John 10:38 (LSB)

Passage

but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and continue knowing that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

Nearby Context

John 10:36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

John 10:37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

John 10:38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and continue knowing that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

John 10:39 Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.

John 10:40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "though", "believe", "works", "continue", "knowing", and "father". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "though" and "believe", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 37's "If I do not do the works..." into verse 39's "Therefore they were seeking again to seize...", so "though" and "believe" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "though" and "believe" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.