Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 5:24)

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The twenty-second time the idea of “believing” occurs in John’s Gospel is John 5:24. The passage reads: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (KJV). So, as always, 1) what is the immediate context leading up to this passage and 2) what can we learn about faith from this passage?

Following the miracle Jesus performed on the nobleman’s son, there is a Jewish feast, during which Jesus travels to Jerusalem. At Jerusalem, by the sheep market, there is a pool that, in the Hebrew, is called Bethesda. This pool contains five porches, in which there are many people suffering from impotency, these impotencies including blindness, lameness, and paralysis. [1] These sufferers wait for the water to move, because an angel went down at a certain time into the pool, troubling the water, making it so that whoever first steps into the water after it is troubled is made whole from whatever disease he suffered from. We are then told that a certain man, a sufferer of a 38-year infirmity, is among those at the pool. Jesus sees this man lying down, knowing the length of his suffering, and asks him if we wants to be made whole. The man tells him that he has no man to put him into the pool when the water is troubled, adding that, while he is coming, another steps down before him. The Lord then commands him to arise, take up his bed, and walk, and the man’s health becomes instantly restored. With his newfound wholeness, the formerly impotent man takes up his bed and walks, this very day happening to be the sabbath. Because of this, a group of Jews who will oppose Jesus tell the healed man that is the sabbath day and, therefore, a violation of the law for him to carry his bed. The man responds by telling them that the Man who made him whole was the one who told him to take up his bed and walk, to which these Jews ask him what man it was who commanded this of him. However, the healed man does not know who it is, because Jesus had withdrawn, with a crowd being there. [2] After this, Jesus finds the man in the temple, reminding him that he has been made whole and commanding him to sin no more, so that a worse thing does not happen to him. The man then leaves, telling that group of Jews that the One who restored his health was Jesus. Therefore, these Jews persecute Jesus and seek to murder Him, since He performed His healing work on the sabbath. But Christ responds to them by telling them that His Father is working up to this point and that He works. Consequently, these Jews seek all the more to murder Him, because, not only did He break the sabbath, but He also makes Himself equal with God by calling Himself God’s Son. Jesus answers with an amazing discourse on just who He is. He starts by telling them that the Son can do nothing of Himself, but that which He sees the Father do, because, whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. This is because the Father loves the Son, showing Him all things that He (the Father) does, and the Father will show the Son greater works than these, so that these Jews may marvel. Because, as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to those He chooses. Because the Father judges no man, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, so that all should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who has sent the Son. Jesus then strongly assures these Jews that the one who hears His (Jesus’s) word and believes on the One who sent Him (the Father) has eternal life and will not come into condemnation, but instead that man has passed from death to life. This is the immediate context of John 5:24!

Now, what can we learn about faith from John 5:24? The Lord Jesus Christ here describes the believer as one who hears His Word and believes in Him who sent Him. And, as we see from the previous verse, the One who sent Jesus is God the Father. You would think Christ would say that whoever hears His Word and believes in Him (i.e., Christ Himself) has eternal life. And that is true, because other Scriptures plainly and clearly declare this fact (John 3:14-18). However, in this case, the object of faith is said to be God the Father. Now, how can this be, especially in light of the fact that it’s connected with hearing Jesus’s Word? John 12:49 and John 13:20 resolve this issue! John 12:49 says: “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (KJV). John 13:20 says: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me” (KJV). In the first cited Scripture, Christ tells us that He does not speak from [3] Himself, but the Father, who sent Him, commanded Him what to say and speak. In the verse immediately following that, verse 50, the Lord Jesus elaborates, saying that whatever He speaks, even as the Father told Him, so He speaks. In the second cited Scripture, John 13:20, Christ strongly assures His apostles that whoever receives them receives Him, the One who sent them, and that whoever receives Him receives the One who sent Him. So, to trust Christ’s Word is to trust the Father, who sent Him to say all that He said. This is what we can learn about faith from John 5:24!

[1] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/john/5-3.htm [2] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/john/5-13.htm [3] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/john/12-49.htm