In the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel, following the Passover meal and Judas' departure to betray Jesus, Jesus states to the disciples: "πιστεύετε εἰς τὸν θεὸν καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πιστεύετε." The challenge in translating and interpreting this verse is that it creates at least four possible combinations of meaning based on whether each πιστεύετε is viewed as an indicative or an imperative. These combinations are as follows: 1) Trust in God and trust in Me (Imp. and Imp.)
2) Trust in God as you are trusting in Me (Imp. and Ind.) 3) You are trusting in God and you are trusting in Me (Ind. and Ind.) 4) You are trusting in God, also be trusting in Me (Ind. and Imp.) So which is it? Is Jesus' affirming their trust in God, commanding their trust in God, affirming their trust in Him, or commanding their trust in Him? A few issues complicate the matter beyond the ambiguity of the grammar. First, the Evangelist uses the lemma πιστεύω almost 200 times in this Gospel (approx. 100 in the indicative, 10 in the imperative, 45 participles, 30 in the subjunctive, and 4 infinitives). 16 times the author uses the form πιστεύετε. Prior to John 10:37, all of the uses are indicative and paired with ου with exception of 3:12, which is indicative but not negated. In 10:37, 10:38, and 12:36, the form is more clearly imperative. This does not, however, really solve the dilemma. The context of the passage then must become the key for interpretation. Of this passage, Köstenberger notes, "Most commentators take both occurrences of πιστεύετε (pisteute, believe, trust) in 14:1 as imperatives (e.g., Carson 1991: 488; Morris 1995: 566; Beasley-Murray 1999: 249; Burge 2000: 391; Westcott 1908: 2.167; Köstenberger 1999a: 163). Alternatively, the first form may be an indicative: “You trust in God; trust also in me” (NIV footnote) or interrogative (Bultmann 1971: 600). Schnackenburg (1990: 3.59) notes that 14:1b forms a chiasm (“[You] Trust in God, also in me trust”)" (Köstenberger, John, 425 n. 22). We might take as a given that Jesus is assuming their trust in God in 14:1a, but commanding them to trust him in 14:1b and 14:11 since they do not quite understand why he has to leave or where he is going. As the NET Bible aptly summarizes, "He is about to undergo rejection by his own people as their Messiah. The disciples’ faith in him as Messiah and Lord would be cast into extreme doubt by these events, which the author makes clear were not at this time foreseen by the disciples. After the resurrection it is this identification between Jesus and the Father which needs to be reaffirmed (cf. John 20:24–29). Thus it seems best to take the first πιστεύετε as indicative and the second as imperative, producing the translation “You believe in God; believe also in me" (14:1 note 2). This seems a sound conclusion contextually, though the grammar here is vague and more than one option could be persuasive. It seems plausible though that the Evangelist has in mind: "You are trusting in God, you must also trust in Me." Jesus' attempt to assuage their fears is to reassure them that he is indeed God's Sent One even though the events which are about to unfold will seem to negate his claim.
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