Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 6:64)

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In John 6:64, the Lord Jesus Christ says, to a group of His disciples (including true and false disciples), these words: “But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him” (KJV). This passage contains the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth occurrences of the idea of “believing” in John’s Gospel. [1] So, as usual, what is the context of this passage and what can we learn about faith in Christ from it?

Our context, in this post, begins right after John 6:47, wherein Jesus emphatically declares to a second group of (as we shall see) unbelieving Jews that whoever believes in Him has (present tense) everlasting life. Christ then says that He is that Bread of life that He has been referring to up until now. He reminds them that their ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and are dead. He tells them that this is the bread which comes down from heaven for a man to eat of and not die. He then declares that He is the living bread which came down from heaven, and that, if any man eats of this bread, he will live forever, and that the bread which He will give is His flesh, which He will give for the life of the world. Consequently, these unbelieving Jews strive among themselves, wondering out loud how this Man can give them His flesh to eat. Then Jesus emphatically tells them that, except they eat the flesh of the Son of Man (i.e., Himself) and drink His blood, they have no life in them. He affirms that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life, and He will raise him up at the last day. Because, He goes on to say, His flesh is truly meat and His blood is truly drink. He declares that the one who eats His flesh and drinks His blood dwells in Him and He in him. He says that, as the living Father has sent Him, and He lives by the Father, so he that eats Him will live by Him. He concludes by stating that this is the bread which came down from heaven, not as His Jewish audience’s ancestors ate manna and are dead. No, whoever will eat the bread He has been talking about will live forever! The text then informs us that Jesus said these things in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Consequently, many of His disciples, upon hearing this discourse, say that the discourse is a difficult saying and ask who can hear it. When the Lord knows in Himself that His disciples murmured at His discourse, He asks them if His words cause them to stumble. [2] He then asks them what if they will see Him, the Son of Man, ascend up to where He previously was before asserting that it is the Spirit who quickens, the flesh profiting nothing. He tells them that the words He speaks to them are spirit and life. However, He goes on to tell them, there are some of them who believe not. This is the context of John 6:64!

Now, what can we learn about faith from John 6:64? First, the fact that one hears the words of Christ does not mean he will believe Him. Because, right after Jesus tells these “disciples” that the words He is speaking to them are spirit and life, He says that some of them do not believe Him. This phenomenon is explained also by Romans 10:16-18. Second, to believe in Christ means to feast on Christ. Because, in John 6:54, Jesus says that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life, and He will raise him up on the last day. Back in John 6:40, Jesus says that whoever sees the Son and believes on Him has eternal life, and He will raise him up on the last day. The obvious parallel between verses 40 and 56 here in chapter 6 make it obvious: believing in Christ means spiritually feasting on Him. Third, we learn that it is the Holy Spirit who gets the credit for the eternal life the Christian receives. By faith in Christ, the believer possesses eternal life (John 3:16; cf. 20:30-31). At the same time, in verse 63 here in chapter 6, the Spirit is said to be the One who quickens (i.e., gives life). So, when the sinner trusts in Christ, the Holy Spirit is the One who grants this life to Him. Fourth, we learn the spiritual and lively nature of Christ’s words. In the second half of verse 63, right after Jesus says that the Holy Spirit is the One who quickens, He says that His very words are spirit and life. We see then that it is the Word of God by which the Holy Spirit quickens those whom He makes Christians (1 Peter 1:23). These are some things about faith we learn from John 6:64!

[1] If you want to include “commit” in John 2:24 as an occurrence of “believing,” since “commit” there in John 2:24 is the same Greek word translated “believe,” then these occurrences are the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh occurrences, barring other possible times the Greek word translated “believe” is translated into another English word. [2] https://biblehub.com/greek/4624.htm