Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 16:9)
- A Writer for Christ
- Jul 24, 2024
- 6 min read
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The eighty-sixth occurrence of faith in John’s Gospel is in John 16:9. In the text, the Lord Jesus Christ says: “Of sin, because they believe not on me” (KJV). So, what is the context of this passage, and what are some facts about faith we can glean from it?
First, the context. Jesus said, in John 14:29 (which we covered in the previous post in this series), that He told His disciples what He said to them prior to that verse before it came to pass so that, when it would come to pass, they might believe. After saying this, He said that, after this, He would not talk much with them, because the prince of this world would come, and have nothing in Him. But, He goes on to say, that the world may know that He loves the Father, and as the Father gave Him commandment, even so He does, before telling them to arise and saying that they should go from there. He tells them that He is the true vine, and His Father is the vinedresser [1], before going on to say that every branch in Him that does not bear fruit the Father takes away, while, with every branch that does bear fruit, the Father purges it so that it may bring forth more fruit. He then tells them they are clean through the word He has spoken to them. He tells them to abide in Him, and He in them, before describing that, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abides in the vine, no more can them except they abide in Him. He repeats that He is the vine and they are the branches before saying that he who abides in Him and He in him brings forth much fruit, because they can do nothing without Him. He informs them that, if a man does not abide in Him, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, with men gathering them and casting them into the fire, and they are burned. He teaches His disciples that, if they abide in Him and His words abide in them, they will ask what they choose, and it will be done to them before saying that in this His Father is glorified: that they bear much fruit, so they shall be His disciples. He declares that, as the Father has loved Him, so He has loved them, before telling them to continue in His love. After this, He informs them that, if they keep His commandments, they will abide in His love, even as He has kept His Father’s commandments and abide in His love. He says that He has spoken these things to them so that His joy may remain in them and that their joy may be full. He tells them that His commandment is this: that they love one another, as He has loved them, before declaring that no man has greater love than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends, specifying that they are His friends if they do whatever He commands them. From that moment on, He says, He does not call them slaves [2], because the slave does not know what his lord does. Rather, He has called them friends, because all things that He has heard from His Father He has made known to them. He informs them that they have not chosen Him, but He has chosen them and ordained them, that they should go and bring forth fruit and their fruit should remain, so that, whatever they will ask the Father in Christ’s name, the Father may give it to them. He tells them that He commands these things of them, that they love one another, before telling them that, if the world hates them, they know that it hated Him before it hated them. Because, if they were of the world, the world would love its own, but, because they are not of the world, but Christ has chosen them out of the world, therefore the world hates them. He then tells them to remember the word He said to them that the slave is not greater than his lord, and that, if they have persecuted Him, they will also persecute them, and that, if they have kept His saying, they will keep theirs also. But, He goes on to say, all these things they will do to His disciples for His name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Jesus, before saying that if He had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. [3] He then asserts His unity with His Father by declaring that the one who hates Him hates His Father also. Expounding further on the subject of their guilt, Jesus says that, if He had not done among them the works which no other man did, would not have sin, but they had now seen and hated both Him and His Father, before declaring that this comes to pass so that the word written in their law would be fulfilled: “They hated me without a cause.” But, He assures His disciples, when the Comforter comes, whom He will send to them from the Father, the Comforter being the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, the Comforter will testify of Him, with the disciples also testifying, because they have been with Him from the beginning. Then, He tells them that He has spoken these things to them so that they would not fall away [4], before telling them that unbelievers will put them out of the synagogues. Going further, He tells them that the time comes when whoever kills them will think they are serving God, before telling them that unbelievers will do these things to them because they have not known the Father or Him. He repeats that He has told them these things, but this time saying that it is so that, when the time will come, they may remember that He told them of these things, before explaining that He did not tell them these things at the beginning because He was with them. However, He goes on to say, it was now the time where He goes His way to the One who sent Him, and none of them asked Him where He is going. But, He says, because He has said these things to them, sorrow has filled their hearts. Nevertheless, He assures them, He tells them the truth: it is expedient for them that He is going away, because, if He does not go away, the Comforter will not come to them. Christ expands on this by saying that, if He departs, He will send the Comforter to them. And, He elaborates, when the Comforter has come, He will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He specifies “of sin,” because the world does not believe on Him. This is the context of John 16:9!
Second, some facts about faith. One fact is that it is a sin to not believe on Christ. Because, when Jesus says the Holy Spirit will come into the world, He says that the Spirit will convict the world of sin. The Lord says the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, because of one reason: the world does not believe on Him. Therefore, to believe in Christ is to obey God and to not believe in Christ is to disobey God, or to sin against Him (cf. 1 John 3:4). A second fact is that faith sets apart Christians from the world. God’s Word often talks about the “world,” using the term in a variety of ways. In John 16:8, Christ says the “world” is whom the Holy Spirit will convict concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. In verse 9, He clarifies that the Spirit will convict of sin, because “they” (i.e., the world) do not believe in Christ. So, a characteristic of the “world,” in the bad sense of the term in Scripture, is unbelieving humanity, or the portion of humanity that does not trust in Christ. And since Christians are, by definition, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are set apart from this world. These are some facts about faith from John 16:9!
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