Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 1:7)

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The first time "believe" occurs in John's Gospel is John 1:7, which reads: "The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe" (KJV).

Here, John the Baptist (the "same" in verse 7) was sent by God (John 1:6). What did God send him to do? Verse 7 tells us that God sent him to be a witness. What was John sent to be a witness of? Of a Person who is called "the Light." And even more specifically, John witnessed about this Light so that all through John might believe. That leaves us with two more questions: 1) "Who is this Light?" and 2) "What is to be believed?"

First, who is this Light? In John 1:1-3, we hear about this "Word" who was in the beginning, was with God, was God, was in the beginning with God, was the Maker of all things, and was the Maker of all things that are created. In verse 4, we're told that, in this Word, there is life, and this life is the "light" of men. [1] And, since we know that this Word is Jesus Christ (John 1:14-17), we know that this Light is the Lord Himself.

Second, what is to be believed here? For this question (and this will shed light concerning the first question too), we need to remember the Holy Spirit's stated purpose for having John write this Gospel: so we, the readers, may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that, believing, we may have life in His Name (John 20:30-31). Given this Scripture's own explanation for its purpose, as well as the fact that John the Baptist was sent by God to bear witness concerning the Light so that all may believe, we may legitimately conclude that what is to be "believed" here is John's testimony about Christ as the Light.

So, here we have God Himself, through His Word, telling us what it means to believe in Christ: to believe the testimony concerning Him. [2]

[1] I get this reasoning concerning the identity of the "Light" from the pastor whose brief study of the Gospel of John I mentioned in the introductory post of this series, which I posted the previous week. The only reason I will not link to his study is NOT because I don't want to give credit where credit is due, but rather that that study has tempted me to unbiblical (and therefore unhealthy) introspection, and I do not want to be a cause of others adopting that same self-destructive spiritual habit.

[2] I get this idea of faith also from the pastor mentioned in the previous note above.