Category: John

  • I Believe! What does that mean?

    woodland scene with the text I believe

    I believe… that’s a word that we throw about pretty easily in Christian circles, but do we?

    What does it mean to believe?

    In John’s gospel, he uses the verb “believe” about one hundred times and never uses the noun. This shows that John viewed believing as an active demonstration of faith and not merely an intellectual assertion. Here are a few examples.

    “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1 ESV

    Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. John 14:10-12 ESV

    I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. John 13:19 ESV

    The reformers had a defining formula for this type of belief or faith: “Notitia, Assensus, Fiducia.”

    Notitia (knowledge)

    The content of faith — understanding what is being believed. This is the cognitive element: knowing the facts of the gospel, the person and work of Christ, the doctrines of Scripture. Faith isn’t blind; it has an object and content that must be grasped. Without notitia, there’s nothing to believe.

    Assensus (assent)

    Intellectual agreement that the content is true. This goes beyond merely knowing the facts to affirming them as true — a conviction of the mind that what Scripture teaches is accurate and trustworthy. Even demons have this kind of assent (James 2:19), which is why the Reformers insisted it isn’t sufficient on its own.

    Fiducia (trust)

    Personal trust and reliance — the heart’s confidence resting on Christ himself, not merely agreeing that certain propositions about him are true. This is the volitional/relational element: a personal, saving embrace of Christ, trusting him for salvation rather than just affirming facts about him. The Reformers argued this is what distinguishes living faith from a merely intellectual or “historical” faith.\

    True belief, true faith, is neither mere head-knowledge nor mere feeling, but knowledge, conviction, and trust held together.

    Do you believe Jesus? Or is what you have something less?

    My prayer is that you truly believe in the sense John uses the Word and the reformers spoke of it.

    May God richly bless you today

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    SUMMARY

    John never once uses “believe” as a noun in his gospel, only ever as a verb, and that tells us something we tend to forget: believing isn’t just something we think; it’s something we do. Does our faith hold together the knowledge, the agreement, and the trust the reformers called notitia, assensus, fiducia, or have we settled for something less?

    TAKEAWAY

    John’s exclusive use of “believe” as a verb, never a noun, reveals that faith in Scripture is inherently active. 

    The reformers’ formula, notitia, assensus, fiducia, distinguishes true saving faith from mere intellectual agreement, the kind even demons possess. 

    True belief holds knowledge, conviction, and trust together, calling us to examine whether our faith in Christ is genuine or merely surface-level.

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  • Blooming in the desert

    This lovely desert flower is a Mariposa lily (Calochortus bruneaunis ) – sometimes called a sagebrush or desert lily. It comes in a variety of colors from white through to brilliant purple, like this specimen I shot back around the summer of 2001. I confess the picture is cropped because I took it from too far away.

    The Mariposa thrives in arid, desert-like places where most plants could simply not survive. It truly blooms where others fail to even grow.

    In our Christian life, we can often be placed in situations similar to that. We can face ridicule, hostility, outright persecution, even the stripping of our possessions, jail time or in some cases death. Jail time and death are not common in the West (yet), they are a reality for our brothers and sisters around the world.

    According to an article in America Magazine, “More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined, according to David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson, two of the world’s leading religious demographers.”

    Gordon-Conwell’s Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimates that 1 million Christians were killed between 2001 and 2010, and about 900,000 were killed from 2011 to 2020.

    It’s a reality out there, my friends. Our brothers and sisters are being killed for their faith. It shouldn’t surprise us; it’s been happening since the days of Saul of Tarsus. Persecution began a few years after the death of Jesus and has continued since.

    Jesus told us it would happen.

    “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But this happened to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without cause.’ John 15:18-25 ESV

    What can we do in the interim?

    We can pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for those who oppress them. We can pray for those in power in our nation to come to faith.

    We continue to gather together as long as we can. We gain strength from one another. Our brothers and sisters in oppressed countries meet underground.

    We read, study and memorize our Bibles. We need to know what we believe and why. We need to be prepared in case there are no Bibles available someday.

    We live our lives daily as Christ called us to do. We stand as lights on a hill, pointing others to the love of Jesus.

    We trust God. He has it all under control and will use every hard thing that comes to pass for the good of those who love Him.

    The mariposa lily grows and blooms in dark, hostile environments. How much so can we shine in a dark and hurting world?

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God) 

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    SUMMARY

    The Mariposa lily thrives in arid, hostile ground where most plants cannot survive. Christians are called to do the same. Persecution is real, it is global, and Jesus told us plainly it would come. The question is not whether we will face a hostile world, but how we will stand in it.

    KEYPOINTS

    More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined, and an estimated 1.9 million have been killed for their faith between 2001 and 2020 

    Jesus warned His followers directly: the world hated Him first, and it will hate them too — persecution is not a surprise but a promise 

    While brothers and sisters around the world face jail and death, believers everywhere can pray, gather, know their Bibles, live as lights, and trust God with every hard thing that comes

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