One of the reasons the Sadducees wanted to kill Lazarus was that he was the cause for many of those who had previously followed them to now leave them and start following Jesus. Lazarus was a living example of the miracle of Jesus.

Another reason was that Lazarus was an embarrassment to their doctrine. They believed that there was no ressurection of the dead and here was a living example to the contrary. What they believed had been shown to be positively false and yet they were not only unwilling to accept the truth, but they wanted to destroy the evidence and thus suppress the truth for all men. Barclay notes that “When a man has to support a position by destroying the evidence which threatens it, it means that he is using dishonest methods to support a lie – and knows it.” The Sadducees were willing to suppress the truth for their own ends.

“putting their faith in him.” literally means “believed into Jesus.” The Greek word for believe is “pisteuo.” John uses this verb a total of 98 times, which is extraordinary in light of the fact that the other three gospels only use it a total of 34 times all together! John uses it in a variety of ways, such as believing facts or believing people, but when he uses it as in this verse, he included the pronoun “eis” which means “into” or “in.” “Dodd finds no parallel to this construction either in profane Greek or in the LXX.” (Morris 335) His meaning is similar to that of Paul in (2 Cor 5:17) where he writes of being “in” Christ. Morris notes that “Faith for John is an activity which takes men right out of themselves and makes them one with Christ.” Dodd notes that “It would seem that pisteuo with the dative so inevitably connoted simple credence, in the sense of an intellectual judgment, that the moral element of personal trust or reliance inherent in the Hebrew or Aramaic phrase – an element integral to the primitive Christian conception of faith in Christ – needed to be otherwise expressed.” This element of personal trust or reliance upon Christ is so critical for an understanding of a true relationship with Christ that it had to be brought out in some way, and that is exactly what John did by adding the pronoun “in”.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Maybe it is coincidence that John in this gospel speaks so much of believing into Christ and also of abiding in Christ. The two concepts are very similar and, in fact, mean much the same thing.

Even more so, believing and Christ are so inextricably entertwined that believing seems to imply Christ, even when it is not specifically stated as such. For example, remember the conversation Jesus had with the man born blind after he was healed, washed, and thrown out of the temple by the Pharisees. Jesus asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  to which the man replied, “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” But when he found the answer to his question he didn’t respond with “I believe in him” but simply with “I believe.” (#9:35-38) There is no real need for John to write in this gospel who is the object when believing is involved.

John 9:35-38  Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”  Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”  Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him.

Again, really believing the facts about Christ is much the same as believing (20:31). The key word here is “really.” If we really believe the facts about Jesus, we will most certainly place our trust totally in Him. Believing in Christ takes us out of ourselves and places us in Him. We are made one with Christ. But to really believe the Father or Christ is to do exactly this, for if we really believe, we will rely upon what He has said and place our trust fully in Him.

John 20:31  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

C.H. Dodd, when commenting upon (1 John 5:4) says, “The way to victory is not a confident assertion of our own better selves, but faith, and faith necessarily refers us to something beyond ourselves. The victorious faith of the Christian is trust in God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ His Son. It means committing ourselves to the love of God as it is expressed in all that Jesus Christ was and all that He did.”

1 John 5:4  for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.