A Theology of Belief According to the Apostle John

Let me take you into a deep dive on belief according to the Apostle John. I've got my Greek dictionary open here to pisteuō (πιστεύω) – which means to believe, trust, put faith in, to have Christian faith. Here's something fascinating: this word appears 243 times in the New Testament. Out of those 243 instances, it's translated in the NASB 1995 as "believe" the vast majority of the time, with only a very small number translated as "entrust," "entrusted," "trusting," or "faith."

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There's one interesting example in John 2:24 where the English translators chose "entrust" instead of "believe": "But Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men." They translated pisteuō as "entrust" because it captures the better sense rather than saying "was not believing himself to them."

The Overwhelming Use in John's Gospel

When you look at the distribution across the Gospels, it's striking. Matthew, Mark, and Luke? Not a whole lot – I can almost fit all the instances in one or maybe one and a half screens. But look at John. Oh my. Look at John. We have to tab all the way down, and we're still going. It's used throughout the book of Acts quite a bit and in the New Testament epistles as well, but we're concerned about John's theology of belief specifically.

Setting the Foundation: John 1:7-13

To understand John's theology of belief, we need to let John set the tone himself. I want you to remove any presuppositions you have – those things you're bringing to the text and putting into it. Whatever you've been taught about "believe" or "belief" in the past, bundle it all up and throw it out the window. Let John tell us exactly what he means.

He sets the tone very early in his Gospel. John 1:7 says: "This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light" – talking about John the Baptizer – "that all through him might believe."

Right from the start, we have the announcement of John the Baptizer's purpose: to bear witness to the light so that all through him might believe. But this one verse doesn't give us the complete picture of what John is communicating about belief. Thankfully, John the Apostle is talking in a big section here, so let's continue.

The thought process continues: "That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him" – obviously talking about Jesus Christ – "and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him."

The Critical Connection: Believing = Receiving

Hold on for a minute. John uses the word "receive" alongside "believe" right in the beginning. And it's not just here – it's down in verse 12: "But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name."

The Greek word for "receive" here is paralambanō (παραλαμβάνω) – to take into association, to take along, to acquire, to take hold of, to grab, to grasp, to obtain possession of something, to receive, to accept an object or benefit.

John is linking these two ideas together: believing is receiving, or receiving is believing. I'm not sure which comes first, the cart or the horse, but they have to be together. The nature of belief – to entrust – is to entrust yourself into the care of another.

Look at the flow of thought: John the Baptizer came to bear witness so that through his witness, they might see Christ the Messiah and believe. He came to his own, and they did not receive him. John is using "belief" and "receive" almost interchangeably. He could have said, "He came to his own and his own did not believe in Christ," because receiving Christ is equated to believing in Christ, and not receiving him is equated to not believing in him.

Continuing the line of thought: "He was in the world, and the world was made through him" – that's Jesus, and he's incredible. Can you imagine? The eternal Son of God who made the world and sustains it by the word of his power, who is the fullness of deity, comes in bodily form and walks amongst sinners in this sin-infested, stench world to die a sinner's death. He is absolutely, unfathomably amazing.

"And the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. But as many as did receive him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name."

As many as did what? As received him – as took hold of Christ, grasped upon him, acquired, obtained possession of Christ. How? "To them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name."

Receiving. Believing. The two are meant to go together as John sees it.

The Only True Christ

Believing is to take God at his word. And his word says that apart from Christ, none can be saved. Apart from receiving, from clinging deeply to the Messiah – the one who came in human flesh to live a perfect life and die a sinner's death, to meet the wrath of God, to be risen on the third day defeating sin and death and rising again to be our great and faithful high priest – he is the one in whom we are to receive.

Any other Jesus that is testified of, any other person other than the one witnessed to by John the Baptizer, the works, the Father, the scripture, and John the Apostle through his gospel – unless we receive this Christ, believing upon this Christ, this God-man Jesus, we are holding onto or receiving or clinging to a false Messiah that cannot save.

It is those who receive him by believing in his name who "were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

The Nature of the New Birth

Hold on for a minute. We need to talk about this. Receiving and believing, clinging deeply to Christ because we believe in the person and work of this one who came as the Messiah – when this occurs, we are born not of human descent, not of our will of the flesh (like we just grit our teeth and make it happen), and not of the will of man (it wasn't constructed in any way, shape or form in the imagination of man), but of God.

When you're born as a man, you do the things that men do. John is fairly clear about this when he testifies of the things that Jesus testifies. In John 3, when talking about the nature of the new birth, Jesus tells Nicodemus: "This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works are evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

Jesus is declaring the nature of men: men are evil. This isn't just Jesus saying this – it's a testimony throughout scripture. Genesis 6 and Genesis 8 tell us that the thoughts and intentions of the heart of man are wicked from birth, evil continually from birth. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is wicked beyond all measure and deceitful, and who can know it?

I was talking to my professor once in a critical analysis of a book, and I said, "Well, you know, he didn't really give as many scripture references as I thought he should." He looked at me and said, "How many scripture references does he need for it to be true?" Ouch. Thank you. I appreciate that. How many scripture references does one need for a statement to be true? We need one. That's it. And we have a plethora of scripture references that declare that man is evil.

Man does evil because his nature is evil, and that happens because of sin – Adam's choice all the way back. Now we have a sin nature, and we act upon that sinful nature as soon as we possibly can.

Born of God to Do Godly Things

Those who are born of flesh do fleshly things. But those who are born of God? They do godly things. Look at verse 21 of chapter 3: "But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works are being carried out in God."

This is how Jesus closes that beloved section we quote so often: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

Belief and action. Those who believe in the Son are born of God, and those who are born of God do things that are of God, just like those who are born of flesh do things that are of flesh.

Whoever does what is true comes to the light. So those who have received Christ because of the testimony of the scriptures, of the Spirit, of others – those who have clung tenaciously to him because they know that apart from him, I have absolutely nothing. I can give God absolutely nothing, and I cannot earn my salvation. I cannot go to church so many times, I cannot put so much money in the offering, I cannot walk so many old ladies across the street. None of that matters because I am evil and my nature needs to be changed.

The only way to do that is to receive the liberation that the Messiah secured upon his resurrection – liberation from the penalty, power, and eventually the presence of sin.

John 3:36 – The Crescendo

Throughout John 3, we see different benefits of belief. John 3:18: "He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

The judgment is already upon the person who does not believe, and the gavel is waiting to come down upon our last breath.

John 3:36 is where it all winds up to this big crescendo: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

Hold on, because "believe" here is a different word. It's not pisteuō. It's apeitheō (ἀπειθέω) – to disobey, to be disobedient, to reject belief, to refuse to believe.

The King James and New King James translate this as "believe," but it's not the same word. The ESV and NASB translate it as "does not obey" because it's not the same word.

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."

Belief = Obedience?

Hold up. Are you saying that salvation is obtained by works, by obedience? No, that's not what I'm communicating at all. That's not what John's communicating either.

He's linking the fact that when we receive Christ, as we believe upon the name, the person, work, and character of Christ, there is a new birth accompanied with that receipt. And with a new birth, we are born of God to do things of God.

The Son of God, who paved the way, who is the way, the truth, and the life, learned obedience through his suffering. Hebrews 5:8-9 says: "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him."

The author of Hebrews is following this logical process: He was the Son of God, eternal Son of God, second person of the Trinity, the radiance of God, the exact imprint of his nature. He was higher than angels. This Son of God became the Son of Man, took on human flesh to live the life we could not live in obedience, and then die the death we could not die, to rise again as our high priest so that he can make propitiation and cleanse and atone for sinners.

Being made perfect – the Son of God was perfect as the Son of God, the Son of Man is perfect as the Son of Man – but all three offices (Son of God, Son of Man, and High Priest) were necessary to make him perfect. He became the source of eternal salvation to all those who obey him.

That's no different than what the Apostle John is saying: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."

Remember back in 3:18: "He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

How do we know they have not believed? Because they do not obey.

The Evidence of Belief

John is following this logical persuasion. Verse 3:18 culminates in 3:36. They do not believe because they do not obey. The evidence that they genuinely believe is that they are born again, born of God, doing the things that God does – in which the Son of God himself, Jesus Christ, as John really lays out across his whole gospel, followed the will and the way of the Father in the power of the Father for the glory of the Father.

That's what I believe is being communicated by "Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life."

Those who follow in that path because they believe and they have been made something new – they have eternal life. The evidence of the belief is seen in the action. Likewise, the evidence of the disbelief is seen in the action. Whoever does not obey (which is, as the King James version says, does not believe – because the two must go hand in hand together) shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John sets the tone very early on for what he's talking about in the other 80-plus times that he uses the word pisteuō or "believe."

Belief Throughout John's Gospel

Let me show you several examples where the context agrees with his theology of belief:

The Royal Official (John 4:50)

Jesus said to him, "Go, your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off.

Belief is accompanied by action. He believed, so he started off. If the man believed but continued to grovel at Jesus to save his son when Jesus already said, "Go, your son lives," would that be belief or disbelief? It's certainly disbelief, because his actions are showing that he doesn't actually believe.

If he believed and took Jesus at his word, that would've been followed by action – he started off, he went home, fully expecting that his son was alive. And this royal official did exactly that. The man took Jesus at his word and started off.

Then it continued: "So the father knew that it was at that hour which Jesus said to him, 'Your son lives.' And he himself believed and his whole household."

Do you believe that this man's belief was genuine and from this point on, he and his household followed the will and ways of the Messiah? Absolutely. I don't believe he just went back and continued to live in his own ways. He took God at his word, God's word proved faithful, his belief was strengthened.

Passing from Death to Life (John 5:24)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life."

This is perfect tense – describing a completed verbal action that occurred in the past but produced a state of being or result that exists in the present. The one who believes has passed out of death and into life.

When I was younger and didn't know Christ, the show The Walking Dead was out (I don't mean to put that in your memory bank or encourage you to go there), but the picture it presents is absolutely helpful. Those that are dead walking around look completely different than those who are alive. There's a stark difference.

Those who believe have passed – this has happened to them upon their belief – out of death, out of Adam, and into life, into Christ. Born not of man, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, to do godly things, not man things.

Belief then begets the action because this is something that God does to us who believe. In contrast, those who are dead do dead things.

The Bread of Life (John 6:35)

"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst."

We see belief accompanied by the things that belief possesses. We possess life, we possess Christ, we possess a quenching of thirst.

Rivers of Living Water (John 7:38)

"He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water."

That's a promise, something that happens to those who believe. So if you do not have rivers of living water flowing through you, then you do not truly believe. Water brings life to everything around it. But if you're a person that continuously brings death to your relationships, separation, hurt and pain, then your belief in Christ is not belief at all, because the scriptures are true and God does not lie.

Belief and Worship (John 9:38)

"And he said, 'Lord, I believe,' and he worshiped him."

What is worship? I believe what John says, as Paul communicates in Romans 12, is literally submitting your body as a living sacrifice, which is your spiritual service of worship.

When Jesus called the disciples and the disciples followed him, they followed him physically. They died to their past and took up God's calling for them to be fishers of men. They believed, and that translated into a life filled with worship.

Hearing the Voice (John 10)

"But you do not believe because you're not my sheep." Later he talks about how "my sheep hear my voice."

Believing and hearing the voice of Christ go together. Listen, a lot of times in ministry I've heard this over and over again: "I just don't understand the Bible. I don't understand it. I read it and I don't understand it."

That's a red flag, because the Bible is a testimony of your God, of the person and work and character of your God, and you should be able to hear his voice through it. That doesn't mean you're going to have complete understanding, but it means you should have some, and you should have more the next time you read it and the next time you read it.

I've read through the Bible in the past 13 years 58 times, and I continue to grow in my understanding of who God is, what he has done, is doing, and will do. It's an abiding relationship. The more I read, the more I hear his voice in the scriptures and in the world when I'm out and about.

Lazarus and the Glory of God (John 11)

Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?"

This is one of those passages that is highly misunderstood. Jesus wept – not because he had compassion over the tears of his loved ones, but because of the disbelief of his loved ones. Their disbelief was seen in their actions.

"Could not this man have raised him from the dead?" Why are you so downcast? Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? They didn't take God at his word and they didn't act upon it. In fact, they were doubting the Messiah. They were doubting the power of Christ.

What about the royal official's son? Jesus didn't even need to be present. He just said, "Go, your son's made well." What about the Centurion? He comes to Jesus and says, "I'm a man of great authority. I tell my servant to go here and he goes, and to go there and he goes." Jesus said, "Wow, this man's faith – I've not seen this man's faith in all of Israel." He was praised for that faith.

But when Jesus comes to his disciples, whom he spent so much time with, they disbelieved him, and he wept. He had indignation over that disbelief. Their disbelief was attached to their works, to their doubting Jesus.

Light in the Darkness (John 12:46)

"I have come as light into the world so that everyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness."

That goes all the way back to John 3:16-21, where men love their dark deeds, love their evil deeds. But what do they do? "He who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen as having been done in God."

Deeds. Belief. All of them come together because we are born, as we receive Christ, of God to do God's things – a work that he does in us.

Greater Works (John 14:12)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father."

This is an amazing verse, but this verse also communicates the theology of John. "He who believes in me, the works I do, he'll do also." Why? Because he is born of God, and those who are born of God do God's works.

The Son of God came on this earth to do the works of God and to put them on display for all of the world to see and for his people to follow after.

The Purpose of John's Gospel (John 20:31)

This all culminates to what I believe is the purpose of what John wrote for: "But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in his name."

Believing. Born again. Receiving – because we have nothing, and Christ is the source of eternal salvation for all who receive him, who are born not of man, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God, to do God things, not man things.

The evidence of our faith, our belief, is found in our actions. The evidence of disbelief is found in actions. And those who have believed have passed on from death and into life. Life in Christ.

I encourage you to write down these passages and study them on your own. Let John's theology of belief transform how you understand what it means to truly believe in Christ.