The Gospel of JohnSample

John waits until near the end of his Gospel to tell us why he wrote the Gospel. After Thomas offered the truest confession of all truths, that Jesus is both Lord and God, John closes the scene by saying Jesus did dozens of wonderful “signs” that John does not even record. But what John wrote was enough...enough that “you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:30–31).

John wrote about Jesus so people would believe, not in a simplistic sense of accepting Jesus into one’s, heart but in the Gospel's fullest sense. To believe is both to begin believing in Jesus, and then continuing to believe; that is, to become allegiant, faithful, ongoing believers. To promote faith like this John told stories about Jesus. For one example, the signs (miracles) and discourses of this Gospel were mapped onto the life of Jesus so readers could encounter the Lord, God enfleshed, the Lamb of God, the Glorified and Raised One, the Bread of Life, and the many other titles for Jesus that we will encounter. John wants such an encounter to generate believers.

In this Gospel believing is both a one-time act of trusting surrender and also an ongoing trust of deeper surrender. Perhaps the best English term for believing in John’s Gospel is “abiding” or “indwelling.” It is a life of constant communion with and participation in Jesus. John never uses the noun pistis (“faith” or “belief ”) but always the verb pisteuō (“to believe”). In fact, he uses that verb 98 times in a New Testament that uses it only some 243 times. However, that word is surrounded by friends, which can be broken into the four categories below. As a college student I began underlining these various terms in my Bible. The result was a seriously marked-up, almost unreadable, Gospel.

To see how wide-ranging and deep-diving believing is for John, each of these terms comes into play, and by the time you get to the fourth term we realize believing is a massive mountain in John.

Believing is:

1. Discernment (seeing, hearing, remembering)
2. Decision (coming to, rejecting/receiving)
3. Dependence (drinking, eating, abiding)
4. Obedience (disciple, keeping, serving, worshiping)

This Gospel was written so its readers would see Jesus for who he truly is and respond throughout life in all these ways. Take a moment with each and ponder how you have responded to Jesus like that, and what it did for you. What each of those terms does to us is usher us deeper into participating in a “life in his name” (20:31).

Respond

• McKnight writes that in John, believing means “both a one-time act of trusting surrender and ongoing trust and deeper surrender.” How does that challenge the prevailing evangelical idea that “believing in Jesus” means simply once praying a sinner’s prayer? What consumes most of your time? Why?
• How have you lived out believing in Jesus over time?
• How can you change the way you share the Gospel to better present this greater understanding of believing?