John 16:31
“Do you finally believe?” Jesus replied.
BSB
ASV
Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
KJV
Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Which can be understood in two ways, either as reproaching, or affirming. If the former, the meaning is, Ye have awaked somewhat late to belief, for behold the hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his home. If the latter, it is, That which ye believe is true, but behold the hour cometh, &c.
Jesus answered them, do ye now believe? Not as calling their faith in question; or as denying they had any; or as despising it for the smallness of it; but as reproving them for their security, vain confidence and boasting, as if their faith was so very strong that it would never be moved; and perhaps for the lateness of it too: the words may be read affirmatively, without an interrogation, "ye do believe now"; they are in the Syriac and Arabic versions read imperatively, "believe ye now".
Do ye now believe? - Do you truly and really believe? This question was evidently asked to put them on a full examination of their hearts. Though they supposed that they had unshaken faith - faith that would endure every trial, yet he told them that they were about to go through scenes that would test them, and where they would need all their confidence in God. When we feel strong in the faith we should examine ourselves.
The passage we have now read is a very remarkable portion of Scripture, for two reasons. On the one hand, it forms a suitable conclusion to our Lord's long parting address to His disciples. It was fit and right that such a solemn sermon should have a solemn ending. On the other hand it contains the most general and unanimous profession of belief that we ever find the Apostles making—"Now are we sure that You know all things . . . by this we believe that you came forth from God."
The walk5
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
John 13:38“Will you lay down your life for Me?” Jesus replied. “Truly, truly, I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.
leads to
But Jesus replied, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus declared, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.”
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
A servant girl saw him seated in the firelight and looked intently at him. “This man also was with Him,” she said.
