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John 14:11
Believe Jesus

John 14:11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

Category: Imperative of the Week Posted: 09-29-2017 By: Gerrit Kamp

We find this verse in the 14th chapter of the book of John. Jesus said this in response to a question he received from one of his disciples, Philip:

John 14:8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

Jesus tells His disciples to believe that He is in the Father, and vice versa. The word for believe is ‘pisteuo’ and is derived from the root ‘peitho’ which means to persuade or be persuaded. It is often translates as believe, or have faith in, or trust. The thing which they should believe, or put their trust in, is that Jesus is ‘in’ the Father, and that the Father was ‘in’ Him.

What does this mean?  Note that this phrase in the Greek does not even have the verb to be, so it literally says ‘that I in the Father and the Father in me’. The emphasis is clearly on the relationship between Jesus and God the Father, and its characterized by the word in. The Greek word for in is ‘en’, which refers to the position of something inside something else. It is often used in the New Testament to explain the relationship between Christians and Christ, and in John 17 Jesus explains this concept a bit more. It means to be one, as in having perfect unity together. Perfectly joined together in union would be a good way of looking at it.

So the disciples (and we) have to believe that Jesus was in perfect union with the God the Father.  Just a few verses later, Jesus mentions that the Father will give the disciples another helper in His stead, the Holy Spirit, who ‘will be in you’ (John 14:17). So here we have the introduction of the trinity. One God, Yahweh, in three different manifestations, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Will we ever be able to fully wrap our heads around how one God can be three at the same time? The closest analogy I can think of is water, steam, and ice. The same substance, H2O, has three different manifestations, but its still the same material, H2O.

People may have trouble believing this. Even the disciples struggled. So Jesus tells them, that in this case they should believe Him based on the works He did, which they witnessed. They had seem him for the past 3 years doing all kinds of amazing miracles. He walked on water, He raised the dead, He gave sight to the blind, He healed the sick and drove out demons, He multiplied food, and even the weather obeyed Him. We have 4 detailed eye-witness reports of what Jesus has done (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and there are also sources outside the bible that testify of Jesus and His works (Josephus amongst others).

Many intelligent atheists have become Christians after they tried to disprove Christianity. They simply looked at the evidence and followed it where it led. What about you? Do you believe Jesus on His Word? If not, will you have a look at His works? And once you believe, do you actually put your trust in Him? Just believing that God/Jesus exists is not enough. Even the demons belief that. You have to put your trust in Him, and obey (John 14:15).

Godspeed!

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