By Mike Lii
Have you ever heard someone who professes to know NT Greek teach that the Greek verb pisteuō, translated as “believe” in the Gospel of John, is in the Greek present tense, indicating continual action? According to these teachers, believe should really be understood as “continue to believe” throughout John’s Gospel. For them, “present continuous belief” means that a person not only remains persuaded of the truth until the end of his life, but also continues in faithfulness until the end of his life by surrendering to, committing to, and obeying Jesus, thereby persevering in good works.
Since most people are not as familiar with NT Greek as the teachers who make these claims, it can be intimidating and difficult to evaluate whether this continue-to-believe argument based on the Greek present tense has any merit. Ultimately, these arguments rely on: “Trust me. I know Greek, so you don’t need to.” Thankfully, the greatest and perfect Evangelist, the Lord Jesus Christ, made it abundantly clear that this continue-to-believe teaching is incorrect. In the Gospel of John, His illustrations of the verb believe and of when the gift of everlasting life is received are clear. One does not need to know Greek in order to understand these illustrations and see the error of this continue-to-believe argument.
NICODEMUS AND BEING BORN AGAIN JOHN 3:1-21
In His conversation with Nicodemus, the Lord Jesus used the metaphor of being born again to illustrate what the reception of the gift of everlasting life is like: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
Nicodemus was confused because he thought Jesus was referring to being born physically a second time, so he asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4).
Jesus clarified for Nicodemus that He was not speaking of a second physical birth, but of being born again in a spiritual sense: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:5-7).
Nicodemus needed a second birth. He needed to be born again.
How is one born again? Jesus gave Nicodemus the answer in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
In John 3, Jesus used the idea of being “born again” to illustrate what happens when one receives the gift of everlasting life. Physical birth is an irreversible event that happens at a specific point in time. Once one is born, the birthing process has ended. Once one is born, he cannot be unborn.
Being born again occurs the very moment one believes in Jesus for everlasting life. Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again in a moment of time. Jesus did not tell Nicodemus to keep believing until the end of his life in order to be born again or to wait until the end of his life to find out whether he had been born again.
THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AND ONE DRINK OF THE LIVING WATER JOHN 4:1-26
In John 4:10, Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that she needed to know two things in order to quench her spiritual thirst: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
She needed to know 1) the gift of God, which is everlasting life, and 2) the identity of the One who gives it, Jesus Christ. The answer to her spiritual thirst was the “living water,” which is the saving message that whoever believes in Jesus for everlasting life has everlasting life (John 6:47).
In His conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus illustrated the key difference between liquid water and living water in John 4:13-14: “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” In verse 13, drinking is a metaphor for believing (see John 6:35). Drinking ordinary, liquid water one time will temporarily assuage a person’s thirst. When the hydration wears off one will thirst and need to drink this water again. This pattern will recur over and over.
However, drinking living water—Jesus’ saving message—is quite different. One drink of living water quenches one’s thirst forever.i The very moment one believes the saving message, he has everlasting life (“fountain of water”) that can never be lost springing up in him. The question is not how long one has been drinking living water, that is, how long one has been continuing to believe the saving message. The question is whether one has ever drunk the living water by believing Jesus’ saving message.
It is self-evident that if one continuously drinks physical water, one will never be physically thirsty. If the Greek present tense implies continuous drinking (continuous believing) as some Greek teachers say, then there is no difference between the thirst-quenching properties of liquid water and those of living water. There would be no point to Jesus’ illustration. But because living water requires only one drink (not continual drinking) only one moment of belief in Jesus for everlasting life that can never be lost––Jesus, the perfect Evangelist, gave this illustration.
ONGOING EATING OF MANNA VERSUS ONE-TIME CONSUMPTION OF THE BREAD OF LIFE JOHN 6:26-35
In John 6:26-35, Jesus likened receiving the gift of everlasting life to eating the bread of life. The illustration begins in verse 26, with Jesus’ referring back to the physical barley loaves and fish that He provided earlier in the chapter. When His audience focused on working the works of God, Jesus stated their need to believe in Him: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 6:29).
Later, Jesus spoke of the “bread of heaven” (v 32) and the “bread of life” in contrast to the manna given to their forefathers in the desert. Jesus said:
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
If one partakes of the bread of life by believing in Jesus for everlasting life, that person will never hunger. If one continually eats bread or even manna, then one will never be physically hungry. However, if continuous eating/believing is required, then there is no point in Jesus’ contrasting His bread of heaven with ordinary bread or manna. Jesus’ gift of everlasting life is unlike ordinary bread or even manna from above. Consuming one bite (one moment of belief in Jesus) satisfies one’s hunger for everlasting life forever.
CONCLUSION
Context drives the understanding of passages and the meaning of the Greek present tense. At times, context may imply the Greek continuous action present tense, but this is not the case with these passages from the Gospel of John. As the Lord Jesus, the perfect Evangelist, has clearly illustrated with being born again, never thirsting, and never hungering, continuous belief is not required to receive or keep everlasting life. Everlasting life that can never be lost is received at the very first moment of belief in Him for everlasting life.
As Zane Hodges aptly stated:
The Bible does not say that we are saved by continuing to believe but by believing. In the Gospel of John, all of the examples of getting saved or the way in which Jesus explains it, indicates to us that the experience of salvation occurs instantaneously at the moment of faith. When you’re born, you’re born. When you drink the water of life, you don’t have to drink again. If you eat the bread of life, you won’t hunger again. All of these things take place at the moment of faith. If they take place at the moment of faith, then the continuity of that faith is not the issue. the existence of the faith is the issue.ii
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Mike Lii is a finance attorney. He and his wife, Letitia, a member of the GES board, and their son, Payton, live in Dallas and serve at Vista Ridge Bible Fellowship in Lewisville, Texas. Mike and Letitia also run the Zane Hodges Library online (zanehodges.org).
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i While the woman was thinking in terms of physical water, she understood that one drink of this living water would forever quench her thirst: “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw” (John 4:15).
ii Zane C. Hodges, “Do You Need to ‘Continue to Believe’ to Be Saved?” Filmed in 2006. YouTube Video. See https://youtu.be/gVSHapWvUW4.