Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 5:38)

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The twenty-third time the idea of “believing” occurs in the Gospel of John is John 5:38. The passage reads: “And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not” (KJV). Now, what is the context of this passage, and what can this passage teach us about faith?

Right after John 5:24, where the Lord Jesus Christ declares, with absolute certainty, that the one who hears His word and believes on Him (i.e., God the Father) who sent Him has eternal life and will not suffer condemnation and death, He continues this discourse He is having with a group of unbelieving Jews. Just as strongly as He assures them of the truth of salvation by faith alone in God alone, He assures them that the time is coming, and the time is now as He is speaking with them, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice, and those who hear will live. Because, as the Father possesses life within Himself, so has He granted it to the Son to have life within Himself, also granting the Son authority to execute judgment, since the Son is the Son of Man. Christ then commands them not to marvel at this, because the time is coming wherein all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, with those who have done good coming forward to the resurrection of life, while those who have done evil come forward to the resurrection of damnation. Jesus then tells them that He can, of His own self, do nothing, but, as He hears, so He judges. And His judgment is just, because He does not seek His own will, but the will of the Father, who has sent Him. He plainly admits that, if He bears witness of Himself, His witness is not true. However, He goes on to say that there is another who bears witness of Him, and that He knows that the testimony that He testifies of Him is true.[1] He then tells these unbelieving Jews that they sent to John the Baptist, who bore witness to the truth. Christ clarifies that He does not receive testimony from man, but He says these things so that the unbelieving Jews He is addressing might be saved. Jesus then describes John the Baptist as a burning and shining light, and that these Jews were willing for a time to rejoice in John’s light. But, the Lord goes on to say, He has greater testimony than that of John, because the works that the Father had given Him to finish, those same works that He did, testified of Him, that the Father had sent Him. And the Father Himself, which had sent Him, had testified of Him. Jesus then tells these hostile Jews that they have neither heard the Father’s voice at any time nor seen His form, [2] and they also do not have the Father’s word abiding in them, because they do not believe the One whom He has sent. This is the immediate context of John 5:38!

One thing we learn about faith is that it is a sign that God’s Word abides in the one believing. As we just covered, Jesus told this group of antagonistic Jews that they do not have His Word abiding in them, because they believe not the One whom He sent. The “His” and “He” here refer to God the Father. So, having the Father’s word, what the Father says, dwelling [3] in us means we will trust what He says in His Son, His ultimate revelation (Hebrews 1:1). Because, as the verses following John 5:38 will show, if we believe what God said about His Son in the Old Testament, before He sent His Son into the world, we will believe His Son when He does come into the world. Since faith then can be described as God’s Word “dwelling in us,” [4] we can see how faith will necessarily produce an internal transformation within the Christian, which change will be manifested by an external transformation. Because, to have God’s Word dwelling in the inner man of the heart [5] means that the outward man of the body [6] will become conformed to the Word (Matthew 23:25-26). So, while faith and works are separate concepts that should never be made synonymous, [7] there is a root-and-fruit relationship between faith and good works (Galatians 5:6, 22-23). These are some facts about faith we can glean from John 5:38!

[1] I capitalize the personal pronouns here because I think Jesus is referring to God the Father here. [2] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/john/5-37.htm [3] https://biblehub.com/greek/3306.htm [4] John 8:30-32, which, Lord willing, we will cover later in this series, also uses this description for authentic faith. [5] 1 Peter 3:3-4 [6] 2 Corinthians 4:16 [7] Which the third and fourth chapters of Romans, as well as Ephesians 2:8-10, clearly teach.