Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 12:42)

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The seventy-third occurrence of the idea of faith in John’s Gospel is John 12:42. The text reads: “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue” (KJV). So, what is the context of this passage, and what are some facts about faith we can draw from it?

First, what is the context? Right after the text says the people listening to Jesus could not believe on Him, quoting Isaiah about God’s heart-hardening work, we are told that Isaiah said these things when he saw His (i.e., God’s) glory and spoke of Him. Nevertheless, the text goes on to inform us, many among the chief rulers believed on Him, but they did not confess Him because of the Pharisees, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. The next verse, verse 43, tells us the reason why the chief rulers did not confess Him: they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. This is the context of John 12:42!

Second, what are some facts about faith? I can think of two, and they overlap. First, there is a superficial faith in Christ. And what distinguishes this superficial faith in Christ from true faith in Christ? The answer is that true faith confesses Him, while superficial faith does not. And that brings us to the second fact, which answers the question “Why think this faith is not the saving faith that texts like John 3:16 talk about?” That fact is this: there is a faith in Christ that believes on Him, but the fruit of which is a fear of confessing Him before men (see Matthew 10:32-33). This is a fruit because the root is loving the man’s praise more than God’s praise. This brings us back to another passage we covered in this series, John 5:44, which says: “How can ye believe, which receive honour [1] one of another, and seek not the honour [2] that cometh from God only?” (KJV). To His audience in John 5:44, Christ clearly implies that these people who seek honor from men instead of God cannot believe in Him in a true and saving sense. So, another difference between true faith in Christ and superficial faith in Christ is that true faith in Christ seeks honor from God alone, not praise from man. These are some facts about faith from John 12:42!

[1] Same Greek word translated “praise” in John 12:43-https://biblehub.com/greek/strongs_1391.htm

[2] Same Greek word translated “praise” in John 12:43-https://biblehub.com/greek/strongs_1391.htm