The Bible Book

238

D

ifferent religious leaders

come to test Jesus as He

grows in popularity as a

teacher. Some listen to His public

preaching; others examine Him in

more private settings. One leader, a

Pharisee named Nicodemus, comes

to Jesus with questions. A member

of the Sanhedrin, the ruling

religious council, Nicodemus is an

important teacher in his own right.

Nicodemus does not understand

what Jesus means when He says

that people must be born again to

see the kingdom of God, and Jesus

tells him he should not be surprised

by the statement, if he is truly a

teacher of Israel. Jesus says, “I have

spoken to you of earthly things and

you do not believe; how then will you

believe if I speak of heavenly

things?” (John 3:12). Jesus then

refers to an event that happened

during the wilderness wanderings

of the Israelites; He describes how

God judged the Israelites’ bitter

attitude toward Him by sending

venomous snakes into their camp.

When Moses cried out to God, he

was instructed to make a bronze

serpent and lift it up where the

people could see it. The snakebites

of those who gazed upon the snake

were healed. Jesus compares

Himself to the snake, saying

that He must also be lifted up

(a reference to the crucifixion), so

that whoever believes would have

eternal life in Him (3:14–15).

Faith in Christ

Having acknowledged the promise

of eternal life, Jesus begins to

broach the topic of faith, which is

the major precondition for salvation.

In what is perhaps the most famous

statement in the Bible (John 3:16),

Jesus tells Nicodemus that God

loved the world so much, “He gave

His one and only Son, that whoever

believes in Him shall not perish but

IN BRIEF

PA S SAGE

John 3:3–21

THEME

The nature of faith

SETTING

c. 27–29 ce Roman Palestine.

KEY FIGURES

Jesus The Messiah and

Son of God, who requires

that people believe in Him

in order to be saved.

Nicodemus A Jewish leader

and teacher who came to

question Jesus. After Jesus’s

death, he brings myrrh and

aloes to embalm His body

with strips of linen.

The Brazen Serpent, a sculpture by

Giovanni Fantoni, in Madaba, Jordan,

commemorates the bronze snake

erected by Moses, which Jesus draws

on to illustrate His teaching on faith.

have eternal life.” John’s Gospel

goes on to say that God’s love is

for everyone, but can only be

experienced through faith in Jesus.

Although Jesus had come to save

the world, not condemn it, escaping

God’s Final Judgment depends

upon having faith in Jesus first.

According to John, those who

do not believe in Jesus stand

condemned already (3:17–18).

The result of believing in Jesus

is to enjoy eternal life instead of

divine judgment. Such faith

involves trust in Jesus and belief

that His death and resurrection is

sufficient for salvation. Paul teaches

that when a person has such faith,

affirmation through words and

deeds should be the result. Writing

in Romans 10:9–10, Paul states, “If

you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus

is Lord,’ and believe in your heart

THE NATURE OF FAITH

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that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved. For it is with

your heart that you believe and

are justified, and it is with your

mouth that you profess your faith

and are saved.”

Walking by faith

Christianity is defined by the

tenet that those who believe in

Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection

receive life, and those who do

not face condemnation. Though

this idea may serve to alienate non-

Christians, its purpose is to convey

the gravity of the call to faith and the

urgency of believing in Jesus.

This faith in Christ initiates

the Christian life, but also drives

it forward. In his second letter to

the Corinthians, Paul writes that

Christians should live by faith, not

by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). This

did not mean that Paul understood

faith as being irrational or contrary

to evidence, or that the contrast

between faith and sight should

mean that faith is blind. Some

versions of the Bible translate the

phrase as “walk by faith, not by

sight,” which may illuminate Paul’s

meaning: a Christian’s life should

be guided by trusting God’s

judgment, not by one’s own.

The source of faith

The Bible most often uses the word

“faith” to describe people believing

some assertion or trusting in God

or Jesus. People are commanded to

believe statements and to believe

that Jesus has done or said things.

For this reason, it would be easy

to conclude that faith is a purely

human response to propositions

or persons. Yet the Bible speaks of

God as the One who produces faith

in people. It is not an instrument of

human will, adapted to accomplish

human purposes. Instead, it is a

gift of God that accomplishes God’s

purposes in those who receive it.

Paul held that belief in Christ was

something that God granted to

people (Philippians 1:29).

The idea of faith as God’s gift

also appears in Ephesians 2:8–9,

where people are saved through

faith that is “not from yourselves,

it is the gift of God.” The gift of ❯❯

See also: Ruth and Naomi 108–09 ■ The Empty Tomb 268–71 ■ Fruits of the

Spirit 300 ■ Salvation Through Faith 301 ■ Faith and Works 312

THE GOSPELS

Augustine was an important

scholar in the early Church and

a contemporary of St. Jerome.

This painting (c.1480) by Sandro

Botticelli shows him in his study.

St. Augustine

Augustine (396–430 ce), the

Bishop of Hippo, an ancient

port on the coast of Roman

North Africa, advised that in

studying the Bible, one ought

not seek to understand in

order to believe, but rather

believe in order to understand.

Augustine’s counsel was

intended to produce humility.

It is too easy, he seemed to

say, to dismiss the parts of

the Bible that are difficult to

understand as incoherent or

to say that the logic is fatally

flawed. Belief, on the other

hand, perseveres in study and

often finds flashes of insight.

Augustine, who had

previously studied the Bible

as a pagan teacher of rhetoric

and a student of Platonic

philosophy, argued that there

was a connection between

faith and reason. He came

to believe that even the best

thinkers in the world made

mistakes, due to their human

nature. Faith, he argued, was

illuminating, and allowed a

philosopher to see the truth

of scripture more clearly.

Faith is a living, daring

confidence in God’s grace,

so sure and certain that a

man could stake his life

on it a thousand times.

Martin Luther

Ask God ... and it will be

given to you ... but when

you ask, you must believe

and not doubt, because the

one who doubts is like a

wave of the sea, blown

and tossed by the wind.

James 1:6

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