John 2:23-25
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
I’ve often said that the most crucial question that any person will ever answer is the one that Jesus asked His disciples [Matt. 16:15)] “Who do you say that I am?” …every person who has ever lived will one day have to give an answer to that question.
Now we can go into the endless discussion of how can someone who has never heard of Jesus answer that question…then because they don’t know…they’ll be denied entry into heaven…unfair–that’s the argument–here’s the short answer.
God sovereignly and universally makes Himself evident to all men [Ps 119] …the fact that God exists is more than oblivious…He has provided an abundant amount of evidence of Himself to every person through general revelation.
General revelation is reflected in His creation that gives an unmistakable testimony of Himself…this is described as the theory of “universal opportunity” that at some time during every person’s lifetime they will have an opportunity to be exposed to who God is through general revelation[1] and make a response.
It’s a fact that everyone can see…that somehow everything had to be created…a creator does exist…His creation testifies to it…His testimony is universal.
Therefore, every person does have enough information and proof that God does exist…every person’s individual freewill choice to reject that revelation is the issue God’s claim is…I have given you more than ample evidence to prove my existence …that causes them to stand guilty before God “without an excuse.” [Rom. 1:20]
When Jesus asked that question to the Disciples… “Who do you say that I am?” Peter by divine revelation answered [Matt. 16:16], “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
This is why John…inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes what he writes…remember the aim of John’s Gospel is that people might believe in Jesus…so that those who read this account…his Gospel…will believe in Jesus and have life eternal.
20:31 sums up John’s purpose for writing.
31 these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
Throughout his entire gospel John documents an abundance of the evidence to verify Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah…beginning in the first two Chapters John records evidence to give credibility that Jesus is who He claims to be.
In Chapter 1 he makes reference to John the Baptist [6]
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.
Then after the miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, John says, [John 2:11]
This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him. Then in [v. 19] Jesus makes a profound statement about Himself:
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up After Jesus’ resurrection the disciples remembered that Jesus had made that statement [John 2:22] When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
John is writing with the purpose of showing people that Jesus is the Son of God.
In [v. 23] John says something that sounds like maybe people are starting to believe Many believed in his name when they saw the signs that He was doing.
On the surface that sounds like a good thing…when you come to [v. 23] and read it you think…this is good…people are believing…then you read [v. 24] which starts off with the word ‘but’ that seems to paint a different picture.
This goes back to last week…I shared with you two things:
FIRST…the importance of the word ‘but’ …what this little two letter Greek word (δὲ) that is used over 4000 times in the Bible means is important.
Should someone say to you…that’s a nice shirt…BUT…when that word ‘but’ is spoken you automatically forget what was said before the ‘but’ because you’re essentially waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Whenever you encounter this contrasting word ‘but’ in a conversation…you have to ask yourself what hurtful statement is this guy getting ready to make… because that’s exactly what the word ‘but’ implies…a contrast…that’s a nice blue shirt but it looks kinda foolish with your green tie.
In Scripture it’s the same principle…ask yourself what is the author preparing to contrast…the word ‘but’ is a hinge so to speak that is contrasting the belief that seems to be a part of the ‘many’ ‘who believed in His name’ against the doubt that Jesus had about their belief….here’s Jesus’ response to the many who believed.
But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting himself to them for He knew all men [2:24].
TWO THINGS:
What does ‘entrusting’ mean…I though entrusting was when you put something into someone’s care or protection…so what does it mean in this instance…why would translators elect to use the word ‘entrusting’ …it’s confusing.
Here’s why…the word ‘believe’ in [v. 23] many people saw the signs he was performing and believed ἐπίστευσαν …is the same word translated as entrusting in [v. 24] But Jesus would not entrust ἐπίστευεν himself to them. [24]
The problem is…in English there is no way to show the difference in meaning between the two identical words ‘believe’ …so translators use the word entrusting to show the sharp contract between the people’s belief in [23] and Jesus’ response to their belief in [24].
A more literal translation for [v. 24] is:
But Jesus didn’t believe in them, because He knew all about people.
There’s two types of belief depicted here…one is described in [20:31] that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ…then there’s the kind of belief that Jesus doesn’t approve of and as a result…Jesus didn’t believe in them [24].
John is focusing on Jesus’ divine omniscience…when talking about the attributes of God…and Jesus as His Son…three attributes are unique only to them:
* Gods omniscience – He is all-knowing
* Gods omnipresence – He is all-present/all-seeing
* Gods omnipotence – He is all-power
In this verse John draws out the idea that when Jesus looked into the heart of those who claimed they believed…He sees something other than the kind of faith that makes you a child of God…many claimed to ‘believe in His name’ …but Jesus didn’t trust Himself to them.
This is the second thing I shared with you last week and I want to share it again… What is meant by ‘believing in His name’?
Believing in Jesus’ name implies that there is a truth inherent in His name…Jesus’ name has significant meaning…when the Angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph about his son, he told Joseph what to name the child…because there is truth in His name.
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name
Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins.” [Matt. 1:21]
There’s a message contained within His name…the Hebrew name “Yeshua” means salvation…saying Yahshua vs. Jesus doesn’t mean you’re showing disrespect…it means we have all been led to believe that His name is Jesus…and it’s not.
When they translated the Old Testament text into English, they changed the spelling and pronunciation…and when they translated the Greek text into English, they changed it again…so we have the name Jesus instead of Yahshua.
Here’s what is important…when a person believes in the name of Yahshua, he is believing in what that name means—that Jesus is the Savior in human form.
He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. [John 3:18]
When one does not believe in the Messiah…in Yahshua…in Jesus…he is not believing in the meaning of His name.
“He that rejects Me, rejects Him that sent Me. If you reject the Son, you are rejecting the Father that dwells within the Son” [Luke 10:16] …that is the exact meaning of: “… “that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” [John 14:11]
So what’s happening here…and this is important…John is telling us simply that not all belief is belief that saves…people saw the signs and miracles He performed and believed in His authority…but not in the person.
Jesus knows what’s going on in the heart of everyone…as a result…the word believe in [v. 23] changes in [v. 24] to a different Greek tense that signifies their belief was not the belief that saves.
The word believe in [24] is changed to the imperfect tense…that is why translators use the word ‘entrusting’ to emphasize the difference in wording.
ἐπίστευσαν – Aorist Indicative Active – 3rd Person Plural [23]
ἐπίστευεν (episteuen) – Imperfect Indicative Active – 3rd Person Singular [24]
In [24] the imperfect tense of ‘believe’ is used…it means continuous action…it’s a belief that is always being undated…it’s never finalized…as a result…there’s never a firm commitment…if their faith was the faith that had no doubts…the word ‘believe’ would be in the perfect tense…describing a completed action.
Their faith was a faith that had not yet recognized Jesus as the Messiah…they may have taken great hope in his miracles…they may have said, “we want to go where He goes” …but their faith was not a true conversion faith.
That’s a rather unsettling statement…they saw the signs but they didn’t see the Savior…they were attracted to the miracles but not the man.
Jesus knew that when things looked differently…when things got difficult, they would not be numbered among his true followers…John describes this type of people [John 6:66] ‘many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.’ John’s gospel is a documentary of those saved and those who are not.
Nothing’s changed…human nature hasn’t changed in 5000 years…see it in the Old Testament with the nation of Israel and we see it in the Church today.
People who say they are committed…say they believe…and Jesus’ response is the same…Jesus didn’t believe in them…He knew their faith wasn’t real because He knew all about people [24]. We see Jesus’ omniscience in three statements:
FIRST… the general statement: “He knew all people.”
It means that there are no secrets in your life…you may have succeeded in hiding something all your life from everyone on earth…but you have not hidden it from Jesus.
SECOND…that He knows people’s private, inner life “He himself knew what was in man.” [2:25].
Jesus can see what is in every heart so He can see the kind of belief you have…is it seeking fellowship with Him and eternal life…or is it the belief that is not a saving belief?
THIRD… “He needed no one to bear witness about him” [2:25].
This goes back to my introductory statement regarding the most crucial question that any person will ever answer with respect to Jesus: “Who do you say that I am?”
The answer to that question reflects Jesus’ omniscient quality as God…He knows who has genuine faith—the kind of faith that really saves a person.
1.Saving faith is just not head knowledge, a mental conviction or an intellectual assessment.
It’s not just believing the fact that Jesus is the Savior of the world…it’s not just believing history that Jesus lived upon earth as George Washington once lived in the White House.
2.Saving faith is believing in Jesus, that He is the Savior and Lord of life.
It’s giving and turning your life over to Him…it’s casting yourself upon Jesus as Savior and Lord.
3.Saving faith is commitment—the commitment of your total being and life to Jesus.
It’s giving everything to Jesus…a total commitment of all you have…everything in your life…everything in the present…and everything in the future…it’s entrusting your whole life…and possessions into Jesus’ hands…it includes trusting Jesus in all areas and in every detail of life.
It’s trusting in the person whose judgment about you is the judgement that matters the most.
There is not the slightest part of your heart unknown to Jesus…He knows your deepest thoughts and feelings…your true and deepest motives at this hour, and every hour throughout your entire life.
We see this in Peter’s response to Jesus after His resurrection when Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” [John 21:15-17].
In Peter’s final response to Jesus… “you know that I love you.” John is revealing two words that describe how it’s possible for the Lord to know all things.
“Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Κύριε, πάντα σὺ οἶδας, σὺ γινώσκεις ὅτι φιλῶ σε.
Again…the same word is used in English in both statements ‘know’ but they have two separate meanings.
In Peter’s response; ‘Lord you know everything’ he uses the Greek word (οἶδας) that is alluding to Jesus’ divine omniscience…it means absolute knowledge…a knowledge of all things…and about all people…we see that in the statement—for he himself knew what was in man.
Then Peter says: ‘you know that I love you” …here the form of the verb ‘know’ (γινώσκεις ginosko) is different than the first ‘know’ …it means knowledge that is obtained by experience.
Here’s what Peter is saying…Lord you know all things because you are God… nothing is hidden from you…you are omniscience…that’s the first statement.
The second statement: you know that I love you…is the knowledge Jesus had about Peter from experience…living with him for over three years Peter had shown Jesus through experience…that he loved Him.
One statement expressed Jesus’ omniscience…knowing all things…the second statement expressed Jesus’ knowing all things from His human side from experiencing them and watching.
Jesus watches us every day of our lives…there is one person who knows your heart perfectly and knows it better than you do.
Knowing that should lead us to make the only sensible response…to trust Him as your Savior as the only person who can save us from sin and from the judgment that will accompany it…that’s the difference in having a belief that saves…and one that merely acknowledges that Jesus existed.
Here’s the tragedy in the verse…But Jesus didn’t believe in them…there will always be that contrast between the belief people have in Jesus [23] and the belief Jesus doesn’t have in them [24] “Who do you say that I am?” that is the crucial question in life!
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/he-knew-what-was-in-man
https://www.preceptaustin.org/john_2115-25_commentary
[1] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd edition, (Grand Rapids, MI., Baker Academic, 2009), 1026.