Believing that Believes: True Johannine Faith
Believers… of the Devil?
By far, when I’m asked what my favorite book of the Bible is I very quickly respond with the Gospel of John. Since I became a Christian as a teenager, John has both fascinated and befuddled me, and, the more I’ve read the Old Testament, the more it’s clear to me that nearly every other verse in John is rooted in historical pictures. Its language is poetic, its theme is unique in contrast to the synoptics, and it beautifies the gospel in ways that can only be attributed to Holy Spirit inspiration. Above all, it gives believers the most intimate picture of a relationship with Jesus. In John 13, we’re shown the beautiful picture of the Apostle’s relationship with Jesus. “One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved,” John says, speaking of himself, “was reclining at [a] table at Jesus’ side,” (Jn. 13:23). John leans on Jesus, giving us a physical representation of his spiritual understanding of faith: Leaning on the One who can uphold him.
As I’ve recently been reading through John again, something I’ve been struck by is the way the Johannine picture speaks of belief in Jesus. In John 8, we’re told that as Jesus identifies himself with God his Father, “... many believed in him,” (Jn. 8:30). In response, Jesus enters into a conversation with those “Jews who had believed in him,” (v. 31), and has a discussion over both his Heavenly Father and their “father,” who they think is Abraham. Staggeringly, Jesus instead identifies that their father is actually… the devil (v. 44). As someone who grew up hearing Acts 16:31, “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved,” it seems quite controversial for Jesus to claim that these so-called “believers” were actually children of Satan. Clearly, this leaves us with a conundrum. How can it be that in one moment a group of people are believing in Jesus and in a few verses later, Jesus is calling them the spawn of Satan? Either (1) all believers are actually children of Satan (which the fuller context of John and the New Testament rules out), or (2) Jesus is speaking to a sort of pseudo-believers. In actuality, it seems that the latter is the Johannine understanding of faith.
Does this language rule out the positive usage of belief language in John’s gospel altogether? By no means! We would do well to remember John 3:16 (“... whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,”) as well as John 3:36 (“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life…”). To better understand the term, we have to be able to say with John (and Jesus) that there is a type of believing that does not believe.
Two Types of “Believing”
Throughout the gospel of John, particular language is used to describe for us the difference between these devilish believers and true believers.
Abiding Belief: All throughout the gospel, John uses the word menó (μένω) more than any other New Testament book (see John 1:38-39; 2:12; 3:36; 4:40; 5:38; 6:56; 7:9; 8:31, 35; 9:41; 10:40; 11:6, 54; 12:34, 46; 14:10, 17, 25; 15:4-16; 21:22-23). The word carries the idea of staying, remaining, or clinging close to, and of course is most commonly associated with John 15 and Jesus’s call to abide (menó) in him. In contrast to those believers who were of their father the devil, believers who abide, remain in Jesus. True believers are those who, like John, lean on Jesus—they collapse on him. Moreover, to fully understand this abiding belief, it may be more helpful to understand the Johannine understanding of the converse.
Abandoning Belief: Belief that does not abide seems to be at the heart of those believers whom Jesus rejects in John 8. After all, this is why there can be those individuals just a few chapters before in John 6 who hear Jesus say “... unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you,” (v. 53) who are called “disciples” (v. 60), and yet be the same ones who “turned back and no longer walked with him,” (v. 66). Similar to belief, there is a type of discipleship that is not discipleship. There is a type of believing—of seeing Jesus, of agreeing and ascending to the reality that he exists—that does not cling closely to him. This is why James can say, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (Jms. 2:19). Non-believing belief is the type of belief that intellectually ascents to the concepts of who Jesus is, and yet rejects the intimate, experiential relationship with Him. This is why we do not merely argue for something reasonable as Christians, but we argue a reasonable faith. Reason, logic, and knowledge are helpful and even necessary. But without the experience of a lasting relationship with Jesus, it’s evident that the individual is not a believer that actually believes.
Eternal or Paternal Security?
Now, if you’re familiar with theological systems and doctrines such as the Reformed understanding of perseverance of the saints, you may be asking, “aren’t Christians ‘once saved, always saved’”? Three answers follow.
First: We must be a people who prioritize biblical theology over systematic theology. Systematic theology is the study of certain theological doctrines and the practice of systematizing those doctrines cohesively. Biblical theology, on the other hand, seeks to interpret the beliefs, arguments, and presuppositions of the biblical authors over (and sometimes against) our theological systems. Don’t get me wrong, theological systems are important. We need to know how the Bible cohesively talks about topics such as the covenants of Scripture, the love of God, and the sovereignty of God. These beliefs have practical outworkings for our faith. But we should not constantly feel the pressure to superimpose our theological beliefs onto any given text without first attempting to understand what the author’s original intent is. We need to humble ourselves enough to submit our systematic to the Biblical author’s intent.
I’ll be the first to argue a Reformed understanding of soteriology (that is, the doctrine of salvation and that God is sovereign over it) and specifically perseverance of the saints. And yet, we should also be okay with humbly acknowledging the tension in the Scriptures over God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. The reality is, according to John, to be a true believer—you must remain. We can’t just explain away the words of Jesus with “what he really means is… he will keep you remaining.” You must persevere! Apart from you persevering, you too will prove to be “of your father the devil.”
Second, however: A few years ago, I heard R.C. Sproul give a better phraseology than “once saved, always saved” to describe eternal security. He argues that it is more accurately represented through the phrase, “if saved, always saved.” If you are actually saved, you will remain saved. If you are not of one father (the devil), and instead of another Father (God), then and only then will you remain saved. Rather than thinking purely of eternal security (while true), it may be better to think that our security is found in paternal security—in having God as Father. Jesus actually seems to argue this in John 6:65, that the reason some “disciples” turned away is that they were not “granted” by God the Father that belief. It may be true that you must remain. But the only way you will ever remain in the kingdom of God is by the Fatherly work of God in your life (see Phil. 1:6) to keep you remaining. God has initiated salvation, and he continues to work in your life to bring you all the way home. This is why we can sing with John Newton,
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
And third: This is actually a further defense, in my eyes, of the doctrine of security—that all those who truly trust in Christ will make it to the end. Because, the reality is, those who fall away from Christ we can actually say never truly abided. This is the Johannine testament to faith: That true believers stay believing. They stay leaning. They stay trusting in their Father’s grace.
So, for us, the call from John is to lean on Jesus, abide in Jesus, remain in Jesus, trust in Jesus and His Father’s grace—and you will make it all the way home.
