Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 20:27)

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In John 20:27, we encounter the ninety-sixth occurrence of the language of belief in the Gospel of John. The text reads: “Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing” (KJV). So, as always, we will examine the context and attempt to draw out some facts about faith from the passage!

First, what is the context? The disciple Thomas has insisted that he will not believe that the other disciples saw the risen Lord unless he sees the print of the nails in His hands, puts his finger into the print of the nails, and thrusts his hand into His side. Eight days later, the disciples were inside, with Thomas among them, when Jesus suddenly appeared in the shut room, stood in the midst, and told His disciples “Peace be unto you.” He then tells Thomas to put forth his finger, see His hands, and put forward his hand to thrust it into His side, commanding Thomas to be believing instead of unbelieving. This is the context of John 20:27!

Second, what are some facts about faith from here? One fact is that faith is a choice. This fact is clear because of how the Lord commands Thomas to exercise faith here and reject unbelief. Clearly, Thomas must therefore choose between one or the other. A second fact is one we have gone over before, but it is a prominent one in this passage: miracles, including, in this case, the very resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, do not spiritually profit a person unless he trusts Christ. If a person even sees the God-Man rise from the dead, that person will not believe unless he trusts God by believing His Word (Luke 16:19-31). A third fact is that belief and unbelief are states of heart. Because Jesus, at least as far as the KJV words His command, does not merely tell Thomas to believe instead of disbelieve, but to be believing instead of unbelieving. A believing heart receives God’s Word as truth (John 3:31-36), while an unbelieving heart views God as a liar (1 John 5:10). An application note here: while perhaps few would say “Yes, I believe God is a liar,” the answer as to whether you view him as true or not is if you receive what He says as fully, infallibly, and inerrantly true or not. If you do, you set to your seal that He is true, because you judge it to be true because God is the One speaking it. If not, you view God as a liar, no matter how or how much you protest otherwise. These are some facts about faith from John 20:27!