“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (Joh 20:30-31).”

I am getting ready to begin a course in my seminary on the Gospel of John.  The Gospel of John is my favorite of the gospels and so I am excited about this class.  Eight weeks in the Gospel of John.  Bring it on!

Anyway, in chapter twenty we find the purpose statement for this particular gospel.  This Gospel was written by John so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Messiah.  The word translated ‘belief’ here is the Greek word pistĕuō (pronounced pist-yoo) which means to have faith and by implication to entrust one’s spiritual well-being to Christ (Strong 1890, 4100).  Pistĕuō comes from another Greek word pistis which is often translated into our English world ‘faith’ (Strong 1890, 4102).  The belief that John is hoping to inspire here comes from faith.

Now, to have faith, at least according to the Greek understanding of the word pistis, is to be persuaded that something is true or to have a conviction that something is true.  Pistis is not blind as our English understanding of faith can often be.  John does not want you to believe for the sake of believing.  He wants you to believe based on your conviction that it is true.  Pistis comes from another Greek word pĕithō.  Pĕithō is a verb which means to convince by argument that something is true or false (Strong 1890, 3982).  According to the Greek understanding of faith it would be wholly appropriate to question someone about their faith.  Why are you convinced that something is true?  Your faith should be a reasonable faith.  You should be able to articulate why you believe what you believe.  John’s Gospel is the articulation of why he believes that Jesus is the Messiah.

About halfway through the Gospel of John we even find the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept (Joh 11:35).”  Many people write that Jesus wept because he loved Lazarus; which is no doubt true.  However, I suspect that His love for Lazarus is not the reason He weeps.  In verse four Jesus says that Lazarus will not die and when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he waits two whole days.  To make sure that everyone knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead he has a conversation just to emphasize that Lazarus is not just sleeping.  In verse fourteen He tells the disciples that He is glad that He was not there when Lazarus died.  It is as if Jesus is anticipating their unbelief in His power to raise the dead.

Finally, when He tells Martha that her brother will rise her response is to assure Jesus that Lazarus will rise at the resurrection.  Of course, to the Jewish mind everyone will rise at the resurrection, unless you are a Sadducee who does not believe in that sort of thing.  Martha did not believe that Jesus could or would raise her brother and I suspect the disciples may have shared her reservations and beliefs.

All of this occurred so that Jesus could tell them, and us, that he is the resurrection and the life and mean it in the most literal of ways.  He who believes in him will never die.  I think Jesus wept because no one was believing Him.  Would Jesus weep today?  The Gospel of John is about believing that Jesus is the Messiah.  The Gospel of John is about a Messiah who dies for your sins. Apart from that belief you remain dead in your transgressions.  That would be worthy of a weeping Messiah.

What is fascinating about the Gospel of John is that you will not find the word ‘faith’ even once.  But you will find ‘believe’ ninety-eight times, twice just in the description of the Gospel of John’s purpose.  John is adamant about this belief because it is in this conviction that we gain eternal life.  Later John would even encourage early Christians by telling them plainly, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life (1Jn 5:13).”  Adam Clarke, commenting on this passage paraphrases John, “I write to show your privileges—to lead you into this holy of holies—to show what believing on the Son of God is, by the glorious effects it produces: it is not a blind reliance for, but an actual enjoyment of, salvation; Christ living, working, and reigning in the heart (Clarke 1810-1826, 925).”

If you are confident that the scriptures you hold in your hand are true and unchanged since they were penned in their original language I would encourage you to open them again and spend some time in the Gospel of John.  Ask a lot of questions, seek a lot of answers, and when you are done, I am confident that your faith will be made stronger so that you can live a belief in a Messiah who lives, works, and reigns in your heart and will produce fruit for His kingdom.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

Image by Sang Valte from Pixabay 

Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.

Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Abingdon Press, 1890.

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