Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 10:42)

Image Credit: Media from Wix

We find the fifty-eighth occurrence of the idea of believing in chapter 10 and verse 42 of John’s Gospel. Here, we are told: “And many believed on him [the Lord Jesus Christ] there” (KJV). So, as always, in this passage, what is the immediate context and what are some facts?

First, what is the context? In verse 38 (the passage we covered in our previous post), Jesus tells the unbelieving Jews that, if He does do the works of His Father, though they do not believe Him, they should believe the works so that they may know and believe that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. Consequently, these Jews again seek to take Him, but He escapes out of their hand and goes beyond Jordan into the place where John the Baptist baptized at first, in which place the Lord abides. And many head to Him, saying that John the Baptist performed no miracle but that all things that John spoke about Jesus were true. And, the text informs us, many believed on Him there. This is the context of John 10:42!

Second, what are some facts about faith? First, we see that belief in Jesus includes recognizing the truth about Him. Because, right before we are told about the faith of this multitude, they say that all things that John the Baptist spoke about Jesus were true. The second, and only other, fact about faith I can currently glean from this passage is that preachers of Jesus do not need to perform supernatural works for the Holy Spirit to bring them to faith in Christ. Because, while John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah (Mark 1:1-4), didn’t work any miracles, it was still obvious that John’s testimony concerning Christ was purely true. These are some facts about faith from John 10:42!