Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 11:48)

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We see the sixty-seventh occurrence of the idea of belief in John’s Gospel in John 11:48. There, we see the text recording the chief priests and Pharisees saying this: “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation” (KJV). So, as always, 1) what is the context of this passage and 2) what does this passage teach us about faith?

            First, what is the context of this passage? After many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw the things Jesus did believed on Him, we see some of them going their ways to the Pharisees, telling them the things Jesus did. Then, the Pharisees and chief priests gather a council and ask what they should do, because Jesus is doing many signs [1]. Then, they say that if they leave Him alone, all will believe on Him and the Romans will come and take away both their place and their nation. This is the context of John 11:48!

            Second, what does this passage teach us about faith? I can so far think of one thing. One thing that I don’t think I have mentioned up to this point. And that is this: Jesus, if absolutely unhindered in His work, would win over the trust of all. Now, this needs to be carefully explained: Jesus is NOT at the mercy of the Pharisees, or any other creatures. The most powerful creature in all creation derives all its power from God and, because it is fully dependent on God, it cannot hope to stand a chance of hindering Him even a small amount. So, the “hindering” I alluded to in the fourth sentence of this paragraph is, in reality, Jesus granting it to the Pharisees to put Him to death. This reminds us of His declaration that no one takes His life from Him, but He lays it down purely of His own accord (John 10:17-18). Also, we must remember that Jesus, as God (John 1:1-18), does all things in all His universe EXACTLY as He pleases (Psalm 115:3). So, I repeat: what we learn here is that Jesus has the power to elicit faith in Him from whoever He pleases to do so. This is what we learn about faith from John 11:48!

[1] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/john/11-47.htm