John 4 - NIV Essentials Study Bible

4:10 living water. Not stagnant cistern water but fresh, flowing water, as of a spring or mountain stream, that revives and refreshes life. In 7:38–39 the term is explained as referring to the Holy Spirit, but here it refers to that which produces eternal life (see v. 14).

4:11 deep. Christian pilgrim sources as early as the fourth century mention a well in this area that was about 100 feet deep. When the present well was cleaned out in 1935, it was found to be 138 feet deep.

4:22 worship what you do not know. The Samaritan Bible contained only the Pentateuch. They worshiped the true God, but their failure to accept much of his revelation meant that they knew little about him. salvation is from the Jews. The Messiah would come from God’s historic people (see notes on Ro 1:16; 11:18).

4:24 God is spirit . . . worship in spirit and in truth. The place of worship is irrelevant, because true worship must be in keeping with God’s nature, which is spirit. “True worshipers” (v. 23) must worship God in the power (enablement) of his Spirit and in accordance with truth. In John’s Gospel truth is associated with Christ (see 1:14; 14:6), a fact that has great importance for the proper understanding of Christian worship.

4:25 Messiah . . . will explain everything. The matter was too important, she reasoned, for people like Jesus and herself to work out. Understanding would have to await the coming of the Messiah (see note on 1:25). The Samaritans expected a Messiah, but their rejection of all the inspired writings after the Pentateuch meant that they knew little about him. They thought of him mainly as a teacher.

4:26 I am he. The only occasion before his trial on which Jesus specifically said that he was the Messiah (but see Mk 9:41, “Messiah”). The term did not have the political overtones in Samaria that it had in Judea, which may be part of the reason Jesus used the designation here.

4:34 My food . . . is to do the will of him who sent me. John often mentions that Jesus depended on the Father and did the work the Father sent him to do (see, e.g., 5:30 and note; 6:38; 8:26; 9:4; 10:37–38; 12:50; 14:31; 15:10; 17:4).

4:42 the Savior of the world. In the NT the expression occurs only here and in 1Jn 4:14. It points to the facts (1) that Jesus not only teaches but also saves and (2) that his salvation extends to the world (see note on 3:16).