Lesson 7: “Blessed Are Those Who Believe”
COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Proclamation! Magazine
Problems with this lesson:
- The lesson misses the point about Thomas who was the first to declare Jesus to be his Lord and God.
- The lesson continues to overlook our need to be born again and makes “belief” about trusting evidence about Jesus.
- Our best efforts are not considered good enough; our belief is grounded in the truth of the apostles’ words.
This lesson represents itself as explaining the blessings of “belief”, but the essence of “belief” is never explained. Significantly, the need for belief is not addressed.
I realized as we left Adventism that our great controversy worldview left us without an understanding that we are helpless and doomed in our natural state. I believed, according to the Adventist view of man and of salvation, that we are expected to do our best and God would do the rest. I believed that I inherently had the ability to choose to serve God, so my “job” was to accept Jesus into my heart, to believe that He died for our sins, and to accept Him as the One who would give me the strength and power to obey Him better and better.
From my Adventist perspective, “believing in Jesus” was an acknowledgment that He was humble, gentle, and self-sacrificing, and that He came to die for my sins so all my past sins could be forgiven and so all my future sins could have the possibility of being forgiven if I confessed them and committed myself to doing my best and following the example of obedient Jesus.
This lesson, once again, is not specifically teaching overt error—but it is glossing over the significant reality of who Jesus is and who we are. It is structured in such a way that it appears to be presenting various Bible stories as moral lessons and examples, yet the lessons do not address our true need and the reliability of Scripture and of God’s sovereign work in our helpless lives.
A New Look at the Doubter
We’ll dive into Wednesday’s lesson to set the stage for the real bottom line of how and what we BELIEVE.
The quarterly presents Thomas exactly the way I learned about him as an Adventist. He was absent after the resurrection when Jesus presented Himself to His disciples in His resurrected body, and when his fellow disciples told him that Jesus had appeared to them, he said he wouldn’t believe it unless he could see and touch Jesus’ hands and side.
I understand Thomas.
The lesson went on to explain that Thomas’s doubt was essentially controlling if not manipulative. The lesson explains it this way, ending with a quote from EGW from Steps to Christ:
Thomas was dictating the conditions of his faith. This approach to faith in Jesus has appeared again and again in John. Nicodemus answered Jesus with, “ ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ ” (John 3:4, NKJV). The woman at the well asked, “ ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?’ ” (John 4:11, NRSV). The crowd who had been fed with the loaves and fishes asked, “ ‘What sign are you going to give us?’ ” (John 6:30, NRSV).
It is this “see and then believe” perspective that the Gospel of John counters. When Jesus met Thomas after the Resurrection, He invited him to come, see, and touch His risen body. But then He says, “ ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’ ” (John 20:29, ESV).
“God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith. His existence, His character, the truthfulness of His word, are all established by testimony that appeals to our reason; and this testimony is abundant. Yet God has never removed the possibility of doubt. Our faith must rest upon evidence, not demonstration.”—Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 105.
Here is how John recounts this incident:
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace [be] with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Bring your finger here, and see My hands; and bring your hand [here] and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed [are] those who did not see, and [yet] believed.”—John 20:24–29 LSB
In John’s account there is no trace of Jesus shaming Thomas for not believing He was resurrected before seeing Him. Yes, Jesus stated that those who believe Him without seeing Him are blessed—but He did not rebuke Thomas and then grant him permission to touch him as a concession to his weak faith.
Rather, on the day when Jesus appeared to the disciples when Thomas was with them, He spoke Peace to them and immediately invited Thomas—without a word from Thomas—to come and put his finger on His hands and side. He then asked him to be believing and not be unbelieving.
Notice Thomas’s reaction which was different from anything we heard from the other disciples. As soon as Jesus stopped speaking, Thomas declared his recognition and trust in Jesus and and called Him “My Lord and my God!”
Thomas was the first disciple that is recorded as declaring Jesus’ identity as Lord and God following His resurrection! Thomas immediately believed when he saw the risen Christ.
Instead of thinking of Thomas as the doubting disciple, we have reason to see Thomas as the believing disciple who unabashedly declared not only his trust that He was alive but that Jesus was GOD!
Thomas—Not “Doubter” but “Believer”
Perhaps the most troubling part of the lesson’s presentation of Thomas’s reaction is that quote from EGW. She states that God “never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith.” She continues by saying “God has never removed the possibility of doubt. Our faith must rest upon evidence not demonstration.”
In the first place, this quote is confusing and a bit self-contradictory. What exactly is the difference between her understanding of “evidence” and “demonstration”?
By juxtaposing this quote with the story of Thomas, the lesson lets us know that Thomas was exhibiting doubt and unbelief by saying he wouldn’t believe Jesus was alive unless he could see and touch him.
Yes, there was some disbelief involved—but Thomas was not UNBELIEVING. He was devastated by Jesus’ death and afraid to believe the good news. Jesus understood his reluctance. Importantly, Jesus literally appeared to His disciples. He didn’t expect any of them to believe His resurrection without actually seeing Him.
Jesus used Thomas’s need for proof as an opportunity to show us that He gives us what we need in order to trust Him—but we also see that He spoke about all believers who were yet to come. After He ascended, all who would believe would come to faith without physical sight or touch. All new covenant believers would believe on the basis of faith alone.
There is one more detail, though, that would be true for all future believers: the Holy Spirit would have been poured out after Jesus’ ascension, and the Spirit’s work in the world was to be the revelation of truth and the reality of the Lord Jesus. Those disciples were meeting their risen Lord PRIOR to the coming of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus understood that they needed to be eyewitnesses of Him. In fact, we read in Acts 1 that seeing the risen Christ was one of the requirements for being His apostles as He sent them out to plant the church.
EGW’s Confusion: Evidence? Demonstration?
The Ellen White quote exhorts her followers to believe on the basis of “evidence”, not “demonstration”—whatever that means—but she has no ability to explain that “belief” is a gift from God that He grants to all who trust in Jesus as their Savior and Substitute. Rather, she presents “belief” as an act of will or as a decision each person needs to make, and the implication is that “belief” is a moral strength that we demonstrate.
Even more, Jesus’ words that those who believe without seeing are blessed reflects His prayer in John 17:14–21:
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world.
“For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, [are] in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”—John 17:14–21 LSB
This prayer which Jesus prayed just before He went to the cross was a prayer for His disciples—and Thomas was among them. He had heard Jesus pray this prayer, just as the rest of them had. Notice that Jesus stated for them to hear that He although He was praying for them specifically, He was also praying for the believers who were not yet part of His people. In verses 20, 21 He says that He wasn’t asking for the Father’s protection only for His disciples who would be taking the gospel to the world and planting the church, but He was also praying “for those also who believe in Me through their word”.
We Know Jesus Through the Apostles’ Word
That phrase is so important—and it is addressing the same people that He blesses when He speaks to Thomas. Jesus here states that all future believers will believe in Him through the apostles’ word.
In other words, the New Testament would be delivered by the apostles and their disciples—eye witnesses of the risen Christ—the “sent ones” who would plant the church.
We will not come to faith in Christ on the basis of individual special experiences but on the basis of the word of the apostles—the Scriptures that tell us who Jesus is, who we are and why we need Jesus, and what He did as He took our sin and propitiated for it with His blood in order to reconcile us to God.
The Holy Spirit teaches us the truth of our own sin, of the righteous sacrifice and obedience of the Lord Jesus, and of the judgment that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection has accomplished on the evil powers at work in the world. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes and hearts to the word of God and convicts us of our need for a Savior, for spiritual life, and He applies the word of God to our hearts and grants us repentance and belief. He shows us Jesus, and He makes Scripture come alive in us.
So, circling back to the lesson’s account of Thomas, we see that the real implications of this event after Jesus’ resurrection are completely missed,. Instead, we get the moralizing of EGW to guilt us into looking for evidence that we can believe Jesus. In fact, the Teachers Comments actually tell us that the evidence we have of fulfilled prophecy is how we know we can believe Jesus:
Many today focus on every bit of doubt raised in objection to Christ’s Messiahship and, thus, ignore the massive evidence of Christ’s reality and mission. These doubters insist on the entire cup of evidence being filled to the brim before they choose to believe. But in this fallen world, there is always room for doubt. We are surrounded by evidence: God’s amazing creation, life itself, divine providence, our conscience, and the measure of faith with which we are born. With that kind of evidence, seeing truly is believing.…
How often many of us wish to see and hear Jesus in person! But had we lived during the earthly ministry of Christ and seen all the evidence He presented, would we have believed?
We now have the advantage of many fulfilled prophecies, which we may study to learn about His mighty works and life-giving words.…
Let us consider the weight of the countless testimonies of changed lives that have occurred because of an encounter with Christ. Christ’s power to convert the hardened and hopeless human heart is on full display for us to ponder and to fill us with wonder.
We Need To Be Made Alive
Adventism attempts to talk people into “believing in Jesus” based on quantifiable events that one can prove. To be sure, these fulfilled prophecies and testimonies of other people can help people understand who Jesus is and that His word is true—but Adventism presents these things without giving the real truth: we are born dead in sin, and we cannot come to faith by deciding that we should. We cannot rise above our true natures.
Belief is a gift from God; faith is not something we can decide to exercise, Here is what Paul says:
But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved… For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.—Ephesians 2:4, 5; 8–10 LSB
When we hear the word of Christ, when we read the gospel as the apostles taught us in the New Testament, our proper response is to believe—but even our belief is not self-generated. God is the one who grants us believing faith! He reveals Himself, and He reveals our true natures to us—and He shows us by His Spirit that He is real and His word is true. He does not shame us for doubt, but He gives us faith to believe and reveals Himself with the same compassion with which He revealed Himself to Thomas.
Not Good Enough
There is one more Adventist teaching that is clearly stated in the Teachers Comments which underlies this entire lesson as an assumed foundational belief. This idea is found on page 94 as the author speaks of Mary’s anointing Jesus with perfume at Simon’s banquet:
Jesus came to Mary’s defense when she became the focus of everyone’s attention. Judas orchestrated a verbal assault against her for anointing Jesus, an assault that was supported by the disciples. Jesus described Mary’s act of devotion to Jesus as a wonderful thing because she did what she could for Him. Therefore, when we do our part out of genuine love, Jesus accepts such an effort as our best offering, for He knows the inner workings of a genuine heart. When we do our best for Jesus, He considers that good enough. If it is good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for us, as well.
Adventism teaches us that we need to “do our best” for Jesus. He died for us, the reasoning often goes, and if He did that much for us, then we are essentially obligated to give Him our hearts and to offer Him the best we can offer Him.
This subtle reciprocity is never taught as part of the gospel. We are not asked to do our best for Jesus because He gave His all for us. In fact, our “best” is never good enough, as Paul explained in Philippians 3 where he explained that all of his righteous deeds of the Law were actually mere rubbish.
What the gospel says is that we have one command, one “work of God” which we must do, and that is to BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus. When we trust the Lord with all of our sin and helplessness and desperate need for life and rescue, He literally saves us. He grants us life in our dead spirits, and He seals us with His Holy Spirit. He forgives our sins on the basis of His own blood sacrificed for our sin, and He transfers us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son.
When we respond to the Lord Jesus with trust and belief, THEN He gives us the work He prepared beforehand for us to do!
In other words, our feeble attempts to please God and to honor Him as a way to experience His pleasure and forgiveness will never help us. Our works do not contribute one iota to our salvation.
When we trust God, though, when we believe in the Son and admit that we need a Savior and receive His sacrifice as the full payment for our sin, THEN we are brought to new life.
Only after we are born again and made alive are the New Testament commands for us. The instructions in the New Testament for holy living are not intended for unbelievers. No one can attain to eternal life by following the commands in Scripture.
We Must Believe—Not “Be Good”
Only the command to believe the Son will yield eternal life—and only then will the indwelling Spirit guide us to trust Jesus more and more when we face temptation. Only then will the Spirit lead us to the work God creates for us, and only after we are born again by believing in Jesus’ finished atonement can we ever please God.
Even then, our pleasing God is the consequence of His Spirit giving us His own life and power to do His will.
This lesson misses the mark entirely. It reinforces the Adventist worldview that we must be good. We must do our best, and we must decide to believe in Jesus—without even knowing why.
We are hopelessly dead in sin by nature, and we must be made alive by trusting in Jesus’ shed blood for us.
If you haven’t released your hold on your own moral perfection and admitted the dark sin that you know is in your heart, hear the Lord Jesus convicting you that you are under the wrath of God unless you trust Him.
If you haven’t trusted the Lord Jesus with your sin and your need, trust Him now. Believe what God tells you about your true nature, and trust the Son. See Him taking the wrath of God in your place, and repent and trust Him as your own Lord. Thank Him for dying for you, and believe that He broke your curse of death when He rose from the tomb because His blood was sufficient to satisfy God’s demand.
Thank the Lord Jesus for calling you to Himself and for knowing you personally as He died on the cross, and receive His resurrection life in your own spirit as He transfers you out of the domain darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son.
Believe Him today, and like Thomas you will be able to say, “My Lord and my God!” †
This weekly feature is dedicated to Adventists who are looking for biblical insights into the topics discussed in the Sabbath School lesson quarterly. We post articles which address each lesson as presented in the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, including biblical commentary on them. We hope you find this material helpful and that you will come to know Jesus and His revelation of Himself in His word in profound biblical ways.
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