John 20:31 · World English Bible
John 20:31 Meaning But These Are Written
but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
What does John 20:31 mean?
Scripture aims at something beyond information. The gospel accounts were assembled by people who chose what to include with a purpose in mind, and that purpose was conversion rather than a complete record.
From the Catholic reading below.
John 20:31 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Catholic
CATHOLIC
Catholic
Scripture aims at something beyond information. The gospel accounts were assembled by people who chose what to include with a purpose in mind, and that purpose was conversion rather than a complete record.
Christ means the anointed one, the rescuer Israel waited for, and Son of God says he shares the Father's own life. Believing that is not agreeing to a fact and moving on; it opens into life, a real sharing in God's own being that begins at baptism and does not end at death. This is why the Church reads these pages aloud at every Mass instead of leaving them on a shelf.
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Catholic lens
Live John 20:31 today
- Take one thing you read or heard this week that struck you, and do a single small thing about it today instead of just agreeing with it.
- Instead of telling someone about an idea you like, do the thing it suggests for them, quietly, and skip the explanation.
- When you are stressed and start scrolling for information that will fix it, stop and ask what you already know that you are not doing.
What have you understood for years and never actually let change anything?
The same truth in other traditions
Zen
The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon. Study the pointing and you have studied a finger.
Taoism · Zhuangzi
The fish trap exists for the fish, and once you have the fish you can forget the trap. Words exist for the meaning, and the point is to get there.
Buddhism · Dhammapada
Reciting many teachings and acting on none is counting another person's cattle. The knowing has to turn into living or it was nothing.
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