Why do you believe the message of Jesus? Your answer to this question just might betray whether or not you subscribe to soteriological determinism, known in the vernacular as Calvinism.
For example, if you say, “I believe because God regenerated me,” you are a Calvinist. However, if you reply, “I believe because I’ve considered the evidence and concluded it is true,” congratulations, you just may not be a Calvinist. And, by the way, you’re in pretty good company. Even the Apostle John apparently saw it this way.
At the end of John’s Gospel, in which he described his own eyewitness account of the life of Jesus, he shared his purpose for writing:
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)
Why did John write his Gospel? To describe the miraculous acts of Jesus, prompting people to consider and believe. By the way, that is the reason Jesus did His miracles in the first place. Speaking to folks who demanded that He tell them plainly if He were the Christ, He said this:
If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him. (John 10:37-38)
To prove who He was, He simply said, “Look at my works!”
Another time, John the Baptist was in prison, and in a moment of discouragement, questioned if Jesus was really the Messiah. He sent people to Jesus with that question, and here is Jesus’ response:
When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ “And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight. Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. (Luke 7:20-22)
Jesus did not say, “Well, John should just know because he’s one of the elect. If he doesn’t believe, it means he hasn’t been elected.” Rather, He said, “Go and explain to John what you’ve seen. Give him the evidence.” Jesus did His miracles to prove who He was because people need to be convinced.
In Calvinism, God elects, then regenerates that person, then gives them faith. No evidence is necessary because faith is merely a gift from God. Faith is given to the elect person and withheld from the non-elect person.
John’s purpose was to convince people of the truth of Jesus. He wrote “that you may believe,” a waste of time if Calvinism is true.
I think that John would have had trouble with the idea that regeneration precedes faith. I think he understood that a person has to look at the evidence and decide if he is going to believe it.
This obviously brings us to an application, regardless of what you think about Calvinism. Are you willing to honestly consider the evidence of Jesus? Could just anyone do the miracles that He did? As C.S. Lewis put it, He was a liar, lunatic, or Lord. He either lied about being God, was deranged enough to think He was God, or He actually was God. John gave ample evidence to prove who Jesus was. Are you willing to believe?
