Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - John 4:15 - 4:26
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh_4:15-26
15The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw." 16He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." 17The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." 18Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband'; you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly." 19The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." 21Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 25The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." 26Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
Joh_4:15 The woman, like Nicodemus, is still understanding Jesus on a very physical (literal) level. This was not unusual even for the disciples. They often misinterpreted Jesus by missing His metaphorical language (cf. Joh_4:31-33; Joh_11:11-13).
Joh_4:16 The UBS4 does not even mention the possibility that the name "Jesus" was added (cf. NKJV, NRSV, NJB, REB). The NET Bible gives the manuscript evidence for its inclusion (p. 1903, i.e., MSS à *,c, A, C2, D, L, and W, but it is missing from MSS P66,75, B, C). Scribes tended to make the text clearer and easier to follow.
▣ "Go, call" This is a present active imperative followed by an aorist active imperative.
Joh_4:17 "I have no husband" Sin must be faced. Jesus does not condone but neither does He condemn.
Joh_4:18 "you have had five husbands" Jesus employs supernatural knowledge to shake the woman from the physical sphere to the spiritual sphere (cf. Joh_1:48).
Joh_4:19 "I perceive that You are a prophet" The woman had not yet come to a Messianic understanding. She was trying to skirt the major issue of her relationship with God by the use of a compliment (just like Nicodemus in Joh_3:2).
Other commentators see this as a Messianic reference from Deu_18:15-22.
hyperlink
hyperlink
Joh_4:20 "Our fathers" This refers to Abraham and Jacob (cf. Gen_12:7; Gen_33:20). She is asserting her sense of covenantal inclusion (cf. Joh_8:31-59).
▣ "worshiped in this mountain" This refers to the theological argument as to where God (YHWH) should be worshiped. The Jews emphasized Mt. Moriah (site of Jewish Temple), while the Samaritans emphasized Mt. Gerizim (Samaritan temple destroyed in 129 b.c. by John Hyrcanus).
In our day this would be the attempt by people to whom we are witnessing to get away from the issue of their relationship with Christ by bringing up a theological red herring. Humans enjoy studying religion and philosophy as long as it does not affect them personally (cf. Joh_3:19-21).
Joh_4:21 "'an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father'" This must have been a shocking statement to her and also to His disciples. Where is not the issue, but who!
Joh_4:22 "for salvation is from the Jews" This is an affirmation of the origin of the Messiah (cf. Gen_12:2-3; Gen_49:8-12; Isa_2:3; Rom_9:4-5).
Joh_4:23 "But an hour is coming, and now is" This may be an allusion to Mal_1:11 about universal worship. It is obvious that Jesus brought the gift of eternal life during His lifetime as well as after His death. This statement reflects the tension which exists between the two comings of the Messiah. The two Jewish ages (see Special Topic at 1Jn_2:17) have now been overlapped. The New Age of the Spirit is present, yet we still live in the old age of evil and sin.
Jesus is surely claiming that the new age had begun in Him. The age of the Spirit, the Messianic age, had been inaugurated!
▣ "in spirit and truth" The term "spirit" (see Special Topic at Joh_3:8) speaks of a worship that is not locally or physically based. The term "truth" was used in the Greek world to speak of a mental concept, while the Hebrew background was that of faithfulness or trustworthiness. See Special Topics on Truth at Joh_6:55; Joh_17:3.
▣ "the Father" It was very unusual to call God "Father" in the New Testament without adding a reference to Jesus as His unique Son.
hyperlink
▣ "for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers" God is actively seeking lost humanity (cf. Isaiah 55; Eze_18:23; Eze_18:32; Luk_19:10; Joh_1:12; Joh_3:16).
Joh_4:24 "God is spirit" There are several short clauses in John's writings which describe the character of God: (1) God is love; (2) God is light; (3) God is spirit. This can mean (1) not physical; (2) not limited to one locality; (3) not related to time sequence or (4) heavenly vs. earthly.
Joh_4:25 "Messiah is coming" The term Messiah occurs only twice in the NT, both in John's Gospel (cf. Joh_1:41; Joh_4:25).
hyperlink
▣ "when that One comes, He will declare all things to us" This shows that the Samaritans were expecting a Messiah. It also shows they saw the Messiah as coming to reveal the fullness of God.
Joh_4:26 "I who speak to you am He" This may be an allusion to Isa_52:6. It is a plain, open affirmation of His Deity (so different from the Synoptic Gospels)! It is a play on "I Am," which reflected the OT Covenant name for God, YHWH (cf. Exo_3:12; Exo_3:14). Jesus used this OT name for God as a way of referring to YHWH's self-revelation visibly and clearly in Jesus (cf. Joh_8:24; Joh_8:28; Joh_8:58; Joh_13:19; Joh_18:5 compare Isa_41:4; Isa_43:10; Isa_46:4). This specialized use of "I Am" must be differentiated from the well known "I Am" statements of John, Joh_6:35; Joh_6:51; Joh_8:12; Joh_10:7; Joh_10:9; Joh_10:11; Joh_10:14; Joh_11:25; Joh_14:6; Joh_15:1; Joh_15:5, which are followed by qualifying nouns.