Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 16:27)

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The eighty-seventh occurrence of belief in the Gospel of John is in John 16:27. Here, the Lord Jesus Christ says: “For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God” (KJV). So, as usual, what is the context, and what are some facts about faith here?

First, what is the context? Right after Jesus specifies that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will convict the world of sin because they do not believe on Him, He specifies the other two things the Spirit will convict the world of: righteousness and judgment. The Spirit will convict the world of righteousness because Jesus goes to His Father and the disciples (and the world as well) will no longer see Him. The Spirit will convict the world of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. He then tells His disciples that He yet has many things to say to them, but they are currently unable to bear it. However, He says, when the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide them into all truth, because He will not speak of Himself, but He will speak whatever He will hear and will show the disciples things to come. Jesus goes on to declare that the Spirit will glorify Him, because He will receive of Christ’s and show it to the disciples, before saying that all that the Father has are His, after which He explains that it was for this reason that He said the Spirit would take from His and show it to the disciples. Christ tells them that, in a little while, they will not see Him, but, in a little while, they will see Him, because He goes to the Father. This results in the disciples asking among themselves what their Lord is meaning. They conclude that they cannot tell what He is saying. Jesus knows that they want to ask Him and asks them if they are inquiring among themselves of what He said. Then, He emphatically assures them that they will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. He tells them that they will be sorrowful, but their sorrow will be turned into joy. Christ then analogizes their sorrow with the sorrow of a woman in travail, because her hour to give birth has come. Continuing with the analogy, He says that, as soon as she delivers the child, her joy out of giving birth is such that she forgets her anguish. Moving from the analogy back to the sadness of His disciples, Jesus says they now therefore have sorrow, but He assures them that He will see them again, and their heart will rejoice, with their joy unable to be taken away from any person. In that day, Jesus goes on to explain, they will ask Him nothing. He emphatically assures them that, whatever they will ask the Father in His name, He will give it to them. He points out to His disciples that, up until that moment, they have asked nothing in His name, before telling them to ask and they will receive, for the purpose of their joy being full. He tells them that He has spoken these things to them in allegories [1] before assuring them that the time is coming when He will no longer speak to them in this way, but He will show them plainly of the Father. He says that, at that day, they will ask in His name, and He tells them that He does not say to them that He will pray to the Father for them, because the Father Himself loves them, because they have loved Him and have believed that He came out from God. This is the context of John 16:27!

Second, what are some facts about faith from this passage? First, love for Christ accompanies faith in Him. Because Jesus says that the Father loves His disciples because they have loved Him and believed that He came out from God the Father. Second, belief in Jesus includes believing He came from God. Because, when He is describing the faith and love that are the reasons for the Father loving His disciples, Christ describes this faith as believing that He came out from God. Third, as just mentioned, faith in Jesus is a reason for the Father loving the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ with a special love. A “special love,” because God’s love that has brought salvation to believers in Jesus precedes their faith in Him. In other words, they love God because He first loved them, instead of Him loving them because they first loved Him (1 John 4:10, 19). So, this love is that based on the disciples’ faith in and love for Jesus must be a different kind of love, a love that is specifically limited to the disciples of Jesus. While God loved the world that He gave His Son, there is another, special kind of love of His for those who have changed their minds (i.e., repented) and put their trust in His Son. These are some facts about faith from John 16:27!

[1] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/john/16-25.htm