Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Seven

                                                                                                                                              Verses 50-53

The elites thought that no one of their supreme class could possibly believe in this person who showed love, healed, and preached the gospel to the common people. This person called Jesus. They considered themselves just too wise and good to have to humble themselves in that way. But unknown to them, some of them secretly believed in Jesus.

One of them, Nicodemus, tried to defend Jesus. Evidently, he had come to faith in Jesus as the Messiah when he came to talk with Jesus in the night. John 3:1-21. Nicodemus would not have tried to defend Jesus if he had not had faith. But he kept his faith a secret from his fellow elites because he was afraid that they would cast him out of their fellowship and consider him a pariah. But Nicodemus revealed his secret faith when he tried to defend Jesus. His fellow elites did not catch on that he secretly believed in Jesus, but they rebuked him for trying to defend Jesus. They accused him of being ignorant of the fact that they believed that no prophet could come from Galilee. Their meeting then broke up, and they all went home.

Nicodemus' secret faith at that time indicates an important truth about salvation by grace. Does a believer receive an eternal salvation by grace the moment that believer receives it as a gift from the Holy Spirit to that believer's inner being, or does God require that believer to do good works in order to maintain that believer's eternal salvation by grace? In other words, did Nicodemus already possess eternal salvation by grace when he kept his faith a secret, or did he have to openly reveal his faith when he helped to take the body of Jesus down from the cross in order to keep his faith? John 19:38-42.

Jesus Himself taught that He gives His believers an eternal life that happens to be forever protected by being enclosed within the hand of God. Jesus did not mention good works as being necessary to maintain that salvation by grace. John 10:27-30. By Himself, Jesus accomplished that salvation, and forever He holds every believer saved by grace in His Almighty hand. Hebrews 1:1-3. God also can never lose anything He has ever created, and He never takes back any gift that He bestows. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:29; Genesis 3:20-21; Luke 20:38. God also never breaks His part of any covenant that He makes. Psalm 89:34. Those who maintain that a believer must do good works to remain saved by grace may be saved by grace, but they simply do not possess enough faith in the Almighty Power of God.