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GIFT.—Christ continually reminds His disciples that the Father is the source of all gifts. To Him we must trustfully turn. ‘Ask, and it shall be given’ (Mat_7:7); ‘Everyone that asketh receiveth’ (Luk_11:10), and not only ‘daily bread’ (Mat_6:11, Luk_11:3), but ‘whatsoever’ is asked (Joh_15:16; Joh_16:23). He will never refuse the gift of the Holy Spirit to them that ask (Luk_11:11-13, Mat_7:11), for it is His ‘good pleasure’ to give them ‘the kingdom’ (Luk_12:32). When Christ has ascended, it is the Father who will send ‘another Comforter’ (Joh_14:16); and when trials and persecution shall arise, it is the Father by whom, Christ says, ‘it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall say’ (Mat_10:19). We see this confidence inspiring the multitude to glorify God ‘which had given such power unto men’ in the healing of the palsied man (Mat_9:8), and making the practical Martha say, ‘I know that whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give unto thee’ (Joh_11:22).
It is notable that Christ’s only recorded request for a personal favour should have been the occasion of that deep saying concerning ‘the gift of God’ (Joh_4:10). The word used ( ôὴí äùñåÜí ) implies a peculiar freedom in the giving; something of bounty not to be purchased. It is used nowhere else in the Gospels (save in the OT quotation in Joh_15:25); but in the Acts and Epistles it usually occurs as the distinguishing word for God’s highest gifts, as of grace itself (Eph_3:7), of the ‘heavenly gift’ (Heb_6:4), of the ‘unspeakable gift’ (2Co_9:15), of the saving power of Christ’s life and death (Rom_5:15), of Christ in us (Eph_4:7), or of the Holy Spirit (Act_2:38; Act_8:20; Act_10:45; Act_11:17). In Joh_4:10 some hold that our Lord spoke of Himself as ‘the gift of God’ (cf. Joh_3:16), others that He meant the unique opportunity the woman now had of gaining religious enlightenment from Him; and the two ideas blend in His words. But the uppermost thought would be the parabolic suggestion of the water for which Jesus had asked, and ‘the gift of God’ would most naturally be that ‘living water’ which He Himself could give her, and which would solve her dimly discerned problems of conduct and worship. The Jews had long connected the precious gift of ‘living water’ with that ever-new and quickening power of the Spirit which, coming from God, can alone satisfy the soul’s thirst for Him (Zec_14:8, Jer_2:13; Jer_17:13). So Christ seems to use it here. If the woman but knew ‘the gift of God,’ that fount of the living Spirit which, springing up within, and independent of Samaritan books of the Law, is the assurance of eternal life (Jer_17:14), and if she could but recognize the supremacy of love and spiritual power in Him who was speaking, then she would not hesitate to ask an infinitely greater gift than He had asked of her. Thus Christ would be the agency; the Eternal Spirit would be ‘the gift.’
The greatest of all gifts would be one’s life. This Christ gave. All other gifts of His are included in this. They are the fruit of this complete self-surrender, which could yield up all things for love of men. True, He gave, and gives His disciples, the unfathomable gift of a Peace which the world could not give (Joh_14:27), a Rest for all weary spirits (Mat_11:28). To His own He is the Living Water (Joh_4:14), the Bread of Life (Joh_6:51). He gives the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mat_16:10), the new commandment of Love (Joh_13:34), and Life Eternal (Joh_10:28). But the highest gift included these and more. It was the gift of His life, ‘a ransom for many’ (Mat_20:28, Mar_10:45). This He offered to the Eternal Father, to that Righteousness whose final decision was beyond the Son of man’s bestowal: ‘To sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to giver (Mat_20:23, Mar_10:40). For the gift of the Holy Spirit see art. Holy Spirit. See also art. Giving.
Edgar Daplyn.