Jesus expands on belief as the work of God by emphasizing that He knows precisely those whom the Father has given to Him and appointed to eternal life. Those not so appointed take offense at difficult sayings and fall away, while the appointed ones, including the twelve, recognize the words of eternal life and perceive God-in-the-Flesh among them. This recognition stems from a taste of true belief that surpasses anything the world offers and produces fruit no other belief can match. Christ's focus remains on those given to Him, equipping only certain ones to believe in a way that pervades every detail of life and bears witness to God's sovereignty, providence, protection, and goodness. The firstfruits ordained to eternal life therefore cleave to, adhere to, trust in, and rely on God and His Messenger, producing fruit as evidence of that belief and being raised up at the last day. Through continual relationship with the Father and the Son, their decisions and actions reflect the fundamental attributes of God, forming His character image within them.

Belief forms the foundation of life and especially of eternal life, as those who consistently demonstrate correct belief receive appointment from God to that life. This appointment explains the distinction between individuals who hold true beliefs and enter a relationship with God and those who do not, even when the latter appear more knowledgeable or deserving. In the account of certain Gentiles responding to the gospel, the text identifies divine ordination as the enabling factor that produces genuine belief rather than any inherent human capacity to discern truth. When joined to the definition of eternal life as knowing the Father and the Son, this appointment emerges as the sole basis on which true belief becomes possible. Belief itself constitutes the work of God, the one essential labor that leads to the food enduring to everlasting life, which the Son of Man provides under the Father's seal. Those who seek God for merely physical provision overlook this requirement and therefore fail to perform the work He has appointed.

In Acts 13:48 those Gentiles in Antioch who responded positively to the gospel had been appointed to eternal life and therefore believed. The term appointed conveys an ordering or disposing from outside the individual, specifically by God through His Holy Spirit, so that the faith exercised was not self-generated. This divine action explains the contrasting failure of the Jerusalem rulers and people, who lacked such an inclination and therefore neither recognized Christ nor the voices of the prophets. The same principle appears in the broader apostolic teaching that God predestines some to adoption as sons according to the good pleasure of His will and calls, justifies, and glorifies them in sequence. The summons functions like a parent calling one particular child out of a group, separating that child for a definite purpose while the others remain unaffected. Because human nature leaves people deceived, distracted, and resistant, God must first dispose the mind before any genuine response to Him can occur. Consequently, even the initial faith that leads to repentance and justification is presented as His gift rather than a human achievement. Those so appointed are thereby enabled to believe through grace, while the rest of humanity is passed over for the present and will receive opportunity only in a later resurrection. This sovereign choice produces humility, gratitude, and obedience in those called, since no prior virtue or initiative on their part moved God to act.