Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Ten

                                                                                                                                              Verses 19-21

Jesus preaching caused a division among the Jews. Some of them thought that Jesus had a devil and was insane. Many think this way, especially the atheists and the materialists. They take the prideful position that they only have intelligence, and all other people tend to be stupid and gullible. They deny that miracles are possible even when they are confronted with them. They believe that devils exist in the form of superstition, but they do not believe that evil exists. Even so, many of them are perfectly willing to practice evil through murder and torture and waging war in order to bring into being their imagined, future materialists' utopia. They believe that every human should be brainwashed to think exactly like they think, and anyone who refuses to think like they think must be somewhat insane.

The other Jews knew that only someone sent from God could do miracles. But they were willing to believe that Jesus could only be some kind of prophet, not the Son of God. All of Jesus' disciples, except Judas Iscariot, believed, like Peter, that Jesus had to be the Son of God; that is, God in human form. They believed this as a revelation from the Holy Spirit. Matthew 16:13-18. In order to be saved by grace, a person must believe that Jesus was born of a virgin and that He is the Son of God and that He is that individual's personal Savior. Matthew 1:18-25; I Corinthians 15:1-4.

When a person hears or reads the gospel, even though they may never have heard of Jesus, and that person repents of their sins and believes in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for their personal salvation by grace, they will be forever saved by the power of the Holy Spirit to bring Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection to them in spiritual form. The Holy Spirit will also empower them to believe the Word of God so that if they ever read or hear that Jesus was born of a virgin, that He led a sinless life, and He is the Son of God, they will always believe that as well. But if a person becomes saved only by the preaching of the Holy Spirit and that person never has a Bible (KJB) to read or a way to hear the Word of God preached, God will still save that person by His grace because the Holy Spirit will impute to his spirit every belief he needs to be saved. I Corinthians 15:1-4; I Corinthians 6:11; Colossians 1:23.