Bible Study series: John 20:30-31. Now we know how to interpret the book with more clarity. And now we know how we can get saved through the word of God.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together how to apply these truths to our lives.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
For the Greek text, click here:
At that link, I provide a lot more commentary.
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 20:30-31
30 And therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written down in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)
Comments:
30-31:
This is the first conclusion of the two-stage conclusion in John’s Gospel. The other one is Chapter 21. Klink sees purpose in them and the two conclusions are not a hodge-podge of confusion (pp. 873-75).
In this brief epilogue John’s concern is evangelism “that you may believe” (those outside of the church) and pastoral because the verb tense is present: “that you may continue to believe” (those inside the church). (HT: Morris, comment on v. 31). This seems balanced to me.
These two verses contain most of the important concepts and terms throughout the Gospel of John: signs, disciples (see v. 10), believing, the Christ, the Son of God, live, and name.
Let’s take the terms one at a time, in order of their appearance.
The signs were performed before the disciples, but also before the world, and the disciples, a subset, cannot be excluded from the larger group.
John wrote these specific signs and trimmed out the others, so his book is theologically shaped.
Martha was one of his disciples, and “She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I do believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’” This is the faith John wants, so long as it goes deeply within the heart and does not remain a belief in a proposition.
The verb believe (verb is pisteuō, pronounced pih-stew-oh) and the noun faith have to penetrate one’s whole being. Now let’s study them more formally.
It is the language of the kingdom of God. It is how God expects us to relate to him. It is the opposite of doubt, which is manifested in whining and complaining and fear. Instead, faith is, first, a gift that God has distributed to everyone (Rom. 12:3). Second, it is directional (Rom. 10:9-11; Acts 20:21). We cannot rightly have faith in faith. It must be faith in God through Christ. Third, faith in Christ is different from faith in one’s ability to follow God on one’s own. It is different from keeping hundreds of religious laws and rules. This is one of Luke’s main themes in Acts, culminating in the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) and Paul’s ministry for the rest of Acts. Faith in Jesus over faith in law keeping. Fourth, there is faith as a set of beliefs and doctrines, which are built on Scripture (Acts 6:7). Fifth, there is also a surge of faith that is poured out and transmitted through the Spirit when people need it most (1 Cor. 12:9). It is one of the nine charismata or manifestations of grace (1 Cor 12:7-11). Sixth, one can build faith and starve doubt by feasting on Scripture and the words about Christ (Rom. 10:17).
The noun faith is pistis (pronounced peace-teace or pis-tiss), and it is used 243 times. Its basic meaning is the “belief, trust, confidence,” and it can also mean “faithfulness” and “trustworthy” (Mounce p. 232). It is directional, and the best direction is faith in God (Mark 11:22; 1 Thess. 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:21; Heb. 6:1) and faith in Jesus (Acts 3:16; 20:21; 24:24; Gal. 3:26; Eph. 1:15; Col. 1:4; 1 Tim. 3:13). Believing (verb) and faith (noun) is very important to God. It is the language of heaven. We live on earth and by faith see the invisible world where God is. We must believe he exists; then we must exercise our faith to believe he loves us and intends to save us.
A true acronym:
F-A-I-T-H
=
Forsaking All, I Trust Him
One has to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. The bottom line is that for John’s Gospel, believing and faith must not get stuck in an intellectual assent. “I believe that God exists and Jesus lived.” Instead, everyone who believes or has faith must put their complete trust in God’s Son.
Word Study on Faith and Faithfulness
What does the term Christ or Messiah mean? The term means the Anointed One. In Hebrew it is Messiah, and in Greek it is Christ. It means that the Father through the Spirit equipped Jesus with his special calling and the fulness of power to preach and minister to people, healing their diseases and expelling demons (though demon expulsion is not mentioned in John’s Gospel). The Messiah / Christ ushered in the kingdom of God by kingdom preaching and kingdom works.
3. Titles of Jesus: The Son of David and the Messiah
“Son of God”: Let’s look into some systematic theology (as I do throughout this commentary). Jesus was the Son of the Father eternally, before creation. The Son has no beginning. He and the Father always were, together. The relationship is portrayed in this Father-Son way so we can understand who God is more clearly. Now he relates to us as his sons and daughters. On our repentance and salvation and union with Christ, we are brought into his eternal family.
6. Titles of Jesus: The Son of God
When Did Jesus “Become” the Son of God?
Bruce points out that title “the Christ” may be relevant for some members of John’s original community, while “the Son of God” communicates a deeper meaning to other members.
“life”: this is more than mere existence. This is life of the next age, that age, which has broken into this age or right now. In other words, eternal life happens now, but we must be careful not to believe that everything in the new age, in everlasting life, is happening now. This is called over-realized eschatology (study of ends times and new ages). Not every new-age blessing becomes realized or accomplished right now. But let’s not remain negative. We get some benefits of the next age or new age right now. We get some benefits of eternal life, right now.
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
Let’s look at life by the book—by the prominent Greek lexicon.
It is the noun zoē (pronounced zoh-ay, and girls are named after it, e.g. Zoey). BDAG says that it has two senses, depending on the context: a physical life (e.g. life and breath) and a transcendent life. By physical life the editors mean the period from birth to death, human activity, a way or manner of living, a period of usefulness, earning a living. By transcendent life the lexicographers mean these four elements: first, God himself is life and offers us everlasting life. Second, Christ is life, who received life from God, and now we can receive life from Christ. Third, it is new life of holiness and righteousness and grace. God’s life filling us through Christ changes our behavior. Fourth, zoē means life in the age to come, or eschatological life. So our new life now will continue into the next age, which God fully and finally ushers in when Christ returns. We will never experience mere existence or death, but we will be fully and eternally alive in God.
Clearly, John means the fourth definition.
Believing in his name means to believe in him, his person, his character, and his being—who he is, the Lord, the Son of God and the Messiah. The noun name stands in for the person—a living, real person.
Remember that believing in his name is more than just intellectual assent or agreement with a doctrine. Belief has to go from the head to the heart (1:6-8), or so says the entirety of the Gospel of John.
I like these verses because they illuminate vv. 30-31 here. At first many did not believe, even though the signs were performed right in front of them. Then towards the end of the long passage, some believed, in perhaps a half-hearted way.
37 Even though he did so many signs in front of them, they did not believe in him, 38 in order that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, who said:
Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? [Is. 53:1]
39 For this reason they were unable to believe, because Isaiah again said:
40 He has blinded their eyes
And hardened their hearts,
So that they may not see with their eyes
And understand with their heart and turn
And I will heal them. [Is. 6:10]
41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke about him.
42 Nevertheless, indeed, many even of the rulers believed in him but because of the Pharisees did not profess him so that they might not become desynagogued, 43 for they loved the glory of people more than the glory of God. (John 12:37-42)
Our faith in Christ must be so all-encompassing that it cannot be half-hearted; we must not let peer pressure scare us off a full commitment.
GrowApp for John 20:30-31
1. John’s Gospel was written to build your faith in Christ, the Son of God. How has this Gospel touched your life so far?
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12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel
4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel
3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
For the bibliography, click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 