Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 9:18)

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In the forty-eighth occurrence of the idea of believing in John’s Gospel, the Word says: “But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight” (KJV). So, what is the context of this passage, and what are truths about faith from this passage?

First, what is the context of this passage? Back at John 8:46, Christ asks a group of unbelieving Jews who of them can convict Him of sin and why they do not believe Him if He is speaking the truth. After that, He declares that he who is of God hears God’s words and that these Jews, therefore, do not hear God’s words, because they are not of God. The Jews answer by rhetorically asking Him if they don’t say well that He is a Samaritan and has a devil, to which Jesus responds by saying that He does not have a devil, but He honors His Father and these unbelieving Jews dishonor Him. He adds that He does not seek His own glory and that there is One who seeks and judges. He then emphatically assures them that, if a man keeps His saying, he will never see death. These Jews then tell Him that they now know that Jesus has a devil, before going on to say that Abraham and the prophets are dead, as well as asking Him who He makes Himself out to be. Jesus tells them that, if He honors Himself, His honor is nothing; however, it is His Father who honors Him, His Father being the God whom these Jews claim to be their God. Christ goes after this conviction, informing them that they have not known Him, but He knows Him, and that, if He would claim not to know Him, He would be a liar like them. However, He repeats, He knows His Father and keeps His saying. Then, He informs them that their father, Abraham, rejoiced to see His day; that Abraham saw it, and was glad. Incredulous, the Jews point out that He is not even fifty years old before asking Him if He has seen Abraham.  Jesus answers: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (KJV). The Jews respond by taking up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hides Himself and heads out of the temple, walking through the midst of them and, thereby, passing by. And, as He passes by, He spots a man who has been blind since his birth. Seeing this man as well, His disciples ask their Master who sinned, whether the man or his parents, to find out the reason he was born blind. Their Lord answers their question by informing them that neither sinned, but rather the man was born blind so God’s works would be manifested in him. He elaborates by saying that He must do the works of the One who sent Him while it is (metaphorically speaking) still day, because the night is coming, when no man can work, before declaring that He is the Light of the world as long as He is in the world. When He says this, He spits on the ground and makes clay from the saliva [1], with which he anoints the blind man’s eyes. Then, He commands the blind man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam (which means “Sent”), to which the blind man obeys and is subsequently healed of his infirmity. Therefore, His neighbors and those who, in the past, noticed his blindness, wonder aloud whether this is the man who sat and begged, with some saying that it was him and others saying he is like him, but the restored man ends the debate by clarifying that it is indeed him. This, understandably, provokes them to ask him how his eyes were opened, and he answers that a Man named Jesus made clay, anointed his eyes, and told him to go to Siloam and wash. He then tells them that he received his sight after washing. They ask him where Jesus is, and he answers that he does not know, after which they bring him to the Pharisees. The text then lets us know that it happened to be the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened the man’s eyes. We then see the Pharisees ask the man how he received his sight, to which he answers that Jesus put clay upon his eyes, he washed, and then he started seeing. Consequently, some of the Pharisees say that Jesus is not of God, because He does not keep the sabbath, while others implicitly argue that a man who is a sinner cannot perform such miracles, and a division results among the Pharisees. They then ask the formerly blind man what he says about Jesus, and the man’s response is that Jesus is a prophet. But, the text informs us, the Jews did not believe that the man had been blind and received his sight, until they called for his parents. This is the context of John 9:18!      Second, what are some facts about faith we can draw out of this passage? In this instance, we can see that faith involves recognizing something as a fact, or, in other words, that something is true. Because the context makes clear that, for the Pharisees to not believe that this man was born blind and received his sight means that they took those claims the man made about himself to be untrue. [2] Also in this instance, we can see that one’s personal interests can determine what he does or doesn’t believe. [3] Because the Pharisees did not want to be led down the path of believing Christ, they discount an inconvenient fact. Aside from the banal-sounding insight that this passage also shows that not believing the truth doesn’t make it untrue (because the Pharisees rejecting the man’s testimony does not mean the man’s testimony was not real), I can’t think of any more facts about faith right now to bring up from this passage. So, these are some truths about faith from John 9:18!

[1] https://biblehub.com/greek/4427.htm

[2] Without endorsing him (which caution I give about other people whom I cite here), I must give credit to the philosopher Gordon Clark for this insight about the nature of faith as revealed in John 9:18. The specific source from which I, by God’s grace, learned this insight from Mr. (if not Dr.) Clark is his book “Faith and Saving Faith,” pgs. 307-309. I must also warn, as Scripture does, that, while faith alone in Christ alone saves, the one who (truly) believes in Christ WILL, from his heart, do good works out of love for Christ (Romans ch. 4; Galatians 5:6; cf. James 2:14-26).

[3] While being an insight that Christian presuppositional apologists in general have pointed out, Albert Mohler (of whom I’m unaware if he is a professing presuppositionalist or not) has pointed out how the will influences the intellect in his message “The Way the World Thinks: Meeting the Natural Mind in the Mirror and in the Marketplace” (link here: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-way-the-world-thinks-meeting-the-natural-mind-in-the-mirror-and-in-the-marketplace)