officer named Pontitianus told him about men who had forsaken worldly ambition to follow Christ. As Augustine listened, something within him shifted. He later wrote that God “turned me toward myself,” forcing him to confront the corruption and filth of his own soul. For years, he had prayed for wisdom and chastity, but with one telling phrase—“only not yet.” He feared what obedience would cost him.
That moment of conviction exposed the real issue: not ignorance, but unwillingness. Augustine’s problem wasn’t intellectual doubt—it was moral rebellion. His heart was torn between the call of God and the bondage of sin. That battle of the soul became the soil in which saving faith finally took root.
The Struggle of Faith Today
Sixteen centuries later, the same struggle persists. We live in an age that prizes skepticism and questions everything. People doubt the news, history, and morality—yet they trust pilots they’ve never met, corporations they’ll never see, and algorithms they’ll never understand. Everyone has faith in something. The issue is not whether we believe, but what we believe.
Faith itself isn’t the problem—its object is.
Like Augustine, many today say they need more evidence before believing in Jesus. But evidence abounds. The real obstacle is the same one Augustine faced: the stubborn love of sin. The late G. Campbell Morgan once said,
“Unbelief is not failure in intellectual apprehension. It is disobedience in the presence of the clear commands of God.”
Unbelief, then, is not a lack of proof; it’s a refusal to submit. It’s not the head that resists Christ—it’s the heart.
Faith That Lives
Martin Luther described true faith as,
“A living and unshakeable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake.”
This kind of faith goes beyond mere agreement with facts. It clings to Christ Himself. It transforms the heart, producing obedience and endurance even in suffering.
That’s precisely what we see in Matthew 9:33–35. Jesus opens the eyes of the blind and loosens the tongue of a mute man. The evidence of His divine power is undeniable. The crowds marvel, declaring, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!” Yet the Pharisees sneer, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”
The same miracle produces two opposite responses—worship or rejection, faith or unbelief.
The Dividing Line
Matthew wants us to see that miracles alone don’t create faith. The leper believed that Jesus could heal him. The centurion believed that Jesus would heal him. Both came humbly and found mercy. But the Pharisees, hardened by pride and self-righteousness, remained blind even in the presence of undeniable light.
The dividing line between belief and unbelief has never been evidence—it has always been the heart’s response to Jesus.
So the question remains for us today:
Will we, like Augustine, confess our restless sin and yield to Christ?
Or will we, like the Pharisees, harden our hearts and explain away the very truth that can set us free?
The heart that humbles itself before Christ finds grace and peace.
The heart that resists remains restless still.
“Your heart’s response to Jesus draws the dividing line between belief and unbelief.”