John 4

David Lipscomb Commentary On John Chapter Three JESUS LEAVES JUDEA AND TOWARD GALILEEJoh_4:1-61 When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John—Baptism was the act in which the people declared themselves the disciples of John (Luke 7:30), and the baptism of Christ stood in the same relation to Christ and disci- pleship. It is thought that this leaving Judea was to avoid conflict with the Pharisees. 2 (although Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples),—What the disciples did by the command of Jesus, Jesus did through them. The disciples baptized the people in obedience to Christ, and the Holy Spirit said that Jesus baptized them. Jesus was in his disciples teaching and baptizing persons dur¬ing his lifetime. If those baptized by his disciples were baptized by Jesus, all acts performed by the disciples by direction of Jesus were performed by Jesus. Jesus was in his disciples working for the salvation of the world from sin. Just as God the Father was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself so was Christ in the disciples teaching and entreating the world to be reconciled to God through Christ. 3 he left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.—He left Judea where the Pharisees chiefly controlled and went back to Galilee where the religious parties were not so bitter. 4 And he must needs pass through Samaria.—Samaria lay between Judea and Galilee. In going from one to the other Samaria must be passed through or the person must cross the river Jordan, go on the east side, and cross over to Judea below the southern boundary of Samaria. This greatly increased the distance. 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph:—Sychar was near the city of Samaria, in the land of Ephraim, the son of Joseph. Jacob had bought this land of Hamor, Shechem’ s father. (Genesis 33:18-20.) He gave this to Joseph and Joseph’ s bones were brought up from Egypt and buried near to Shechem. (Joshua 24:32-33.) 6 and Jacob’ s well was there.—This well was noted and had the reputation of having been dug by Jacob or his servants. Lieutenant Anderson in 1866 descended to the bottom, found it seventy-five feet deep, walled with stones, and dry at the time. [McGarvey says: “ Jacob’ s well is still there, about one hundred yeards from the foot of Mt. Gerizim, which rises high above it to the west. The well is a perfect cylinder, seven and a half feet in diameter, and it is walled with stones of good size, smoothly dressed, and nicely fitted together. It is an ex¬cellent piece of masonry. Its depth was stated by the earliest modern who visited it (Maundrel) at one hundred five feet, and it then contained fifteen feet of water.

In 1839 it was found to be seventy-five feet deep with ten or twelve feet of water. All visitors of more recent date have found it dry and gradually filling up from the habit of throwing stones into it to hear the reverberation when they strike the bottom. [This accounts for its depth at different times.] When the writer was there in 1879 his tapeline struck the bottom at sixty-five feet. The top of the well is arched over like a cistern and a circular opening is left about twenty inches in diameter. Another opening of irregular shape has been broken through the arch, and when you look into one of these the light admitted by the other enables you to examine the walls.” ] Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well.—Jesus sat upon the stone at the well while his disciples went to the town of Sychar to buy food. It was about the sixth hour.—The sixth hour was most probably twelve o’ clock, though some place it at six in the evening. HE WITH THE WOMANJoh_4:7-267 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.—The Samaritans were a mongrel race that had grown up in Samaria from the importation of Assyrians after the deporting of the Israelites from the land. (2 Kings 17:24.) These imported Assyrians married with the poorer classes of the Israelites that remained in the country. At first they gave only a formal worship to the God of heaven while still worshiping the gods of Assyria. The Jews persistently refused all association with them as equals or as worshipers of their God. The Samaritans kept up the worship at the same places at whicn the ten tribes who for¬sook the house of David in the days of Jeroboam, that is, Beth¬el and Dan. 8 For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy food.—The Jews, while refusing all social and religious associations or intercourse, traded with them so the disciples had gone to this Samaritan city to buy provisions. 9 The Samaritan woman therefore saith unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samari¬tan woman?—The Samaritans would have been pleased to associate with the Jews, so when Jesus asked a favor of the woman and spoke in a kindly social way she was surprised and asked him how he could do so. (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans).—They regarded them as unclean and would not accept courtesies at their hands, although they bought from and sold to them. She did not refuse the water, but expressed a surprise that he asked it of her. Jesus came to break down all these partition walls, national and race prejudices, and to unite all who would follow him into one brotherhood. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her,—The answer Jesus made to her shows that his purpose was to introduce the question of her spiritual condition and to direct her mind to his mission to make known the will of God to the world.If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him,— The gift of God spoken of here meant the offer of eternal life to the world and that he was their Messiah to bring salvation to the world. and he would have given thee living water.—He meant the spiritual blessings he could give to the world. Jesus did not explain his course, or argue the matter with her, but at once laid before her the great end for which he came into the world — his gift to the nations. The water of life, or living water, represents the life-giving blessings to which the teaching of Jesus leads men. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: whence then hast thou that living water?—The woman failed to understand his meaning and suggested the difficulties of his getting water out of the well. Her mind was fleshly, sensual, and material. She could think of nothing but literal water, and knew of none better than that in Jacob’ s well. [See comments, verse 6. 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle?— She gives the tradition concerning Jacob’ s digging and using and giving the well to his descendants. How much of this is real, how much tradition we can never tell, as the traditions never grow less as time passes concerning such things. They had come to reverence Jacob as a saint, second only to Abraham as the father of the Israelites. She felt it was presumptuous for any one to promise more in the way of water than that found in Jacob’s well, which had slaked the thirst of their fathers for nearly two thousand years. 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that drink¬eth of this water shall thirst again:—Jesus tries again to di¬rect her mind away from this material water to the water of spiritual life. This water gives temporary relief. 14 but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him should become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.—The water that he offered would abide with him who drank it and would give eternal life. He draws the contrast. The water which I give him will never let him thirst again. It shall be a perpetual fountain, or spring, of water within his soul, not only preventing thirst, but giving everlasting life. He is seeking to impress her with the truth that he promises not literal water, but spiritual water that gives eternal life. The blessings that bring spiritual life are frequently represented as living water. (John 7:38-39.) And then in the New Je¬rusalem is “ a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceed¬ing out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Revelation 22:1.) 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw.—The woman takes in the truth that the effects of the water he promised were permanent, but she thought it relieved from the fleshly thirst, and its possession would relieve her from coming to the well for water again. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.—He has failed to reach her spiritual nature by the figure of the living water so he seeks to reach her in a different way. He knew her condition and character and opened a way to impress her with his divine knowledge by telling the plain facts of her life. He suited his instruction to her capacities. 17 The woman answered and said unto him, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou saidst well, I have no husband:—She promptly replied, “ I have no husband.” Jesus accedes to this and tells her important facts concerning her former life and present relations not creditable to her. She rec¬ognizes that only superhuman power could have made this known to him. 18 for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said truly.—This with his former speech and demeanor impressed her that he possessed more than human knowledge. He shows his knowledge of her past and present life and lays bare her present sinful state. 19 The woman saith unt him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.—The promptness of the confession shows the candor and readiness of the woman to accept the truth. His bearing and conversation, although she failed to take in the points of his instruction, had impressed her with his sincerity and high character. When he showed his knowledge of her past life, she saw and owned he was a prophet. This was the same kind of testimony he used to convince Nathanael. (John 1:46-50.) He knew things without learning them in the ordinary way, and it at once directed the woman’ s mind to the subject of worship, and, as he was a Jew, to the difference between the Samaritans and the Jews. 20 Our fathers worshippd in this mountain;—“ Our fathers” were the ten tribes that broke away from the house of David under the lead of Jeroboam. These Samaritans claimed these as their fathers, although they were a mixed race descended from them. Jeroboam set up two altars and made two calves— one in Bethel, the other in Dan. Mount Gerizim is the mount here spoken of. and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.— That he was a prophet and a Jew brought to her mind at once the difference between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews had persistently charged the Samaritans with forsaking God in leaving Jerusalem and the temple in which God had recorded his name and where he promised to meet his people at the mercy seat, and had made a calf at Bethel and met to worship at Mount Gerizim instead of Jerusalem. Moses says, “ But unto the place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come.” (Deuteronomy 12:5.) Heted Jerusalem.

Solomon built the temple, and God promised there to meet his children. “ Jehovah said unto him [Solomon], I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there per¬petually.” (1 Kings 9:3.) From this time forward to go elsewhere to worship than to Jerusalem was to forsake God. So the prophets taught and the woman refers to this teaching. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father.—Jesus had come to supplant and swallow up this work of a merely local nature of both Jews and Samaritans and to substitute the spiritual worship of which the Jewish law and order was a material type. Jesus did not mean that in the future persons might not worship God either in Jerusalem or in this mountain. He meant that hereafter the worship of God would not be confined to either of these places, but that all who would could worship God wherever they might be. Whoever worships God according to the truth would be accepted of him. The time had come when the true spiritual temple of God should be opened to all the nations of the earth, and when the worship should not be confined to Jerusalem nor to this mountain. Jesus came to introduce this era and says, “ The hour cometh,” or is now coming, when this shall be done. The local and external shall give way to the spiritual and eternal. 22 Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know;—He kept before her the truth that in forsaking God’ s appointments they ceased to worship God. They did not know who they were worshiping. Jesus, while seeking to open the mind of the woman to the truth, condemns the sin of the Israelites in forsaking Jerusalem and the temple worship. In doing so they forsook God, and worshiped they knew not what. They claimed to worship God, but to reject his order is to turn from him. for salvation is from the Jews.—Salvation was to come through the family of Abraham of whom the Jews were the representatives. Salvation comes through the Jews that were true to the worship of God. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers.—Jesus came to introduce this worship that was spiritual. The heart of man was to be enlisted.. Man’ s spirit must lead to the service. This worship must be regulated by the truth of God. In this new covenant God said, “ I will put my laws into their mind, and on their heart also will I write,” and all the service must be from the heart. The introduction of it was future, now at hand.

Jesus was even now introducing it. He more clearly tells them the hour now is when the true worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. This means the worship shall not be formal, local, and mechanical as it had been greatly among the Jews, but it should be from the heart. The heart shall be enlisted and the spirit molded by the truths of God, and that henceforth God will seek only the worship of those who worship him from the heart. This was bringing out the contrast between the worship under the law of Moses and of Christ. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.—He is not flesh and blood as men are. He is a Spirit and unseen by mortal eyes. The natural and seen are temporal and must pass away. The Spirit is unseen and eternal. God is Spirit and the spirit of man must worship God not simply an outward fleshly conformity to his law that seems to have satisfied the demands of the law of Moses. Although under the law of Moses a higher life of faith was possible and was accomplished by many. They who worship God must worship with the spirit or the soul and in truth. A spiritual being like God can be pleased with worship only when it comes from the heart and all worship to him must be guided by truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare unto us all things.—This thought seems to have been rather beyond the comprehension of the woman and she evades a di¬rect reply. The Samaritans, in common with the Jews, looked for a coming Savior. They still maintained a nominal wor¬ship of the true God while refusing to follow his laws. He is called in the scripture Messiah. Messiah is Hebrew; Christ, Greek; Anointed, English. Both the Jews and the Samaritans looked for the prophet to come that would make known the full and perfect law of God. The bearing of Christ and the revelation that he had made to her reminded her of this prom¬ise— not that she was ready to acknowledge him as Christ, but her mind had been led out to think of Christ by what he said to her. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.—This is the most direct declaration made by Jesus to one he was teaching that he was the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, the Prophet that was to come. He more frequently called himself the Son of man and left his works and teaching to declare him to be the Son of God. But this woman was a Samaritan, in many respects mentally and socially and in knowledge of the scriptures inferior to the Jews. She was fleshly, sensual, dull of perceiving spiritual truth, but frank and candid, simplehearted, ready to receive the truth, and Jesus met her in the same spirit of open and direct declaration of the truth suited to her wants. The pains and patience of Jesus to reach this woman with the stains on her character ought to be an assurance to his followers that such are open to salvation and frequently the first to be reached. Another thought worthy of consideration is when Jesus would reach the people of Samaria he did not seek the great, the noble, the intellectual.

He met the humble, ignorant woman, who lived with a man not her husband and brought the truth to her heart and through her reached others. It is much more easy to reach the poor, simple-minded, open sinners than the self-righteous, who pride themselves upon their wealth, social position, or learning, and who cover and hide their sins. All who can be really reached by the word of God can be much more readily reached by Christians of this class than by those in what is called the higher circle of life. Man looks at the outward appearance; God looks at the heart. When the heart is right, God uses the person, and works his own ends. REMARKS TO THE John 4:27-3827 And upon this came his disciples; and they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman;—[Christ’ s disciples had left him at the well while they went to the town of Sychar to buy food.] This conversation had occurred during their absence in the city. On their return they were surprised to find him talking with the woman because of the antipathy the Jews cultivated toward the Samaritans.yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her?— But they have learned enough of him to know re-monstrance would be vain. Jesus never had a doubt or feel¬ing of uncertainty in what he did. 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went away into the city, and saith to the people,—The return of the disciples seems to have interrupted the conversation, and the woman at once bethought her of the people in the city, and in the intensity of her feeling she seems to have forgotten her mission to the well and in her haste she left the waterpot she brought and hastened to the city. 29 Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did: —She told as she went that she had found a man who could tell her all she had ever done. [He had told her some things about her life and doubtless conscience had told her the rest. She felt all was known to him and naturally exaggerates by saying, “ He told me all about my life.” ] can this be the Christ?—This question was suggestive and led them to believe what Jesus had directly told her. [She did not say he is the Christ—“ Can this be the Christ ?” Had she asserted he was the Christ probably they would not have believed her, but her modest manner excited their curiosity and made them willing to see and hear.] 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him.— This aroused enough interest or curiosity to cause the people to go out and see and talk with this newly-found prophet. [Her success was immediate. I take it they were not skeptical people, but were waiting for the Deliverer.] 31 In the mean while the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat.—While she was going and the people were coming from the city, the disciples prepared the food and asked him to eat. [While the woman was spreading the news, the disciples were preparing and pressing upon the Master to eat the food they had secured.] 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not.—[“ Man shall not live by bread alone.” He had been lifted above hunger by the eagerness of his success.] 33 The disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat?—They had left him when they went into the city wearied and no doubt hungry. They had returned, prepared food, and now he declines to eat. Jesus told them he had sources of strength and satisfaction of which they were ignorant. 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work.—[“ Meat” in the scriptures means not only flesh, but any kind of food.] The doing the will of his Father supplied the place of food and refreshed and strengthened him in body as well as spirit. Here are two persons becoming so interested in spiritual truths presented that they forgot their fleshly wants and external demands. One in teaching the truth of God, and the other for-gets the water for which she had gone to the well. Jesus forgets his weariness and hunger in the desire to save a soul and accomplish the work unto which he was sent. 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest.—[In Palestine harvesting began about the middle of April. Jesus spoke about the middle of December.] It is thought that this was four months before the harvest timt; whether or not, it was an admonition that the spiritual harvest was always ready for the reaping. It teaches, too, that Jesus in his wisdom chose an humble, lowly sinner, one ready to confess her sins, rather than the rich and learned and self-righteous through whom to reach and influence a whole community. This is so unlike the wisdom of men which seeks the wealthy, the learned, the respectable through whom to reach communities. It teaches too that we ought to improve all openings and opportunities to preach the gospel no matter how unpromising they may appear. These lowly candid sinners are much more easily reached than the self-righteous, self-satisfied classes. They are also much more effective in carrying the truth to others. 36 He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.—One who improves all opportunities, who does not despise the day of small things, who is constant about the work of the Father will receive wages and in his work will bear fruit unto eternal life, both he who sows and the fruit he bears will enjoy eternal life. [They who reap a harvest of souls will receive spiritual wages; not earthly pay in money, such as reapers in harvest fields reap, nor of fame, or position, but the happiness of doing the greatest work on earth and a crown that fadeth not away in the world to come. “ Gathereth fruit” means souls that are gathered as the sheaves in the heavenly garner. There saved souls and the reaper rejoice together.] 37 For herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.—Jesus was now reaping what had been sown by others. He was reaping where Moses and the prophets had sown. Even this despised Samaritan woman had been prepared to look for the Messiah who would bring all things to their knowledge. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are etered into their labor.—Jesus sent his disciples to preach and reap what had been sown by others. This is the order of God in the natural and spiritual world. One sows; they who follow him reap. [“ Sent is a verb past and refers to an event previous to the present incident. The disciples had baptized “ more than John’’ (John 4:1), so many that John’ s disciples reported that “ all men come to him’’ (John 3:26). Christ’ s disciples who had baptized all of these (John 4:2) were reaping the fruit of John’ s sowing, to a great degree, supplemented by the labors of Christ. John had sown; they were reaping.

While on earth Christ sowed and later at Pentecost, in Judea, and in Samaria, his disciples entered into his labors. See the reaping of what he had sown in Samaria. (Acts 8:5-8.) This principle is true now.] RESULTS IN SYCHAR AND ARRIVAL IN GALILEEJoh_4:39-45 39 And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all things that ever I did.—The woman was a dull, but candid, woman. She was living a life of adultery. This was probably so common among her people as not to incur the os¬tracism it has in later years. Her earnest and candid statement of what had passed between her and Jesus moved many to be¬lieve on Christ through her. The fervid earnestness of a can¬did person causes conviction frequently. [She had borne tes-timony of Christ as best she could. Though an humble woman, she had not preached Christ in vain. This demon¬strates what one poor soul can do for Christ.] 40 So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them:—To converse with the woman in a social, friendly way, the willingness to accept a favor as small as a drink of water, the feeling of interest in her were matters of surprise to her and the disciples and encouraged the people to insist on his remaining with them for a time. and he abode there two days.—The remaining with them for two days as a teacher instructing them in the truth of God was no doubt a shock to the prejudices of the disciples and a surprise to the Samaritans. Yet the disciples submitted. The Samaritans felt flattered and induced them to hear him more readily. On the part of Jesus it was the beginning of break¬ing down the wall of separation between the different nations and peoples that would be completed in his death. [It was in¬deed a strange invitation for a Samaritan city to extend to a Jew, but no more strange than for a Jewish teacher to accept it.] 41 And many more believed because of his word;—The re¬sult of his stay was that many more believed in him through his teachings. [They heard for themselves his teaching re¬garding water of life and they recognized in him a divine teacher. He worked no miracle as at Jerusalem, but how dif¬ferent the course of the self-righteous Pharisee!] 42 and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.—The feel¬ing of the people toward the woman is shown in their think¬ing it more creditable to believe on Jesus from hearing him than from the report she gave of him. So they rather taunt her that they believed through the teachings of the Savior. But Jesus seems to have accepted the faith of both, and I can¬not resist the feeling that he was better pleased with those who the more readily believed on him, even through the poor woman. Only one point was needed to fix the faith in Christ. That is, is God with him, does he talk and act in divine au¬thority? If so, all he says or claims to be is to be believed. The readiness to believe, like Nathanael, the Israelite without guile, like this woman on the first clear evidence of superhu¬man knowledge and of those who readily received her testi¬mony, is the evidence of an artless and candid heart and soul and is more pleasing to God than those who are slower to ac¬cept the divine evidence or act on the simple instruction of the Savior. 43 And after the two days he went forth from thence into Galilee.—After the two days delay in his journey towards Galilee from Jerusalem he continued it. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country.—Exactly what country he regarded as his own in this statement is difficult to determine. While born in Judea, he was generally regarded as a Galilean. It may possi¬bly have been spoken to show his approbation of his reception in Samaria on his leaving it. 45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.—He had wrought miracles at the feast in Jerusalem. Many Galileans had been in Judea, saw the miracles he performed there and so were ready to receive him on his return to Galilee. They may have been the application of the adage stated above. These Gali¬leans had gone to Judea to hear of his great works. SECOND MIRACLE IN CANA John 4:46-5446 He came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine.—Cana was not far from Nazareth where Jesus grew to manhood. There he had wrought his first miracle. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.—[Probably he was connected in some way with royalty, though not certain.] 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.—[In some way he knew of the works of Jesus. His coming to Jesus shows that he was regarded as a prophet in Galilee.] 48 Jesus therefore said unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe.—The Jews generally sought signs and wonders. Jesus to call out a manifestation of the man’ s faith said, “ Except ye see these things ye will not believe.” 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.—The earnestness of his entreaty and the anxiety for his son showed the sincerity and nobility of his faith. 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth.—Jesus saw in his earnest entreaty the manifestation of an earnest and humble faith, and in response to this faith Jesus did more than he asked. He healed the son without going down. The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him, and he went his way.—It was another manifestation of his trusting faith that he was willing to accept this assurance and to return home without Jesus. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, saying, that his son lived.—The change for the better in the condition of the child was so marked that servants were sent out to assure him that his son was much better and doubtless that Jesus need not come. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend.—That he might be sure that the healing was due to the power of Jesus, he asked the time of the change. They said therefore unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.—[Seventh hour is one o’ clock— being the hour Jesus spoke and the fever left.] 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth:—They told the hour at which the fever left him. It corresponded to the time at which Jesus said he lived. and himself believed, and his whole house.—This gave as¬surance to his faith, and his testimony caused the others of his household to believe with him. 54 This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judaea into Galilee.—The miracle at Cana had occurred on his coming out of Galilee, and this was under the same conditions. [Jesus had worked miracles in Judea, but this was the second worked in Galilee. The first was in Cana; he was at Cana when he worked the second, but the beneficiary was at Capernaum.] This was a physical not a spiritual healing. In spiritual healing the spirit, the soul, the heart, the inner man, must enter into the service, must be molded into the likeness of God. This is done by faith in God. Faith is the medium be¬tween the heart of man and God, who is a Spirit. Then the teacher of the word must come into, and be accepted and con-formed to by, the spirit in man before his influence can be brought to bear on the spirit of man to mold and influence the man’ s spirit. The Spirit of God dwells in the church only to the extent that the word of God dwells in, is cherished by, and controls the heart of man.

Being in the church, unless he cherishes the word of God, does not secure to him the presence of the Spirit of God. We are the temples of the Spirit of God only as the word of God dwells in and controls our hearts. The Spirit of God dwelling in the heart makes us Christians. When the Spirit of God dwells in the heart, we will obey the Lord Jesus Christ, not before. The truth saves by molding the heart, the soul, the character of man, into the likeness of Christ, into a fitness to dwell with him and his con¬genial spirits in the world of glory forever.

Verse 1 This chapter relates the journey of the Lord and his disciples through Samaria (John 4:1-5), recounts the interview with the woman at the well (John 4:6-26), gives the conversation with the disciples upon their return (John 4:27-38), sums up the results of Christ’s teaching in Samaria (John 4:38-42), narrates the continuation to Galilee, and records the performance of the second of the seven great signs (John 4:46-54). When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John. (John 4:1) The disciples of John the Baptist were already jealous of Jesus’ success; and the Lord knew that the mighty acclaim hailing his efforts, if uninterrupted, would shortly bring upon him a premature confrontation with the Pharisees; and, in order to avoid it, he promptly switched the scene of his labors. The inference here is that if relatively friendly persons such as John’s disciples were actively jealous of Jesus, the far more antagonistic Pharisees would be likely to take drastic action. Not long after these events, the Pharisees accomplished the destruction of John the Baptist; and, although their hand is hidden in the sacred account of his martyrdom, it is very likely that those wily hypocrites of the priestly hierarchy had maneuvered John into making the comment on Herod’s unlawful marriage which resulted in his execution. The Lord, in time, planned to die for the salvation of all men; but, at that particular time, his hour had not yet come.

Verse 2 (Although Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples).See under John 3:22-26. An important deduction from the fact of Jesus’ many baptisms, none of which were administered by himself personally, yet being referred to as his baptisms and his accomplishment, is this: All who are baptized in obedience to God’s specific command, and by the hand of the Lord’s disciples in harmony with his will, are truly baptized by Jesus! In the light of this undeniable fact, what becomes of the human allegation that would make of Christian baptism “a work of human righteousness”? It is no such thing, but an act of the Lord himself.

Verse 3 He left Judaea and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs pass through Samaria.Samaria lay between Jerusalem and Galilee, the most direct route, therefore, going through Samaria. The boundaries of Samaria varied in history; but in the time of Christ it was a small province about twenty miles wide, north to south, and about thirty miles long, east to west. The eastern boundary was the Jordan River, and the southern line lay about seven miles south of Shechem. The capital was the city of the same name, occupying an impressive butte some six miles northwest of the area where the events of this chapter happened.[1]ENDNOTE: [1] Peloubet, Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary (Chicago: The John C. Winston Company, 1925), p. 582.

Verse 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave his son Joseph.Sychar … was near Shechem and the piece of ground Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor for a hundred pieces of money. It was also the scene of the bloody episode revolving around Jacob’s daughter Dinah; it was the place where Jacob dug that famous well and belonged to the sons of Joseph, to which son Jacob had bequeathed the property. When the children of Israel brought with them out of Egypt the bones of Joseph, here is where they buried them. Thus, although the scene of the events here recorded was not at that time a part of Israel, it had, nevertheless, figured prominently in their history. (See Genesis 33:18-20 and Joshua 24:32.) Significantly, Jacob had once constructed an altar there to [‘El] [‘Elohey] [~Yisra’el], “God, the God of Israel” (Genesis 33:20).

Verse 6 And Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.Jacob’s well … As Ryle noted, this reference contains all that is certainly known about this well, as to its origin; because the Bible nowhere mentions Jacob’s digging a well, although it is recorded that Abraham and Isaac dug wells. Still, this reference is enough. The well is still there and is, in all probability, one of the few authentic places that can be identified as the place where Jesus sat. J. W. McGarvey, after visiting the well, wrote: Jacob’s well is still there, about one hundred feet from Mount Gerizim, which rises high above it to the west. The well is a perfect cylinder, seven and a half feet in diameter, walled with stones of good size, smoothly dressed, and nicely fitted together, an excellent piece of masonry. Its depth was stated by the earliest modern who visited it (Maundrel) at 105 feet with fifteen feet of water. In 1839, it was found to be seventy-five feet deep with ten or twelve feet of water. All visitors of more recent date have found it dry and gradually filling up from the habit of throwing stones into it to hear the reverberation when they strike the bottom.[2]Jesus, being wearied with his journey … The perfect humanity of Jesus is very evident in John.

He alone recorded the saying from the cross, “I thirst!” and it appears that the apostle was particularly impressed with the bone-tired weariness of Jesus as he sat wearily by the well when the apostles departed to buy provisions. It would appear that the Lord’s unusual weariness might have resulted from the fervor and enthusiasm with which the preaching and baptizing had been accomplished in the preceding days. It was the kind of letdown that every great campaigner feels when the effort is over; and the long march up from Judaea had intensified his weariness. Sat thus by the well … Such a detail only an eyewitness would have included. It was about the sixth hour … The ancient Jews reckoned time from sundown to sunrise, roughly twelve hours of darkness; and from sunrise to sunset, roughly twelve hours of daylight. The Romans and other ancients reckoned time from midnight to noon, and from noon until midnight. In this light, the “sixth hour” would have been about noon, six hours after sunrise, by the Jewish method of reckoning; or, by the Roman method, it would have been six hours after noon, or about six o’clock in the evening. For those interested in full discussions of the arguments on this question of the time of day, reference is made to the works of Westcott who favored understanding this as Roman time (6 P.M.),[3] and to the works of Ryle who favored Jewish time (noon).[4] One thing for sure, it was one or the other; and perhaps the best way to determine which it was is by the events related in the context. There is no necessity at all for supposing that John invariably used either method of reckoning time, probably using Jewish time in one episode and Roman time in another, as for example, when Roman courts were involved. To this writer, it seems that the extensive results that flowed out of this episode, such as the coming of the whole city out to meet Jesus, and their inviting him and his disciples to stay with them, indicate that the event happened at noon. Of weight in this preference is the fact of the woman’s having come to the well alone, rather than with a group of women who, like herself, needed water. It is written of Abraham’s servant that “He made his camels kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water” (Genesis 24:11). Now, if the woman had gone to the well at the usual time, there is the probability of the presence of others and the absence of the privacy evident in this narrative. Also, the social status of the woman suggests that she might have preferred to go at a time when she would not have encountered the neighbors. [2] J. W. McGarvey, The Fourfold Gospel (Cincinnati, Ohio: The Standard Publishing Company, 1914), p. 56. [3] B. F. Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), p. 282. [4] J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House), John, Vol. I, p. 198.

Verse 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. WITH THE WOMAN OF woman of Samaria … The tragic story of the Samaritans and the contempt in which that unfortunate people were held by the Jews endow this incident with the deepest interest. Following the capture of the ten northern tribes by Shalmaneser (722 B:C.), the cities and villages of Samaria were totally depopulated and left to the wild beasts. Not wishing to let the land lie idle, the king of Assyria repopulated the area with people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avah, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. Of course, they brought their old idol worship with them; but they were introduced to the Jewish Scriptures in the following manner: the people were troubled by the marauding wild beasts, and the king of Assyria decided that the trouble might have been due to the new settlers having neglected the “god of the land.” So he dispatched one of the captive priests of Israel to enlighten the people; and thus the Samaritans came into possession of the Pentateuch, the only part of the Hebrew Bible which they accepted. They set up a system of religion based partially upon the Pentateuch, but containing also a number of foreign elements. When the Jews rebuilt the temple, following the captivity of the southern tribes, the Samaritans desired to help, but were rebuffed. Animosity and hatred multiplied; and, at the time here spoken of, Jews had no dealings with Samaritans (although they traded with them); and, when the hierarchy referred to Jesus Christ as a “Samaritan,” they had exhausted their vocabulary of invective. It is a matter of wonder and awe that the Dayspring from on High should have bestowed upon a woman of this unfortunate people the honor of the ensuing interview. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink … In this account, one is confronted with a contrast of remarkable dimensions: Here is a contrast between God and man. Here is a contrast between man and woman. Here is a contrast between royalty and commonality. Here is a contrast between wisdom and ignorance. Here is a contrast between the unmarried and the oft-married. Here is a contrast between purity and immorality. Here is a contrast between Jew and Gentile. These multiple contrasts of race, sex, religion, moral status, marital status, social position, ability, wisdom, etc., must be accounted the most dramatic and significant of any that occurred in our Lord’s ministry. Yet, Jesus and that woman had one thing in common; both wanted a drink of water. Unerringly, Jesus saw the common ground between them and did not hesitate to stand with her upon that common platform of their mutual need. How loving, tender and considerate was our Lord in his attitude toward this daughter of Samaria! Give me to drink … By these words, Jesus placed himself in the position of one requesting a favor, and by such a gesture assumed a social equality with her which astonished her and led to the conversation that followed. Jesus here did for her only what he did for all of wretched and fallen humanity; for he came from heaven to become a man, to take upon him the form of a servant, and to die for the sins of the whole world. All this is fully known; but, in this specific instance of it, the humiliation of our Lord becomes epic in its depth and intensity.

Verse 8 For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy food.Hovey remarked that the disciples, for some reason, did not appear to have been as tired and weary as Jesus; but this is not strange. To the leader of such a campaign as they had just terminated, there is always the greater intensity, enthusiasm, and emotion exhibited by all great leaders; and, as noted earlier, this excessive fatigue on the part of the Master is exactly what was natural. Some insist that this weariness of Jesus suggests 6 P.M. instead of noon for the time of this interview; but it may be accounted for differently.

Verse 9 The Samaritan woman therefore saith unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)How is it? … How? It was the Master’s way of opening a door into her heart that he might give her eternal life. How? It was the Saviour’s way of recruiting one of the most effective missionaries he ever had. How? It was Jesus’ means of entry into that city as an honored guest for two days and nights. All of it began with this request for a drink of water. Who am a Samaritan woman … For the origin of this people and the development of the hatred between them and the Jews, see under John 4:7, above. A Jew … The first estimate of Jesus formed by this woman was stated in these words; but her knowledge and understanding of Jesus grew rapidly. Note the following: “A Jew” (John 4:7), “Sir” (John 4:11), “a prophet” (John 4:19), and “the Christ” (John 4:29).

Verse 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink: thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.If thou knewest … thou wouldest have asked … This is the glory of that woman. These words show why Jesus accomplished this interview. He saw that the woman, despite her fallen life, would respond to a genuine opportunity to know the truth. In that precious quality, she was far superior to many of every age who indeed know the Lord of life but who will neither ask of him nor respond in any way to his mercy. Living water … is a reference to the water of life, the spiritual realities that lead to everlasting life in the presence of God. The metaphor was probably suggested by the thirst which had brought them both to the well. Just as the body requires water, just so the soul, if it is to live, must drink at the everlasting fountain of God’s word. The gift of God … In this, Jesus referred to himself, the gift of God to all the world. Amazingly, the supreme gift of God from all eternity sat at that very moment on the ledge of Jacob’s well; but the poor woman, dodging the scorn of neighbors, and coming to the well in the heat of the day, had suddenly confronted the Lord of life. Moses’ discovery of the burning bush was not any more remarkable. What a pathetic thing it is to contemplate this woman standing face to face with God incarnate, and yet unaware of it. How blind are our eyes, how deadened our senses, how feeble our souls, when, face to face with God, we nevertheless cannot see him!

Verse 11 The woman said unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: whence then hast thou that living water?The woman’s response shows that she did not understand what was meant by “living water,” hence the question of its source, especially in view of the fact that Jesus had no rope. Whence then hast thou that living water … indicates that the woman had already apprehended the fact that Jesus was not talking about the water of Jacob’s well. This question of hers reveals that she understood at least a part of what Jesus was saying to her, and that she might have suspected, even at that point, the metaphorical significance of his words, as the next verse shows.

Verse 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle?Art thou greater than … Jacob …? Indeed a greater than Jacob was there, and a greater than Moses, and a greater than Jonah, and a greater than Solomon; and the very fact of this woman’s employment of such a question is of deep interest. Some have understood her words as a scornful denial that Christ had any power to give the living water he had mentioned; but it appears that something far different from scorn was intended by this reply.

Verse 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that drinketh this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.In this, Jesus defined the living water he promised as a spiritual power leading to eternal life. Such would satisfy the deepest thirst of the soul, and not merely for a time, but eternally. The source of such a blessing is uniquely in Jesus Christ; and it may not be earned or merited, but is a heavenly gift to fallen and sinful men. The gift, however, is conditional. The woman would not have given Jesus a drink of water unless he had asked it, nor would Christ have blessed her unless she had asked. The Lord will not endow any soul with living water unless that soul shall ask in the appointed way through compliance with conditions prerequisite to his blessing. Eternal life … here plainly identified the blessing Jesus promised the woman of Samaria. It was impossible after these words for the woman to have misunderstood the direction of our Lord’s remarks. It does seem, however, that she misunderstood the promised blessing as including a cessation of ordinary thirst also, which would have made it unnecessary for her to come again to the well of water.

Verse 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw.Some element of misunderstanding is evident in this request, but she rose to the height of asking the blessing in its fullest extent. Those who would be blessed should never wait until they know fully all that they ask; and, for the most spiritual person on earth, there is the likelihood that he, like this woman, would have many incorrect ideas of the ultimate blessing. The important thing is to ask; and, as Jesus said at the beginning of the interview, this woman was a person who would ask. May all men be just as diligent to ask of him who alone can satisfy the soul’s deepest need. The woman, at this point, did not know that the blessing the requested involved moral surgery in her life, but Jesus quickly moved to enlighten her.

Verse 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband and come hither.Go, call thy husband … The reason for Jesus’ rather abrupt injection of this command into the conversation may have been complex. The gift of eternal life is not a blessing that anyone receives ALONE; it is always for others also; and those others always include, first of all, those who are members of one’s family. Also, the gift of eternal life is never bestowed apart from the correction of the moral condition of the recipient. Perhaps both of these considerations may be understood as explaining the Lord’s command, in which the Lord addressed himself to the woman’s conscience, and in such a manner as to give her the opportunity of confessing her sins. Sins, however, are never easily confessed, and her reply fell short of revealing any moral fault. When any soul would turn to Christ and receive his inexpressible gift. the one desiring salvation is always confronted with a similar command with reference to his life. To the embezzler, the Lord says, “Go, bring thy records”; to others, he says, “Go, bring thy tax returns”; “Go, bring thy wife”; “Go, bring thy child, thy brother, thy sister”; or “Go bring anything in thy life that is contrary to divine law!”

Verse 17 The woman answered and said unto him, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou saidest well, I have no husband.This, of course, was truth, but far from all of it. The Lord already knew everything in her life, and he had not asked for information but to elicit from her a recognition of her moral condition. Nevertheless, he commended, in part, her response.

Verse 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said truly.This was an astounding revelation to the woman that the stranger at the well knew all about her sinful and unhappy life; and yet this had not prevented his earnest conversation with her, nor his asking a drink at her hands. The marvel is that she did not fall upon her knees. Note that this woman had had five husbands, meaning five persons to whom she had been married, and that she was living with a sixth man without benefit of a marriage ceremony. Some deductions made from this passage fail to take these facts into consideration. It is easy to allege sin where it does not exist; and the sin uncovered here was primarily an immoral relationship with a sixth man, and not necessarily the fact of her having been so often married. The Lord left out of our sight the reasons for the break-up or termination of those marriages, some of which could have been due to the death of the husband, rather than to the wanton adultery of this woman whose heart hungered after eternal things.

Let them who would charge her in such a manner sustain their charges if they can, it is the preference here to leave the matter of the multiple marriages covered. The present sin of this daughter of Samaria was fully exposed by the Lord’s statement.

Verse 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.Before the day ended, she would hail him as the Christ, but her perception at this point had not reached that height. Significantly, the confrontation of her own sinful conscience was the occasion of Jesus’ rising so abruptly in her estimation. Only a few minutes earlier, she had recognized him only as “a Jew,” who she had every right to suppose hated and despised her; but now she hailed him as a prophet. The more deeply conscious any person is of his sins, the higher Jesus rises in his sight. The woman did not deny or offer excuses or explanations, but let the implications of her sinful life stand naked and unadorned in his holy presence. There is a nobility in such an attitude that staggers belief.

Verse 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.The view that these words were a mere device on the woman’s part to change the conversation appears to be wrong. It reveals the deep religious interest of the questioner, and the presence of one whom she had just hailed as a prophet gave her the opportunity to learn the truth about a question that had troubled her heart a long time. What a commentary is this regarding the inner thoughts of some whom the world would count hopelessly lost. Deep within every heart the abiding question of how men “ought” to worship God is firmly implanted; and no encrustation of sin, however coarse, can fully eradicate it. There is nothing short of genius in this woman’s going straight to Jesus with such a question. Christ is the source of finding the answers for all difficult and perplexing questions, none of which shall ever be answered until they are answered by the Master. It should be noted that the question was a valid and relevant one, that there was a proper answer, and that Jesus promptly gave it.

Verse 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, and now is, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father.Jerusalem had been until that time the correct place to worship God, but Jesus deferred that part of the answer in order to reveal that a totally new system was about to be initiated, in which the PLACE of worship would have no significance at all. God may be worshipped properly , provided only that the divine worship is tendered in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

Verse 22 Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.Ye know not … The Samaritan worship (see under John 4:7) was faulty in several important factors. It was founded upon only a part of the word of God (the Pentateuch), and even that part was not strictly obeyed. Also, many polluting elements of paganism had been incorporated into it. That which we know … Thus Jesus affirmed the truth of the Old Testament and the validity of the covenant with the chosen people, affirming the authenticity of the Hebrew religion. Salvation is from the Jews … God took hold “of the seed of Abraham” (Hebrews 2:16); the Jews were custodians of the Scripture (Romans 3:2); Christ was born “under the law.” The Old Testament Scriptures are they which “testify” of Christ (John 5:39). Even the church today is the Israel of God, and all Christians are “the seed of Abraham” (Galatians 3:29). In the sense of origins and the typical nature of the Jewish religion, it is still true that “salvation is of the Jews.”

Verse 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers.The hour cometh and now is … indicates that a new dispensation was about to be initiated by Jesus Christ. Within only four years after this interview, all of the regulations concerning the worship of God in Jerusalem were superseded by the ordinances and requirements of the new covenant. Jesus was already baptizing thousands who would, if they continued to follow him, soon receive the Holy Spirit (after Pentecost). It was the near approach of the new order. The true worshippers … These contrast with the false, vain, ignorant worshippers of every age who have improperly worshipped God. Who are the true worshippers? They are they who worship God in spirit and in truth. See under John 4:24. For such doth the Father seek … The initiative of God himself in man’s salvation appears in the fact of God’s actually seeking those of earth who will truly worship him as he has directed.

Verse 24 God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.God is a Spirit … The countless anthropomorphisms of the Old Testament probably caused Jesus to set such a statement as this over against them all. God may be spoken of in terms of the activities of men, such as walking, seeing, hearing, etc., but there is a sense in which God is not like man at all. God is a Spirit, eternal, immortal, invisible, omniscient, ubiquitous, omnipotent, and all-pervading. He is above all and through all and in all. Nothing can be hidden from God. He is the First Cause, himself uncaused, the Creator and Sustainer of everything that exists. He is nonetheless personal, hence the anthropomorphisms of Scripture. They that worship him … Just what is worship? Is it the carrying out of any kind of ritual, the observance of any days or times, or the presentation of any kind of gifts and sacrifices? Despite the fact that worship, from the earliest times, has been associated with such things, actual worship is spiritual. WHAT IS WORSHIP? A good description of worship is that of Isa 6:1-8, an analysis of which shows that worship is: (1) an awareness of the presence of God, (2) a consciousness of sin and unworthiness on the part of the worshipper, (3) a sense of cleansing and forgiveness, and (4) a response of the soul with reference to doing God’s will: “Here am I, send me!” In the New Testament, it is evident that the worship of God involved the doing of certain things: (1) meditating upon God’s word in sermon or Scripture reading, (2) singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, (3) praying to God through Christ, (4) observance of the Lord’s supper, and (5) the giving of money, goods, and services for the propagation of the faith and the relief of human needs. Very well, then, does the person who DOES these things worship God? Not necessarily, because an apostle spoke of certain persons who ate the Lord’s supper in a manner unworthy of it, not discerning the Lord’s body. Moreover, the singing and praying were commanded to be done “with the spirit and with the understanding also.” From this: it is clear that the things done in the New Testament worship were the authorized channels through which the true worship flowed, and that worship has the same relationship to the channels that electricity has to the power line that carries it. This, of course, does not disparage the authorized channels, nor suggest that man may select channels of his own. See below under: “Two Ways to Worship.” True worship is the soul’s adoration of the Creator functioning obediently to the divine will. Must worship in spirit and in truth … This speaks thunderously of the fact that the worship of God must be done properly, the two requirements being that it must be engaged in with utmost sincerity and as directed by the word of God. God has revealed the manner in which he should be worshipped, and those who hope to have their worship accepted should heed the restrictions. WORSHIPThe verse before us is a powerful prohibition. Also, Jesus said, “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). An apostle declared that “God … dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:24-25). The author of this gospel wrote, “Testify unto every man that heareth the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18). And also, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God” (2 John 1:1:9). Jesus said of the Pharisees, “Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition” (Matthew 15:6).

Paul warned the Corinthians, “Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure, transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written” (1 Corinthians 4:6). From these specific prohibitions, as well as from the spirit and tenor of the entire Bible, it is clearly impossible for man to approach his Creator in worship, except as God has directed. This was true in the days of Cain and Abel, of Nadab and Abihu, of David and Uzzah, and of the Lord Jesus Christ and ever afterward. It is true now and always. ONLY TWO WAYS TO WORSHIP GODWorship is as old as the human race, but in the long history of mortal events only two ways to worship God have ever been discovered. These are: God’s revealed way, and any other way that man might have devised himself. A glance at both is appropriate. I. God’s way to worship. People are commanded to worship God, and it is simply inconceivable that God has not instructed men how to obey this commandment (Revelation 14:7). Of the ancient tabernacle, only a type of the worship men offer today, God said to Moses, “See that thou make all things according to the pattern” (Hebrews 8:5), and there is no way to avoid the application of this to Christian worship. Why else should it have been in the book of Hebrews? And what is the New Testament pattern of Christian worship? “The things which are written” (1 Corinthians 4:6) reveal that the New Testament churches: Offered prayers to God through Christ (Acts 2:46). Observed the Lord’s supper (Acts 20:7). Gave of their means (1 Corinthians 16:2). Taught the sacred Scriptures ( Acts 2:46). Sang certain kinds of songs (Colossians 3:16). No student of the Bible will deny that both precept and example for the above pattern of worship are found in the New Testament. If this is not God’s pattern of worship, what is it? II. Man’s way of worshipping. This has varied in time, place, and circumstance; but a survey of the entire field of worship, as it has developed since the foundation of Christianity, reveals numerous activities, ceremonies, doctrines, commandments, and devices unknown to the Bible, as well as alterations, restrictions, additions, subtractions and substitutions with reference to the things that are revealed. There are even examples of incorporating elements of the old covenant, and of the acceptance of pagan elements into the sacred arena of Christian worship. It would be nearly impossible to list all the human changes, additives, and aberrations inflicted upon Christianity by the historical church, but a complete list is not necessary. The partial list below will show what is meant: Auricular confession, baptizing of images, baptizing of bells, baptizing of infants, baptism of desire, baptism for the dead, burning of incense, canonization of saints, celibacy of the clergy, communion under one kind, elevation of the host, extreme unction, invocation of saints, lighting of blessed lamps and candles, Lenten fasts and ceremonies, monasticism, orders of monks and nuns, societies of Jesus, purgatory, prayers for souls in purgatory, paschal candles, priestly robes and vestments, holy paraphernalia, penance, redemption of penances, pouring for baptism, sprinkling for baptism, the rosary of the Virgin Mary, the sale of indulgences, the sacrifice of the mass, sacrifices for the dead, the sign of the cross, the separation of clergy and laity, tradition received on a level with the word of God, the doctrine of transubstantiation, and of consubstantiation, the sprinkling of holy water, the stored-up merit of dead saints, works of supererogation, the use of mechanical instruments of music, ceremonies of Ash Wednesday, the development of a hierarchical system of earthly church government, etc., etc. Now this writer has never met a person, throughout a lifetime of discussing Christianity, who would deny that at least some of the above deviations from God’s pattern of worship are sinful. But, of course, the thing that makes any one of them sinful MAKES THEM ALL SO! They were not first spoken by the Lord (Hebrews 2:3). Their authority derives not from God but from men.

Verse 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare unto us all things.What a priceless jewel of faith lay at the bottom of this poor beleaguered woman’s heart. How glorious the conviction. “I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ).” All the sins and mistakes of her life had not effaced her knowledge of the essential truth that Christ would come into the world and teach men all that they need to know of salvation. There it was bubbling out of her heart spontaneously, her conviction that God would send the world a Saviour. All of her failures to live a life that would have honored his coming had not destroyed her.

Verse 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he!Why did Jesus speak so forthrightly here, while on so many other occasions he was so careful not to say plainly that he was the Christ? Jesus was charged with the duty of convincing all people that he is King of kings and Lord of lords, Dayspring from on High, the Son of God, and the Lord of all creation; but he was also under the most urgent necessity of doing so in a manner that would not provide the Romans with any pretext for executing him as a seditionist. To make this even more difficult, the Pharisees and Sadducees would gladly have cooperated with the Romans in just such a judicial murder. This poor woman’s word, however, was not good in any priestly court, due to her being a Samaritan; and thus it was perfectly safe for Jesus to tell her that he was the Messiah. This same phenomenon appears later in this gospel, in the case of the man born blind; who, after being cast out of the synagogue was not an acceptable witness in Jewish courts, and who was also told plainly by Christ that he was the Son of God. Through this woman Jesus taught an entire city and yet left the Pharisees without a single word that they could use in any trumped-up charge against Jesus. It is remarkable how the Lord walked unharmed and untouched through every trap that Satan laid for him.

Verse 27 And upon this came his disciples; and they, marvelled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her?They marvelled that he was speaking with a woman … The low estate of woman in that generation is evidenced by these words. It simply was not done. No holy man, after the custom of the times, would have done what Jesus did here; but, in the beautiful words of McCartney: Woman, who made it fit and decent and moral for a prophet to talk with thee? Who threw a zone of mercy and protection around thy little child? Who lifted thee up and changed thee from man’s chattel and property to man’s friend and equal and inspirer? Who obliterated the brand of the slave from thy face and put on thy brow the halo of chivalry and tenderness and romance? Who so changed thy lot, that instead of marvelling today that a prophet should talk with a woman, what men marvel at is that there ever was a time when men should have marvelled that Christ talked with a woman? Come then, woman; break thine alabaster box, filled with the ointment precious and very costly.

Come, break the box and pour thine ointment of love and gratitude upon his head and feet. Come, wash his feet with the tears of thy love and wipe them with thy hair for a towel.[5]ENDNOTE: [5] Clarence Edward McCartney, Great Interviews of Jesus (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1944), p. 38.

Verse 28 So the woman left her water-pot, and went away into the city, and saith to the people, Come see a man who told me all the things that ever I did: can this be the Christ?So the woman left her water-pot … When from our low plain of sin and mortality, the soul of man glimpses light of the Eternal City, all temporal and secular concerns recede. Important as the water-pot was to that woman, what a negligible trifle it became to her whose heart had just been lifted up to see the Christ! Here was that same motivation that inspired the fishermen of Galilee to leave their nets and their father, and Matthew to leave his seat of custom, and follow Jesus. No mortal considerations can withstand the blast of that solar wind which emanates from the Sun of Righteousness. Come see … With these same words, Philip persuaded Nathaniel (John 1:46); and with the same Jesus invited the disciples to his abode (John 1:39); and, with the same words, an angel of heaven said, “Come see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 2:8:6). That phenomenon which is Jesus Christ our Lord needs only to be observed to be believed; and the apostle who wrote this gospel retained that truth in focus throughout. Can this be the Christ …? There is no reason to suppose that this woman had any doubt that Jesus was the Christ; but she wisely presented her witness in such a manner as to require the citizens of Sychar to provide their own answer to so great a question.

Verse 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him.Such a development as this would require some little time. There was some little distance between the well and the city, a distance traveled twice by this woman before any person in Sychar could hear the message. Then, some considerable time passed during the interview itself, and there would have had to be some further time before the word could be generally circulated among the people. Finally, the movement of an entire multitude of villagers toward the well would also have required still further time. All of these things taken together suggest that the hour was noon, not 6:00 o’clock in the evening. It should be remembered that they were not on daylight saving time. The movement of the multitude toward Jesus across the plain that separated between the well and the city deeply touched the Saviour’s heart. The prevailing color of all clothing in those days was white, dyes being so expensive that only the rich used them; and the Lord’s reference to the “white” harvest fields a little later had reference to that field of people dressed in the white garments of the poor moving toward the Lord under the glare of the sun at noon.

Verse 31 In the meanwhile the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat.This urgency on the part of the disciples that Jesus should eat might be the key to the excessive fatigue of Jesus. Perhaps Jesus, caught up in the glorious enthusiasm of the previous days of baptizing great numbers, had not eaten much. Certainly, there was some variation in the case with Jesus from that of his apostles; the apostles were concerned about it and insisted that Jesus eat. But it was not yet time for eating. A great multitude of villagers, visible in the distance, was moving toward the Lord of life; and he would break for them the bread of life before relieving his own physical hunger. What a difference between the Lord of glory and human dignitaries. This writer once attempted to see the mayor of New York but was informed that “His Honor” would be leaving a little early that day for lunch and would be back after three o’clock!

Verse 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not.In John 4:34, below, Jesus explained that the “meat” here mentioned was “to do the will of him who sent” Jesus. Christ’s notice of the approaching multitude had not been shared by the apostles; and, of course, they misconstrued his words, taking them literally, as the next verse shows.

Verse 33 The disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat? In a Samaritan village, there was indeed slight likelihood that anyone might have brought food to Jesus; but the disciples were struggling with a literal understanding of Jesus’ words, and the possible solution they suggested was as good as any. Jesus helped them to understand.

Verse 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work.Jesus had not, as yet, received any food at all; but the amazing responsiveness of the woman at the well had triggered an opportunity to convert a whole city, moving at that very moment upon the Lord and his disciples; and the satisfaction of his physical hunger would have to wait, despite the Master’s weariness.

Verse 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest.Yet four months … Westcott noted that the “harvest began about the middle of April and lasted until the end of May."[6] This would make the date of this episode to lie somewhere between the middle of December and the last of January; another piece of evidence favoring noon as the time of day in this narrative. In either December or January, it would have been dark shortly after six o’clock. They are white already unto the harvest … See under John 4:30, above. The white-clad multitude passing over the green fields between the village and the well had indeed turned them white; and our Lord was looking upon the immediate harvest of souls as contrasted with the grain harvest yet four months in the future. By directing the eyes of the apostles to what was taking place, he restrained their further insistence that he should eat. Dr. Tristram, as quoted by Westcott, “found the wheat and barley near Jerusalem, sown just after Christmas, four inches high on February 2Oth."[7]The comparison of converted souls to a harvest made a profound impression upon John who made five references to it in as many verses (Revelation 14:14-19). “Send forth thy sickle and reap; for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe,” etc. [6] B. F. Westcott, op. cit., p. 75. [7] Ibid.

Verse 36 He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.These words were spoken by the Lord during the interval before the arrival of the multitude. This is an extension of the metaphor of the harvest, there never being a harvest without a sowing and reaping. The great reward is the gathering of fruit unto life eternal, in the joy of which both sowers and reapers shall rejoice together. He that reapeth receiveth wages … It is not known if Jesus was here thinking of the reaping that Philip the evangelist would do in Samaria (Acts 8:4-13), or if he was thinking of the multitudes who would believe that very day (John 4:41), or perhaps of both. Rejoice together … Sowers and reapers alike rejoice in the harvest of the gospel; and their doing so together would indicate that, in the instance in hand, sowing and reaping would occur in the closest proximity of time, as it did on that occasion. Jesus was the sower who planted the word in the heart of the woman; but the fruit was coming over the fields at that very moment; and the apostles, who hardly knew that any sowing had taken place, were about to participate in the reaping. Evidently, the Lord intended in these words to show the equal importance of both sowing and reaping, both being necessary, and to show that the reaper should always, in humility, remember the one who had sown. That Christ was indeed the sower here is indicated by “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man” (Matthew 13:37).

Verse 37 For herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.This metaphor of the harvest was also used by Paul who extended it to cover the interval between sowing and reaping, thus, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). In Paul’s usage of the metaphor, the gospel preacher is the one who plants, and the one who waters; and he added, “So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”

Verse 38 I sent ye to reap that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are entered into their labor.This was a stern reminder to the apostles that the great ingathering they were about to see was in no sense the result of their own efforts and abilities, and that they were to consider themselves instruments of God in reaping the fruit of the labors of others, in this case, the labor of the Master himself, and of the woman. This was the viewpoint expressed by Paul, as cited above. So great a response to the gospel as the apostles were about to see might easily have turned their heads except for the Saviour’s warning here.

Verse 39 And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all the things that I ever did.THE HARVEST IN SAMARIAThe secret of all soul-winning is that of making oneself of “no reputation,” even as did our Lord (Philippians 2:7 KJV); and one can only marvel at this woman’s willingness to make the exposition of her shameful life the principal evidence that would lead a city to the Lord. It must not be thought for a moment that her mere statement, “He told me all the things that I ever did,” would have been enough to turn out a whole city to see Jesus. Not at all. Such a statement would have had to be followed up with a statement of “what things” he had told; and it may be assumed that, regardless of the woman’s standing in the eyes of her neighbors, or regardless of what any of them knew about her, there were areas of the Saviour’s revelation that laid bare the dark secrets of her soul; yet she unflinchingly cried out the message to all who would hear it. At the very least, the witness was such as publicized and blazed abroad the sordid details of her life to the total community. No one can look upon this as a small thing that she did. The turnout of this city to accept Jesus Christ was a stark contrast with the snobbish rejection of the Lord by the hierarchy in Jerusalem. Here, quite early in the Saviour’s ministry, was wholesale evidence that the Gentiles would turn to the Lord when they received the opportunity. This overwhelming display of affection for Jesus in Samaria should have been a warning to Israel that the day of grace was running out for them, and that the times were hastening to the day foretold by God through Moses when it was prophesied that “I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, With a nation void of understanding will I anger you” (Deuteronomy 32:31).

Verse 40 So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them: and he abode there two days.Such had been the success of the woman’s efforts that Christ was immediately invited by the whole city to dwell there, and the Master graciously accepted their invitation. The heart cries out that this is the way it should have been everywhere that Jesus went; but, alas, this Samaritan village stands uniquely apart in the warm welcome they extended to the Saviour of the world.

Verse 41 And many more believed because of his word.Many people who had not been convinced by the word of the woman did believe, however, as soon as they heard Jesus himself. No numbers are given, but the impression is left that practically all Sychar believed in Christ.

Verse 42 And they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.And they said to the woman … What a change is this! The poor soul who only two days previously had gone to the well in the heat of noontide, in solitary isolation, and shrinking from the scorn of neighbors, has suddenly been elevated to a status of equality and acceptance on the part of all. Those who extended the hospitality of Sychar to Jesus did not fail to include also the lonely and sinful woman who was their link to the Lord of life, “And they said to HER …!” The Saviour of the world … Acute indeed was the perception of that village. They were not looking for a knight on a white horse who would throw out the Romans and resurrect the vanished empire of Solomon. They took Jesus for what he truly was and ever is, not a political or military hero, but a Redeemer come to give eternal life to men. Oh, that Jerusalem might have been as perceptive as Sychar!

Verse 43 And after two days he went forth from thence into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country.JESUS ENTERED GALILEE AGAINAfter two days … These were the two days just spent in Sychar. A prophet hath no honor in his own country … The injection of this proverb in such a manner as to make it a reason for Jesus’ going into Galilee (which was his own country) presents a problem that has been solved in various ways. Alford thought that Jesus intended to bring about a decline in his popularity, that being exactly why he had stopped baptizing and headed north. If that indeed was the Master’s purpose, in order to avoid a premature crisis with the Pharisees, then the proverb fits. And yet the very next verse states that the Galileans received him, having seen the miracles done in Jerusalem when they went up to the feast. Meyer explained that Jesus’ mention of the proverb might have been intended to suggest somewhat indirectly the reason of his going to Galilee. Thus: If a prophet, as Jesus himself testified, is without honor in his own country, he must earn it in another. And this Jesus had done in Jerusalem. He now brought with him the honor of a prophet from a distance. Hence too, he had found acceptance with the Galileans because they had seen his miracles in Jerusalem (John 2:23).[8]This interpreter prefers the view of Alford because the degree of acceptance in Galilee was not sufficient to thwart the Lord’s purpose of achieving a decrease in his popularity. True, the next verse mentions the Galileans’ reception of him, but it left much to be desired. Jesus said ( John 4:48), “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe.” ENDNOTE: [8] Alvah Hovey, Commentary on John (Philadelphia: The American Baptist Publication Society, 1885), p. 125.

Verse 45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things he did in Jerusalem: for they also went up to the feast.See under preceding verse. This reception f the Galileans sprang not from any spiritual rapport with Jesus, but derived from the miracles they had witnessed in Jerusalem. Thus far, John had recorded only one of the seven great signs, that of the miracle in Cana; but there have been repeated references to a great plurality of “signs” (John 2:23; John 3:2), and “all the things” mentioned here. Galilee afforded no outpouring of welcome like that of Sychar. If indeed the Lord intended a decrease of popularity, Galilee proved to be exactly the place to find it. At Cana he would do the second of the seven great signs. Cana was near Nazareth, the latter being guilty of an actual attempt to murder Jesus (Luke 4:29). Matthew detailed the scorn in which Nazareth held Jesus, adding that “they were offended in him” (Matthew 13:57). Thus, the statement here that Galilee received Jesus does not negate the hostile and unbelieving attitude that continued to prevail there.

Verse 46 He came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.Therefore … seems to make some event previously related the reason of Jesus’ going on to Cana a second time. The fact of the Galileans having received him as soon as he entered the province appears to be that reason. Jesus did not remain in the area where they had hailed him, due to the improper basis upon which they received him, that is, as a mere miracle worker and not as the Saviour of the world. John’s perception of this may account for the fact that, of all the miracles Jesus did, John recorded only the seven signs, chosen it seems for their spiritual implications and for their validity as proofs af Jesus’ deity. Therefore Jesus went on to Cana, located not very far from Nazareth which was a seat of unbelief against him. There at Cana he continued his ministry. THE SECOND SIGNAs noted repeatedly, this is the second sign only in the sense of being the second recorded by John. See under preceding verses. The identity of this person is not known. Some have supposed that he might have been Chuza, the steward of King Herod (Luke 8:3), or Manaen (Acts 13:1), the king’s foster-brother; but these are just guesses. Not even the title “nobleman” is certainly understood. Trench said, “The precise meaning of `nobleman’ can never be exactly fixed … Either he is one of the king’s party, a royalist, one who sided with the faction of the Herods … a king’s officer … or one attached to the court."[9]ENDNOTE: [9] Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Miracles (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1943), p. 127.

Verse 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him and besought him, that he would come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.That he would come down and heal … The faith of the nobleman was sufficient to send him to Capernaum, a distance of some sixteen miles, over hilly and rough terrain. The fact of the son’s being at the point of death is pertinent; because only the direst necessity could have sent this nobleman to the despised prophet of Galilee; but it is possible that he had witnessed some of the miracles in Jerusalem and decided as a last resort to seek healing for his son. He supposed that it would have been necessary for Jesus to come to his son in order to heal him. Still, a little faith acted upon is far better than inactive big faith; and, to the immense joy of this ancient nobleman, his efforts were successful. It would seem that this nobleman was Jewish, since the Lord at once placed him in the category of the Jews who would not believe except they saw signs.

Verse 48 Jesus therefore said unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe.Except ye see … is plural, thus it seems that Jesus was here identifying this man with that extensive class of Jews of the same attitude, suggesting that the nobleman himself was a Jew. Signs and wonders … is not a reference to two kinds of miracles, but rather to the two qualities in every miracle. A wonder is something exciting, phenomenal, and extraordinary; but the same deed, viewed in the light shed upon the person of Jesus, is a sign of the Lord’s deity. If the nobleman had indeed been in Jerusalem and had witnessed Jesus’ mighty wonders there, the rebuke would have reference to the weakness of his faith in the light of the evidence he had witnessed. The rebuke, however, was so stated as to encourage the nobleman to believe more fully.

Verse 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.The nobleman did not pretend to a faith he did not have, but only poured out the agony of a broken heart before the only one who he knew could help. Such an outpouring of human sorrow was not lost upon “the Man of Sorrows.” The faith that falls down before the Lord and pours the soul’s agony at his feet is always the beginning of something better, as it proved here.

Verse 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him, and he went his way.Little faith had suddenly grown strong. In Jesus’ presence, under the impact of the imperative word, and in the light of all he remembered from Jerusalem, he believed the word of Jesus. Having believed, he obeyed at once, returning to Capernaum as soon as he could. Later, it is stated that the healing of his son occurred at the seventh hour, equivalent to our seven o’clock; and, on the question of whether this was Roman or Jewish time and A.M. or P.M., the fact of the nobleman’s not arriving home until the next day suggests seven o’clock in the evening. Otherwise, we would have to account for his not returning a distance of a mere sixteen miles immediately. If it was at 7:00 P.M., the nobleman would have delayed his departure until the morrow, due to the inevitable dangers of night travel in those times. Why did not Jesus accept the nobleman’s plea to go down to Capernaum and heal his son? The question becomes even more pointed when it is recalled that in another case, that of healing the centurion’s servant, Jesus was invited to do what he did here, merely speak the word; but in that instance the Lord proposed personally to enter his home. As Trench commented: Here, being entreated to come, he does not; but sends his healing word; there, being asked to speak at a distance the word of healing, he rather proposes himself to come; for here, as Chrysostom explains it well, a narrow and poor faith is enlarged and deepened; there a strong faith is crowned and rewarded. By not going, he increased the nobleman’s faith; by offering to go, he brings out and honors that centurion’s humility.[10]ENDNOTE: [10] Ibid., p. 130.

Verse 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, saying, that his son lived.The reward of the nobleman’s faith did not wait for his complete return but was brought by his servants who set out with the good news as soon as they could, which was the next morning, due to the lateness of the hour when the son was healed. Both the nobleman and the servants waited until the next day to begin their journey of sixteen miles, a thing that seems difficult of explanation if this sign was wrought at 1:00 P.M., as the Jews would have reckoned the seventh hour. Thus, in this case, the Roman method of reckoning time was evidently used. As observed earlier, there is no reason to assume that John used either method exclusively.

Verse 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said therefore unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.The nobleman would have been using the official time, that of the Romans, because Herod was a subject of the emperor. It appears in this verse that the same kind of time-reckoning was employed in the nobleman’s home that John applied to the narrative of the sign; and this accounts for John’s using one method in this case and another at Sychar, where the official connection with Rome was not indicated. The word of the servants was not of an improvement in the son’s condition, but a word of his healing. The fever did not merely abate; it left him! The miracles of Jesus were always wrought with dramatic and final authority. There was no piecemeal healing with him. He spake the word, and it was done. How utterly unlike Jesus’ miracles are the pretended miracles of our own times.

Verse 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed and his whole house.And himself believed … But was he not already a believer? In a sense, he was; but far more is intended here. Far more than merely believing that the Lord had healed his son, he now believed in the Lord as the Saviour of the world. And his whole house … What a weight of responsibility rests upon every father. From the time of Adam who, as the federal head of the whole human race, plunged mankind into ruin, it has been a solemn and undeniable fact that whole families, cities, and even nations, partake of the consequences of a single decision for right or wrong by a single individual. The decision of this father brought redemption to an entire household.

Verse 54 This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judaea into Galilee.The second sign … means the second fully recounted in John. This author presented seven great signs of the deity of Jesus Christ, and this is the second in that sequence. Jesus, even this early in his ministry, had already wrought countless miraculous deeds (12:23; 3:2; and 4:45). The evident purpose of including this wonder in the list of seven was to show that the physical presence of the Lord was not required in the performance of his signs, but that his holy will was effective from any distance whatever. Such a miracle as this is never even attempted by modern claimants of miraculous power; and yet, why not? If one can do it at all, the distance is not a factor. Why must one enter the tent, or the studio, stand in line, and wait for the healer to wave his hand or jerk his head? This second sign placed Jesus our Lord in a category beyond all human imitations.

Questions by E.M. Zerr For John 41. What had the Pharisees heard ? 2. Through what means did Jesus baptize ? 3. Where was John baptizing? 4. What unselfish thing did Jesus do? 5. Through what section must he go? 6. To what city did he come? 7. Identify the location. 8. What was there? 9. State his condition. 10. At what time of day ? 11. Who came to this place? 12. Where were the disciples? 13. Tell the character of this woman. 14. What did Jesus request of her? 15. State what astonished her. 16. What was it that she did not know? 17. Of what water did she think he spoke? 18. From whom had they received this well ? 19. State the defect of this water. 20. What water is different ? 21. Unto what will it spring? 22. State the woman’ s request. 23. With whom did he bid her share the favor? 24. At this what did she state ? 25. Was her statement admitted? 26. What was Jesus’ explanation of her situation? 27. Of what did such knowledge convince her? 28. Who are the “fathers” of 20th verse? 29. Why the two places of worship ? 30. Tell what change Jesus predicted. 31. Of what nation did salvation come? 32. Why does God seek for spiritual worshipers ? 33. To what prophesied person did she refer? 34. What favor did she expect from him? 35. Tell what he then said to her. 36. When the disciples returned why did they marvel? 37. Did they criticize him? 38. What did the woman then do? 39. How did she speak of Jesus? 40. What did the people then do ? 41. Mean time what concerned the disciples? 42. State his declaration to them. 43. What did they think he meant? 44. Give the explanation he made to them. 45. What work did he say was on hand? 46. To whom does he promise reward? 47. Who might be reapers in this case ? 48. Tell who were the “ other men” in 38th verse. 49. What made believers of many Samaritans? 50. How did they show their appreciation ? 51. What further fruits did his word produce? 52. Tell what they confessed to the woman. 53. Where did Jesus go in two days ? 54. Where is a prophet honored ? 55. What caused his good reception in Galilee? 56. To what city did he come ? 57. What had occurred here? 58. Who came to him now for a favor? 59. Tell what showed his faith in Jesus. 60. How did Jesus heal the son? 61. At what time did he begin to improve ? 62. What effect did this deed have ? 63. Which miracle numerically was it?

John 4:1

1 When is from HOS, and Thayer defines it at this place, “II. as a particle of time; a. as, when, since.” The Lord always knew what men were thinking and saying (chapter 2:25), so this word means that Jesus did a certain thing because he knew, etc. The report that He knew about was what the Pharisees had been told; namely, that Jesus was making more disciples than John. That report was true, and it harmonized with what John had been telling his audiences about how Jesus was to increase over him.

John 4:2

2 Things done by the dis- ciples of Jesus and under his supervision, are said to be done by Him. The original word for disciples has the nominative inflection, giving it the meaning as if it said, “Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples did.” The validity of baptism never did depend on the one doing the baptizing (except in the case of John the Baptist), therefore it was not necessary for Jesus personally to do this work. His first disciples had been baptized by John, who had come among the Jews to baptize them and prepare a people for the Lord. When Jesus took charge of these people prepared for him, it was proper that they should do the physical work of baptizing the new converts made under the teaching of Jesus. On the same principle, it was proper for the new disciples to assist in the work of baptizing the believers.

John 4:3

3 Envy is a terrible condition of the mind. The Pharisees did not have any great love for John, although they pretended to be interested in his work (Matthew 3:7), yet they could not bear to see Jesus having any special success. Rather than come out into an open conflict with them at this time, the Lord decided to leave Judea and go to Galilee, which was the home of his childhood and early manhood.

John 4:4

4 Samaria lay between Judea and Galilee, which is the reason this verse says he must needs go through Samaria.

John 4:5

5 The history of this transaction of Jacob may be seen in Genesis 33:19; Genesis 42:22; Joshua 24:32. When the Israelites took possession of Palestine, the territory later called Samaria was allotted to the sons of Jacob.

John 4:6

6 Wells were important improvements in ancient times, because it required much manual labor to produce one. Jacob either dug this well, or obtained it otherwise, and left it to his posterity. These wells had a curb extending above the ground for the protection of animals. It was on this curb that Jesus sat in his journey. Being wearied. This word is from KOPIAO, which Thayer defines, “to grow weary, tired, exhausted.” We should always think of the Saviour as possessing a body that was just like ours as far as the laws of the flesh are concerned.

It is true that he was the Son of God and possessed miraculous power, but there is not a single instance recorded where he used his supernatural power to relieve his personal needs. In all the trials and necessities of life, he met the circumstances in the same way that other righteous people are expected to do. (See Hebrews 4:15.) When Jesus became tired from walking, he sat down to rest for the same reason that other men would do it. It was about noon, so we may expect to see some people coming to the well for water. And since it was this time of the day, the disciples had gone to the city to buy food.

John 4:7

7 The city of Samaria was the capital of the region of Samaria (mentioned previously in this chapter). It was near this city where the well was located where Jesus was resting. The woman of Samaria was a resident of the city with that name, and she came to the well for water. Jesus was not too tired to use the opportunity for giving this woman some spiritual instructions. He always adapted his teaching to the circumstances of the occasion. Coming to the well for water indicated the woman was needing that necessity of her temporal life, and that would find her mind prepared to appreciate some thoughts on the subject of spiritual water of life. Jesus opened the subject by asking the woman for a drink.

John 4:8

8 This fact is referred to at verse 6.

John 4:9

9 The woman was so surprised at the friendliness of Jesus that she seemed to overlook the subject of water for the moment. She expressed herself to Jesus accordingly, giving as the basis of her astonishment the attitude of the Jews toward the Samaritans, that they had no dealings with them. One of the reasons the Jews had such a dislike for the Samaritans, was their inconsistent claims about their relation to the Jewish nation. Josephus gives us a description of this subject in his Antiquities, Book 9, Chapter 14, Section 3, as follows: “When they [the Samaritans] see the Jews in prosperity, they pretend that they are changed, and allied to them, and call them kinsmen, as though they were derived from Joseph, and had by that means an original alliance with them. But when they see them falling into a low condition, they say they are no way related to them, and that the Jews have no right to expect any kindness or marks of kindred from them, but they declare that they are sojourners, from other countries.”

John 4:10

0 Jesus did not make any direct reply to the woman’s remarks, but continued his own line about water. He went a little farther into the subject, and suggested that she would have been the one to ask for water, had she realized who it was who was talking to her.

John 4:11

1 The woman is still thinking of literal drinking water. It was evidently the practice for people to bring their own cord with which to draw water from the well. Seeing that Jesus did not have such, she could not understand how he would perform the act of courtesy for her.

John 4:12

2 Art thou greater. The last word is from MEGAS, which has a wide range of meaning. As it is used in this passage it means, “stronger or more able or better equipped.” Jacob was certainly as well prepared as anyone need be to get water from this well, for he used it to supply his family and also his cattle. Yet even he had to use some means such as a cord to obtain the water. Father is from PATER, and Thayer’s first definition is, “Generator or male ancestor,” and it was in this sense the woman used the word, for the Samaritans claimed to have blood relation with the Jewish race. This was true to a limited extent, which may be learned from 2 Kings 17:24-33, which is commented upon in volume 2 of the Old Testament Commentary:

John 4:13

3 We have an excellent example of the proper way to approach a subject figuratively. Jesus did not launch upon the theme with the full comparison, for the woman would not have been able to understand it; instead, he unfolded it little by little. The woman needed only to be reminded that such water as the well furnished would not give permanent relief, but must be drunk of time after time.

John 4:14

4 The Bible does not contradict itself, and when it may seem to, there is always a fair explanation if we will search for it. Jesus pronounced a blessing on those who hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6), but here he says that if a man takes a drink of the water He provides, he shall never thirst. The word is from DIPSAO, and Thayer’s first definition of it is, “To suffer thirst; suffer from thirst.” A person can have a healthy desire for a drink of water, which will cause him to relish the water and feel satisfied afterward, and yet not have to be in actual suffering for it; such is the meaning of the statement of Jesus. The person who accepts the provision offered by Jesus need never be famished and suffer for the want of a drink, for he will have that well always with him, so that he may keep his desire constantly satisfied. That is what Jesus meant by the beautiful statement that it will be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.

John 4:15

5 The woman was still somewhat in the dark as to the kind of water Jesus was offering her. She had the idea it had such qualities that it would take the place of that ,in the well. It is no wonder, then, that she requested the water from Jesus.

John 4:16

6 Having conducted the figurative comparison to the point where the woman was ready to make some personal application, Jesus concluded to arouse her to a sense of her own moral and spiritual defects. The subject of water will not be mentioned again. Jesus opened the next phase of the lesson by telling the woman to call her husband. This was not because He thought the man should receive some teaching also, for there is no evidence that he was ever called or appeared on the scene. It was the Lord’s way of stirring up her conscience.

John 4:17

7 The woman said she had no husband, and Jesus agreed with her.

John 4:18

8 In this verse Jesus gave the reason for verifying the woman’s statement in the preceding verse. This has been a stumbling block for many who have been in confusion over the Biblical position on the marriage relation. The only marriage “ceremony” that God ever gave for the institution is the fleshly union of one male with one female. That law is stated in Genesis 2:24, and verified by Jesus in Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:6-9, and by Paul in Ephesians 5:31. But the objector says this woman was thus joined to the sixth man, yet Jesus said he was not her husband. That is because the laws of man came in and required certain ceremonial regulations before a union would be recognized as legal. While the Lord did not originate this ruling, yet He recognized it, and requires his creatures to obey it.

The confusion is caused largely by the term “husband,” which is a legal one and not a natural one, and has been used by the translators to distinguish between a man who has complied with the legal regulations for marriage, and one who merely has relations with a woman without having done so. The terms “husband” and “man” are from the one Greek word ANER, and mean the same as far as the language is concerned. “Husband” is the wrong word to emphasize in this passage, for the word “man” would be as correct a translation as the other. So that, it would be just as correct for the verse to be translated, “Thou hast had five men; and he whom thou now hast is not thy man.” All of these persons were men, but the one the woman was living with was not hers, because they had not complied with the laws of the land that would give her legal possession of this man. So if the reader will place the emphasis on the words “had” and “hast,” which is where it belongs, showing ownership, he will be saved the confusion so prevalent over this subject. (See also my comments on Matthew 19:5-6.)

John 4:19

9 By a prophet the woman meant that Jesus possessed superhuman knowledge, and as such he belonged in the rank of Biblical persons who could interpret spiritual matters. She was convinced of this by what He said concerning her domestic life. To use popular language, she was secretly living with a man “to whom she was not married.”

John 4:20

0 When the woman concluded that Jesus was a Jewish prophet, she also believed he would be informed in all the matters pertaining to the history and religious teaching of the Jews, which explains her remarks in this verse. Our fathers means the early ancestors of the Samaritan race and nation. The mountain referred to by the woman was Gerizim, about 25 or 30 miles north of Jerusalem. Smith’s Bible Dictionary says, “Gerizim was the site of the Samaritan temple, which was built there after the captivity, in rivalry with the temple at Jerusalem.” In the article “Samaritans,” the same Bible Dictionary says the following: “The animosity of the Samaritans became more intense than ever. They are said to have done everything in their power to annoy the Jews. Their own temple on Gerizim they considered to be much superior to that at Jerusalem.

Toward the mountain, even after the temple on it had fallen, wherever they were they directed their worship. . . . The law (i. e. the five books of Moses) was their sole code; for they rejected every other book in the Jewish canon” [accepted list of books]. This information from the authentic work of reference, explains the woman’s reference to the two places of worship, and what the Samaritan “fathers,” and the Jewish prophets (of whom she thought Jesus to be one) said about them.

John 4:21

1 Jesus did not enter into the controversy between the Samaritans and Jews as to which place was the more important. It was not worth while to do so, because He was going soon to set up a system of worship that would not depend upon any particular spot, geographically speaking, for its genuineness. That is why Jesus said, “neither in this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem. Not that men would not be allowed to worship God in those places, but their services would not be accepted on the basis of where they were performed.

John 4:22

2 The Samaritans rejected most of the Old Testament, which ruled out all of the prophetic writings except the few passages to be found in the five books of Moses. With such a partial basis for their guide, Jesus declared they did not know what they were doing when they professed to perform their services. Salvation is of the Jews. Every writer of the Old Testament was a Jew except Job, and he had some of the blood of Abraham in his veins. (See notes on page 351, volume 2 of the Old Testament Commentary.) Since the entire volume of religious revelation from God was given through the Jews, they would certainly know something of the subject. (See Romans 3:1-2.)

John 4:23

3 Notwithstanding this advantage the Jews had, the time was near when all previous modes and places for religious activities were to be replaced with the final system of God, unto which and for which all those forms were instituted among men. The outstanding feature of the new system was to be its spiritual character, in contrast with the formal rituals and material requirements the old law provided.

John 4:24

4 God is a Spirit. This does not mean that He is not a personal God, but his personalities are spiritual, hence He expects the worship offered to him to be spiritual. Such worship would not depend upon literal mountains or walled cities as proper situations in which to perform it satisfactorily to the Lord.

John 4:25

5 Although the Jews and Samaritans had no dealings with each other, and notwithstanding the latter rejected all of the Old Testament except the five books of Moses, yet they had a belief that a great person known as the Messiah or Christ was to come. This belief would be in harmony with a passage in their own document; namely, the prediction that a prophet, was to come like Moses. (See Deuteronomy 18:18-20.) They believed this Messiah was to be a very wise person, who would be able to explain all of the points that pertained to the Scriptures. The woman must have partly suspected Jesus to be that great One, from the wisdom that he had been showing through the conversation. Doubtless she began to think along that line as far back as verse 19, when she recognized him as being a “prophet.” But she finally brought Jesus to a personal acknowledgment of his identity by her remark about the Messiah to come.

John 4:26

6 Jesus made this “good confession” to the woman, that he virtually made later to Pilate (chapter 18:37), and that others are asked to make of Him.

John 4:27

7 The disciples marveled for the same reason for which the woman was surprised at the beginning of the conversation recorded in verse 9. There is no evidence they knew anything about her personal character, but they did know she was a Samaritan. The disciples were shocked, evidently, yet their respect for their Teacher held them back from criticizing him.

John 4:28

8 Having been convinced that the expected Messiah had come, the woman turned into a messenger, and left her original purpose that brought her to the well, and went into the city to speak to the citizens therein.

John 4:29

9 Told me all things. This is obviously an accommodative phrase. We have the conversation on record, and the part of the woman’s secret life that Jesus told her is in verse 18. But if he knew the facts about her domestic life, something that she supposed no one but the man and herself knew, then certainly He could read her entire life as if it were an open book. And such a person, in her mind, had all of the essential qualifications of the one to be anointed, which means the Christ.

John 4:30

0 The people of the city accepted the invitation of the woman to meet the man who had told her so much. The result of the meeting will be seen later.

John 4:31

1 The disciples had gone to the city to buy food, hence it was natural for them to expect Jesus to eat. Apparently he did not show much interest in the food, after they had made the trip to the city for it, hence their insisting that He should eat.

John 4:32

2 Doubtless, the arrival of the people from the city, presented another opportunity before Jesus to en gage in something more important than partaking of temporal food. That is what He meant by the indirect or figurative remark about his having food of which they had no information.

John 4:33

3 The disciples thought Jesus meant temporal food, and that someone unknown to them had served it to him while they were in the city.

John 4:34

4 Jesus used meat (food) in a figurative sense. The word is from BROMA, which Thayer defines, “That which is eaten, food.” He explains the way it is used in this passage to mean, “That which delights and truly satisfies the mind.” The context justifies his explanation, for it would certainly satisfy the mind of Jesus to do the will of his Father. To finish His work meant to carry through to the end all that was in the mind of God when he sent his Son into the world.

John 4:35

5 Again Jesus uses some things in the temporal realm, to illustrate those in the spiritual. Temporal harvests are possible only after certain waiting periods, while the spiritual harvest is always ready to be gathered. That is because the souls of men are always subject to being gathered into the service of God.

John 4:36

6 Wages is used to represent the reward that all men will receive who do faithful work for the Lord. The production of a crop requires both a sowing and a reaping, but these are not always done by the same man. However, if they are working in harmony with each other, both will be benefited by the fruit produced.

John 4:37

7 Jesus only repeats the facts that are discussed in the preceding verse. It is a general principle, and the explanation will come in the next verse.

John 4:38

8 The other men means the Old Testament prophets and the work of John the Baptist. All of these servants of God had done much to prepare the way for the apostles to gather up the results. Paul teaches the same lesson in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8.

John 4:39

9 The Samaritans were a mixed race, and thus were “part Jew,” hence they were not regarded strictly as Gentiles. Jesus made a distinction between them in Matthew 10:5, when he sent the apostles forth on their first mission. It also explains why the Gospel was offered to and accepted by the people of Samaria (Acts 8:5-12), when it is generally believed (and correctly so) that it was offered to the Gentiles for the first time when it was offered to Cornelius in Acts 10.

John 4:40

0 The Samaritans were so much interested in Christ, they urged him to spend some time with them. He did so, delaying his journey for two days.

John 4:41

1 The delay was profitable, for many more believed on Him.

John 4:42

2 There is no evidence that Jesus performed any miracle among these Samaritans. They explained their conversion on the ground of hearing His word. Jesus was able by his teaching to convince these people that he was the great One that was promised in the Scriptures and had been taught them by their leaders.

John 4:43

3 Galilee was an extensive territory, so that Jesus could go into that district, and yet not go into the immediate vicinity of Nazareth, which was originally considered his own country. (See Matthew 4:13; Matthew 13:54-57; Luke 4:23.)

John 4:44

4 Because of the truth stated here, Jesus came into that part of Galilee that contained Cana (verse 46), instead of that where Nazareth was located.

John 4:45

5 The Galilaeans (those not in the region of Nazareth) received Jesus, because they had seen his works at the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem.

John 4:46

6 Smith’s Bible Dictionary says Cana was not far from Caper-naum, and the arrival at Cana was soon known at Capernaum. The miracle of making wine out of water had doubtless been reported generally, and the people of the neighboring towns were convinced that Jesus was able to accomplish miraculous cures. A nobleman was an officer serving next to a king, and therefore was an important person.

John 4:47

7 The nobleman went in person to Cana, and begged Jesus to come heal his son who was at the point of death from a serious fever.

John 4:48

8 As a test of the nobleman’s faith, Jesus intimated that he would first perform some miracle, as evidence that he was able to accomplish healing the boy.

John 4:49

9 The nobleman was already satisfied about the ability of Jesus to work miracles. Of course Jesus knew his mind, but it is the Lord’s will that people express their faith outwardly, and this was the way that Jesus brought forth the remark of the nobleman. It was natural for him to feel anxious, because it was his son who was seriously ill, hence he pressed his request very earnestly.

John 4:50

0 Jesus did not accompany the father back to his home, but bade him go on his way, with the assurance that his son would live. The nobleman was satisfied to leave for home alone, because he believed the word of Jesus. Had he lingered to repeat his request for Jesus to go with him, it would have indicated that he was in doubt.

John 4:51

1 The nobleman did not reach home until the day after his conversation with Jesus. His servants saw him coming and went to meet him with the good news.

John 4:52

2 He did not question the word of his servants, but wanted to check on the saying of Jesus; he asked them when the son began to improve. The seventh hour would be the same as our 1 P. M., and it explains why the nobleman was not able to reach home until the next day.

John 4:53

3 The report coincided with the hour in which Jesus assured him that his son would live. We note the servants said the fever left him at that hour, but his full recovery was a matter of some time. This should not disturb us, for Jesus only said “thy son liveth,” and to start his improvement, He caused the fever to leave him immediately. His convalescence could be taken care of by nature, without any miracle. The case caused the whole household to become believers in Jesus.

John 4:54

4 Second miracle means in Cana; the first is in chapter 2.