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 now challenges the apostles to believe that He is in the Father and the Father in Him.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me,
Jesus asks the wavering faith of the apostles to believe His words (Jn 14:1, 7). His assertion is that He is in the Father and the Father in Him. They are to take Him at His word in this matter. To know the Son is to know the Father.
or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
If the apostles cannot believe the words of Jesus maybe they will believe His works or miracles. The “works” of Jesus are His miraculous signs and actions as the Messiah. His miracles are evidence of His deity.
PRINCIPLE:
We can test Jesus’ words by His works.
APPLICATION:
The works or miracles that Jesus did are the miracles of the Father. Believers must strengthen their faith in the dynamic between Him and the Father. We need to take Jesus’ word for this.
The fundamental bond between men and Jesus is faith or trust. He is the personal object of belief. This means that we both believe Him as a person and we believe propositions about Him. If Jesus is not God manifested in the faith, then we should not believe Him. Our belief is both personal and contains content or propositions about Him. Our personal belief is belief in Jesus Himself. However, this entails believing what He says as true. We believe both His words and His works.
God never requests a person to believe with blind credulity. The content of what we believe is vitally important. Faith recognizes what Jesus said is true; He is worthy of our faith. Our verse indicates that we are to believe that the mutual indwelling of the Father and Son is true.
