You Need a Better Gospel by Klyne R. Snodgrass

Author:Klyne R. Snodgrass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: New Testament;Salvation—Christianity;Faith—Biblical teaching;Engagement (Philosophy)—Miscellanea;REL006220;REL006100
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2021-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

Believing in the Gospel of John

What establishes this intimacy of relation? Surely the Spirit is the agent creating the relation, but human believing is crucial. In John believing has a special dimension. John will not allow believing to be conceived of as something mental. The verb for “believe” (pisteuein) occurs ninety-eight times in the Fourth Gospel, but the noun “faith” (pistis) never occurs. It is as if the noun is too static, whereas the verb is dynamic and reflects the action believing requires.11 More importantly, thirty-six times John uses “believe into” (pisteuein eis), a construction that sounds clumsy in both Greek and English and does not occur in secular Greek or in the Septuagint. Elsewhere in the New Testament this construction occurs only eight times, several of which seem to be confessional.12 Are these other occurrences due to the influence of the Johannine tradition? In any case, as important as believing certain facts about Jesus is, John understands believing as something much more profound. The preposition eis connotes direction, as with going into a house, or the purpose for which something is done. Translations do not do justice to “believe into,” usually rendering it merely as “believe in,” but the expression must be taken with all seriousness. Believing into involves movement into a close association with Jesus, a commitment to, an attachment to, and a participation with him.13 With such believing, passivity is impossible. With such attachment to and participation with Christ, one must act and live in keeping with the character of Christ. The primary way this happens is by love. This kind of believing is what “remaining in” is all about, and all this is very close to Paul’s “in Christ” thinking.

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