John 4 - CSB Tony Evans Study Bible

4:4-5 Don’t miss that Jesus had to travel through Samaria (4:4). Typically, orthodox Jews sought to avoid contact with Samaritans, so Jesus was taking a stance against that racist practice. The Jews disliked the Samaritans, considering them unclean. Originally, the name Samaria applied to the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel (see 1 Kgs 16:23-24). But eventually the entire northern kingdom was referred to by this name. When the Assyrians conquered them, they deported many Israelites, but left others in the land. Then the Assyrians settled other conquered peoples there, who intermarried with the remaining Israelites. This mixture of peoples also involved the worship of various false gods (see 2 Kgs 17:24-41). The Samaritans of Jesus’s day were their descendants, a people of mixed ancestry and syncretistic religious practices. Thus, the Jews despised them.

4:6 Notice that John emphasizes the full deity (“the Word was God,” 1:1) and the full humanity (he was worn out) of Jesus. In theological terminology, the uniting of two distinct natures (divine and human) in one person (Jesus Christ) is known as the hypostatic union.

4:7 Typically people wouldn’t draw water during the heat of the day. (Verse 6 says this encounter took place “about noon.”) So, why would she arrive at a time when no one would be around? She was a woman of questionable character. Importantly, Jesus’s willingness to engage her socially by drinking water from her cup opened the door for him to reach her spiritually. We too should seek to connect with different people as we share with them the good news of the gospel.

4:9 See the note on 4:4-5.

4:14 If you receive a drink from Jesus, you don’t have to come back for another. His living water becomes its own everlasting well. Thirst no more.

4:16-18 Because Jesus was willing to drink from her cup (see the note on 4:7), he gained an opportunity to address her sin.

4:21 In John’s Gospel, Jesus’s hour is usually associated with his crucifixion and resurrection (see 2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 16:32; 17:1). So through his death on the cross and triumph over the grave, Jesus would transform worship for God’s people.

4:22 Salvation is from the Jews because the Messiah would be of Jewish lineage, descended from the tribe of Judah.

4:23-24 To worship the Father in Spirit (4:23) is to have a heart that is in pursuit of an intimate spiritual relationship with the God who is spirit (4:24). To worship God in truth is to worship him in a biblically accurate way—through the One who is the truth (see 14:6). God is on the hunt for those who will worship him spiritually through Jesus Christ based on the truth of his Word (4:23).

4:28-30 The woman hadn’t attended seminary; she had no theological training. She had simply met Jesus. New believers should be encouraged to share their faith as soon as possible.

4:34 Jesus’s greatest satisfaction and fulfillment was not in filling his belly but in obeying God. For us too, the spiritual must take precedence over the physical (see Matt 4:3-4; 6:31-33).

4:35 How often do we postpone sharing the gospel? How often do we put God’s kingdom second, when Jesus commands us to seek it first (see Matt 6:33)? If we pay close attention, we will see God at work all around us and discover ministry opportunities right before us.

4:37 It may take several encounters with the gospel delivered through more than one messenger before a person believes it. One Christian explains the gospel to an unbeliever, and later another Christian eventually leads that unbeliever to Christ.

4:40 John indicated earlier that “Jews [did] not associate with Samaritans” (4:9; see the note on 4:4-5). Nevertheless, the Samaritans . . . asked [Jewish Jesus] to stay with them. So he and his disciples hung out with them for two days. So, is racial reconciliation possible? If you’re operating spiritually and united in Jesus, the answer is a resounding, yes! And it doesn’t take long when people are right with Jesus.

4:53 That is, they all believed in Jesus as the Messiah and not just as a miracle worker.