To DISOBEY, refuse to be persuaded — and pointedly NOT apisteō, 'to disbelieve,' which Greek has and John does not use here. John 3:36 sets 'the one believing' against 'the one DISOBEYING' the Son, so the opposite of faith in that sentence is not an empty head but a refusal. KJV ('believeth not') and NIV ('rejects') soften it; ASV ('obeyeth not') and NWT ('disobeys') keep the root. → first discussed at John 3:36