John 17:6-10 (4) • Knowledge and Belief

The John Project

Sue and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary this year, and I can hardly believe I just said that. It seems like only yesterday that we walked the aisle, stood before God with our friends and family as witnesses, and pledged our love to each other. But the reality is a lot of living has passed since that day. We’ve experienced all the highs and lows and twists and turns that a half-century can serve up, and by God’s grace, we are more in love now than ever. I knew Sue was the one for me after our very first date. But it would be two years before I proposed and a year after that before we were married. Why? Because every relationship of significance, depth, and meaning must be built on two things that require time to develop: knowledge and belief. We first needed to invest in the process of getting to know each other beyond our surface-level acquaintance. Then, we needed to allow that knowing to develop into the believing that would enable us to place the full weight of our trust on each other. And although this is an imperfect picture, I think it does illustrate something Jesus described about the disciples just before interceding for them in his High Priestly Prayer. John 17:6-10 quotes him affirming that he’d revealed the Father to his disciples, that he considered each of them a divine gift, and that they were developing a holistic grip on God’s word that was enabling them to become responsive to his specific instructions. But he also assessed the nature of their relationship with himself when he described what they’d come to KNOW and what they’d come to BELIEVE. In verse 7, he said they knew something about him now they hadn’t known before. They were beginning to comprehend the nature of his divinity. That’s why in verse 8, he could say they’d come to understand that he’d been sent from or, more literally, out of the Father. But as important as it was for them to KNOW this about him, it’s clear the Lord’s primary desire was that this knowing would lead to believing. So, when verse 8 concludes with the affirmation that his disciples had crossed the threshold into faith, I can almost hear the pleasure in his voice when he announced to his Father, “They have BELIEVED that you sent me.” The word translated as 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 here points to more than mere credence. It’s not the word that would be used for simply agreeing that something is true. This word implies the believer has come to trust and rely on the truth believed. It describes a step beyond acknowledgment into dependence. It’s one thing to arrive at the place where you KNOW that Jesus is the son of God. It’s another to begin exercising BELIEF by choosing to build your life on the platform of that knowledge. Knowledge that doesn’t grow into belief is just a theory, and belief that isn’t grounded in knowledge is just an emotion. And since Jesus assessed the quality of the relationship his first followers had with him based on these two things, I think it would be wise for all of us who claim faith in him to do the same. Let’s honestly consider whether we’re spending the kind of time with Jesus that insures we keep growing in our knowledge of who he is and informs a belief that results in the placement of the full weight of our trust on him.