42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
Message: A Call to Commitment
Time: John most likely wrote between A.D. 85 and 90. John's purpose in writing was, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31)."
What the Lord is Saying: The last lesson spoke of people rejecting Jesus. And that even through rejection the prophecy of ages past, as in from Isaiah, has been fulfilled. Jesus continues to walk toward the cross, but along the way he is ministering to people, healing people, while also showing people He is called by the Father and has the same authority as the Father and is equal to the Father - and repeatedly we see descriptions of people "believing" in Him and this is a sharp contrast to those that are not believing in Him. Thus, to believe in Him seems significant.
There are 3 Latin words used by sixteenth century Protestant Reformers to describe the elements of saving faith:
- notitia - knowing the basic facts concerning the person and work of Jesus
- assensus - the belief that these facts are true
- fiducia - personally entrusting ourselves to Christ to save us
People are to go from knowing to believing to trusting. And then while it is not part of salvation, after trusting people cannot help but then exercise their lives in visible ways. People bear fruit, showing their good works, confessing Jesus before others.
In these gospel accounts, in seeing the contrasts from people believing and not believing, perhaps what I don't see is accounts of people trusting Christ and yet Jesus is declaring these truths as he speaks of living water and bread of life which seem to speak to a full commitment to God. But even today's words contrasts the previous verses of people rejecting God and states in verse 42, "Nevertheless many of the rulers believed in Him." So was this assensus belief only or did it also include fiducia? We may not know.
Reading further perhaps is additional evidence for it says "but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him." Is this describing a people with belief but not trust or is belief already complete and they are not yet mature to live their faith out before men. I think we all experience fear of declaration at times. Yet, John describes here people that believe but are not confessing Him because of the fear of being left out of their current religious life at the synagogue ("for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue). This is interesting because they believed that believing in Jesus, the mere belief excluded one from the synagogue, despite Jesus being one that declared himself in the synagogue. Perhaps because these were rulers believing they believed that rulers of the faith surely could not also be synagogue adherents.
But then the text makes it a little clearer when it says, "for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God." Once again this describes the commitment we are to make before the Lord - moving our belief to trusting and in that trusting willing to go to any length to being a child of God. Rulers were believing - yes! But then we don't see the works of the faith though works are not described here, but what is being described is whether we declare that we are in Christ and as such we are willing to have our lives change which may mean changing where we worship and changing those in our lives we previously sought for approval.
In my life, I see this occurring in my life as I am a person that seeks approval. I think a child can't help but want approval from their parents. They want to make their parents proud in some way. I always think of Tyson playing upwards basketball, probably around 5th grade or early middle school and playing in a game, making a shot on one end and as he goes down the court he looks over at me. He has done something good and he moves his eyes toward me - look at me Dad. Look at what I did. Are you not proud of me? I also remember the time in our house on Moon when I got mad at him and the other kids and he went immediately to drawing a picture, taking me back to us going to the Lobos football game and taking us back to a good time we had together, trying to restore the relationship. Those two moments - my son looking to me, declaring himself to me, wanting me to recognize him. Those are two of the most memorable moments of me as a father to my oldest son. My son wants my approval and wants to know that everything is fine between us.
So in this text are we seeing a description of people believing only and then is the defense to entrusting or the signification of trusting found in declaring God before men, no matter the cost. And perhaps did believing in Jesus then not include synagogue worship?
Summary: Following belief in Jesus should be a desire only now for the approval of God and yet people can still at times continue to seek the approval of man instead.
Promise: Possibly we have not trusted in Christ if we are not willing to declare our faith publicly before others.
Prayer: Lord, I continue to unpack these truths from You. Even as I know that I am your follower, describing it and defining and contrasting that faith from those that don't believe remains a goal of mine. As a converse with people that hold to different views or maybe even more advanced in their knowledge, I am challenged to unpack further these truths. I do want my faith to be not afraid of disappointing man or even not getting their approval because I want to be more concerned about your approval God. My faith needs to be before others. I am not to be hiding my faith and only a Christian with good speech in church. But proud of my faith beyond the church walls, at work, in my neighborhood and before others throughout the walk of my life.
Note: If you are interested in other studies/devotions, check out my index of Bible Study's.
