Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 2:23)

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John 2:23 reads: "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did" (KJV). Here, we may have the first instance in John's Gospel of faith that is not saving faith, and the reason I say that will be clear as we consider the context of this passage. We'll consider the context and identify what the text itself says about this likely non-saving faith so that we may know the difference between this faith and non-saving faith. Now, I've said that the kind of faith described here in John 2:23 "may" be the first instance of non-saving faith in Scripture and that this faith is "likely" non-saving faith, and I inserted those qualifiers because I don't want to infer more from Scripture than what it says, but I also don't want to downplay what Scripture says by saying or implying that this faith is saving either, because I think the evidence clearly points in the other direction. Anyway, that introductory article aside, let's begin!

First, what is the context of John 2:23? In John 2:22, Jesus challenges Jews who oppose Him to destroy the body of His temple and says that He will raise it up in three days (a challenge that strengthens His disciples' faith after His resurrection). Immediately after this, we find the Lord at the Passover in Jerusalem performing signs. Because of these signs, many, the text tells us, believed in Christ's Name. However, verse 24 goes on to say that Jesus does not commit Himself to these believers, because He knows all men. Verse 25 emphasizes this further by saying He does not need anyone to testify about man, because He knows what is in man. In fact, the Greek word translated "commit" in verse 24, is the same word translated as "believe" in verse 23. So, it can be literally translated that "many believed in Jesus's name, but Jesus did not believe in them." [1]

Second, what can we learn about faith from this passage? The primary thing here is that there is a faith in Christ that does not save, given the evidence in John 2:23-25 and what will immediately follow in John 3 (which we'll cover later). And, again, we must keep in mind John's God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:15-16; 2 Peter 1:21) thesis statement for his Gospel: so that its readers may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing, its readers may have life in Christ's Name (John 20:30-31). So, the fact that the Holy Spirit tells us about a non-saving faith is a great kindness, because, if we heed His Word, we'll have a faith in Christ that will bring us eternal life instead of us a belief that will delude us into damnation! So, what is it about this faith makes it non-saving? Well, it's said to be a faith Jesus does not commit Himself to. So, to know what saving faith is, we must see what kind of faith Jesus DOES commit Himself to! So that brings us to the question: where does Jesus talk about in this Gospel about "committing Himself" (whether in those words or similar words) to people? Well, in John 14:21-24, we read Jesus saying this: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (KJV). Here, we have Christ loving someone, manifesting Himself to someone, coming to someone, and making His abode with someone. Does that language not capture the meaning of "committing Himself" to someone? Now, who does Jesus relate to Himself in this way? Those who love Him! And who are those who love Him? Those who keep His Word and commands! And 1 John 5:3 sheds further light on the nature of this obedience by saying it's not burdensome. And what is the opposite of burdensome? Enjoyable! And we have further evidence in John 15:13-15, which reads: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you" (KJV). Now, we need to take great caution here! Because Romans chs. 3-5 and Ephesians 2:8-10 make it clear that someone is justified (that is, declared righteous [3]) in God's sight by faith in Christ and by that faith alone (that is, apart from works). Since salvation is by faith alone, and since faith and love are different things (Colossians 1:4), we CANNOT conclude from this that faith needs love in order to be saving. No, but rather, if one savingly believes on Christ, he WILL, by his faith, do what is loving by Christ's standards (Galatians 5:6; cf. James 2:14-26), the standards of Love Incarnate (1 John 4:8; cf. John 1:1-18). And, if one does not demonstrate that love by heartfelt obedience to Christ's teaching, that "Christian" does not have that love, and that lack of love proves this "Christian" is actually an unbeliever. So, to sum up what we learn about faith from this passage is as follows: Premise 1) non-saving faith is belief that Jesus does not entrust Himself to, while saving faith is belief that He does entrust Himself to; Premise 2) since Christ manifests Himself to and befriends those who love Him and obey His Word, the faith that Jesus entrusts Himself to is the faith that produces that love and obedience; Premise 3) ONLY the faith in Christ is what justifies, NOT the love and obedience it produces; Conclusion) saving faith, in contrast to damning faith, is the sole thing by which the Christian is justified, but it WILL produce the fruits of love and heartfelt obedience to God.

[1] While I heard this insight from multiple sources, I'll link to this one, though this link SHOULD NOT be considered an endorsement of this ministry, but ONLY giving credit where it is due: https://illbehonest.com/genuine-saving-faith

[2] With the same caution I gave in Reference 1, this insight comes from this sermon: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/he-knew-what-was-in-man

[3] https://biblehub.com/greek/1344.htm