Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 13:19)

Image Credit: Media from Wix

The seventy-eighth occurrence of “believing” in the Gospel of John is in John 12:48. In the text, the Lord Jesus Christ says: “Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.” (KJV). Now, when examining the context of this passage, I’m going to a more summary and less detailed description. Anyway, that aside, let’s do this!

First, what is the context? With what we call the “Last Supper” being ended, Satan has put it into Judas’s heart to betray the Lord, who washes the feet of His disciples as an example for how they are to do to each other just as He had done to them. Then, He tells them that He is not speaking of all of them when He speaks of them as His own and that the Scripture must be fulfilled that says the one who eats bread with Him has lifted up his heel against Him. Christ says that He tells them this before it comes so that, when it has happened, they may believe, referring to Himself, “I am.” This is the context of John 13:19!

Second, what are some facts about faith here? One fact is that the fulfillment of Jesus’s words causes faith in those who are His own. Because, speaking to His disciples (minus Judas, the false disciple), He says that He is telling them, before it happens, that one of them will betray Him (in accordance with Scriptural prophecy) so that they will believe He is. A second fact is that belief in Jesus includes believing He is Yahweh. Because, when Jesus talks about believing in Him in this text, He words it as “believe that I am.” Yes, in the KJV (and maybe more translations), it’s worded as “believe that I am he,” but the “he” is in italics, meaning the translators added it for clarity. So, it’s literally “believe that I am,” “I AM” being the Name of God Himself, which He told Moses in Exodus 3:13-14. These are some facts about faith from John 13:19!