Samaritans, living water, worship in spirit (John 4:6–25)
The Samaritans were neighbors of the Jews; that is why they also drank from Jacob's spring. Though they were by race of the Medes and Persians, they claimed Jacob as their own.
Since "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14), it follows that he grew weary from the hard road taken at midday. Midday is the bright season of his appearing; for he had a body like ours, composed of the same things as ours, apart only from a man's intercourse. Therefore he was subject not only to toil but also to thirst and wounds, because he let the body remain within the natural limits of humanity, lest it seem a phantom. As one Christ with his own flesh he makes the sufferings of humanity his own, though as God he remained impassible.
He asks the Samaritan woman—the shadow of the law—that he may give her "living water" (John 4:10), just as he asks faith of everyone, that he may grant what is beyond speech. By this he teaches contempt for Jewish scruples, showing that "what enters the mouth does not defile a person" (Matthew 15:11).
How did she perceive that he was a Jew? Either from his appearance or from his speech. Because the law had said, "Do not touch what is unclean," they did not dare even to touch the flesh of foreigners, thinking they would be polluted by it.
The Lord's sayings are a drink of immortality—the life-giving gift of the Spirit, by which human beings live again. The gift of God is the Word's sojourn among people, which came by the Father's grace and which waters the soul.
The old Scripture needs the evangelical teaching that succeeds it; for the new has no successor, since the gospel's instruction keeps flowing and lifts the one who drinks into life. This is a pledge of the coming resurrection, not allowing the one who has drunk it to fall into sin that leads to death.
For this reason he said to her, "Call your husband" (John 4:16): that by convicting her of lying he might show her his own deity. They say that on that mountain Abraham offered Isaac, which the Samaritan woman pointed out to the Lord; so she asks him as a prophet where one must worship.
Not that God is only in Jerusalem, but that gathered there together they may keep the appointed feasts and sacrifices in harmony. He calls his own sojourn "the hour," since God, being spirit, is not bounded by place. Each person fittingly worships from his own place; for worship confined to a place is rather an insult.
He said "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22) because he took flesh from them, or because from them the world began to know the one God through the law and the prophets. By comparison, the word of truth was then practiced among Jews. He said "we worship" toward the woman's suspicion; for of those who are worshipped he is God, even if, as man by economy, he said "we worship."
True worshippers in every place offer God spiritual sacrifices—that is, virtue and godliness. So the law came into being for the sake of the gospel, and the condescension of the shadow was allowed for the sake of the coming truth. "In spirit and truth" (John 4:23–24): by spirit he means the intelligible part of the human being, which by relation and disposition before God worships God as the angels do; worship in a place is not worship in spirit and truth.
God is called spirit not as wind, but as bodiless and life-giving substance; for as we live by breathing air, so we live when God gives what supplies life. God is spirit with respect to bodiless nature. From
Greek
4 6}3Ὅμοροι ἦσαν τῶν Ἰουδαίων οἱ Σαμαρεῖται. διὸ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς ἔπινον τοῦ Ἰακώβ. Σαμαρεῖται ἐκ γένους ὄντες τοῦ Μήδων καὶ Περσῶν ἔθνους ἐπεφήμιζον ἑαυτοὺς τοῦ Ἰακώβ. 115 {3Jο 4, 6}3Ἐπειδὴ «ὁ λόγος» γέγονε «σάρξ», ἀκολούθως κεκοπίακεν ἐκ τῆς συντόνου ὁδοιπορίας τῆς ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ γεγονυίας. μεσημβρία δ' ἐστὶν ὁ φωτεινὸς τῆς ἐπιφανείας καιρός· εἶχε γὰρ σῶμα ὡς τὸ ἡμῶν καὶ συστὰν ἐξ ὧν καὶ τὰ ἡμῶν δίχα μόνης ἀνδρὸς ὁμιλίας. διὸ οὐ μόνον κόποις, ἀλλὰ καὶ δίψῃ καὶ τρώσεσιν ὑπέκειτο, ἐπείπερ εἴασεν τὸ σῶμα μεῖναι ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς ὅροις τῆς ἀνθρω πότητος, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ φάντασμα εἴναι. ὡς εἷς ὢν ὁ Χριστὸς μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας σαρκὸς οἰκειοποιεῖται τὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος πάθη καίπερ μείνας ὡς θεὸς ἀπαθής. 116 {3Jο 4, 7}3Τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν αἰτεῖ, τὴν τοῦ νόμου σκιάν, ἵνα δῷ αὐτῇ τὸ «ὕδωρ ζῶν» ὡς καὶ παρὰ παντὸς αἰτεῖ πίστιν, ἵνα χαρίσηται τὰ ὑπὲρ λόγον. διὰ τούτου διδάσκει καταφρονεῖν τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν δεικνύς, ὅτι «τὸ εἰσερχόμενον εἰς τὸ στόμα οὐ κοινοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον». 117 {3Jο 4, 9}3Πόθεν ἐνόησεν, ὅτι Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν; ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ σχήματος ἢ ἀπὸ τῆς λαλιᾶς ἐνόησεν. 118 {3Jο 4, 9}3Τοῦ νόμου εἰρηκότος «ἀκαθάρτου μὴ ἅψησθε» οὐδὲ τῆς σαρκὸς τῶν ἀλλο γενῶν ἐτόλμων ἅψασθαι νομίζοντες ἐκ τούτου μολύνεσθαι. 119 {3Jο 4, 10}3Ποτὸν ἀθανασίας τὰ τοῦ κυρίου λόγια, ἡ ζωοποιὸς τοῦ πνεύματος δόσις, δι' ἧς ἀναζῶσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι. 121 {3Jο 4, 10}3∆ωρεὰ θεοῦ ἡ εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιδημία τοῦ λόγου χάριτι πατρὸς γεγονυῖα, ἥτις ποτίζει ψυχήν. 122 {3Jο 4, 13}3Ἡ παλαιὰ γραφὴ δεῖται τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας τῆς διαδεχομένης αὐτήν· ἡ γὰρ νέα ἀδιάδοχός ἐστιν ἀεὶ ἐπιρρεούσης τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς παιδεύσεως τῆς ἀναβιβαζούσης εἰς ζωὴν τὸν πίνοντα. 123 {3Jο 4, 14}3Ἀρραβών ἐστι τοῦτο τῆς μελλούσης ἀναστάσεως μὴ συγχωρῶν τὸν πεπω κότα αὐτὸ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς ἁμαρτίαν ἄγουσαν εἰς θάνατον. 124 {3Jο 4, 16}3∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο εἶπεν αὐτῇ· φώνει τὸν ἄνδρα σου, ἵνα ἐλέγξας ψευδο μένην φανερώσῃ αὐτῇ τὴν ἰδίαν θεότητα. 125 {3Jο 4, }3Λέγουσιν ὅτι ἐν τῷ ὄρει ἐκείνῳ ἀνήνεγκεν ὁ Ἀβραὰμ τὸν Ἰσαάκ, ὅπερ ὑπέδειξεν ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις τῷ κυρίῳ. ὡς προφήτην οὖν ἐρωτᾷ, ποῦ δεῖ προσ κυνεῖν. 126 {3Jο 4, }3Οὐκ ὄντος ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις μόνον τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἅμα ἐκεῖ συνα γόμενοι συμφώνως ποιῶσι τὰς νενομισμένας ἑορτὰς καὶ θυσίας. 127 {3Jο 4, 21}3Ὥραν δὲ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐπιδημίαν καλεῖ, ἐπείπερ πνεῦμα ὢν ὁ θεὸς οὐ τόπῳ περιορίζεται. ἁρμοδίως δὲ ἕκαστος προσκυνεῖ ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτοῦ· τὸ γὰρ ἐν τόπῳ προσκυνεῖν ὕβρεως μᾶλλόν ἐστιν. 128 {3Jο 4, 22}3Τὸ ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστὶν εἶπεν διὰ τὸ ἐξ αὐτῶν σε σαρκῶσθαι ἢ ὅτι ἐξ ἐκείνων ἤρξατο <ὁ κόσμος> εἰδέναι τὸν ἕνα θεὸν ἐκ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν. 129 {3Jο 4, 22}3Ὡς ἐν συγκρίσει τότε παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπολιτεύετο λόγος. πρὸς οὖν τὴν ὑπόνοιαν τῆς γυναικὸς εἶπεν τὸ ἡμεῖς προσκυνοῦμεν· τῶν γὰρ προσκυνουμένων ἐστὶν ὡς θεός, εἰ καὶ ὡς ἄνθρωπος οἰκονομικῶς εἶπεν τὸ προσκυνοῦμεν. 130 {3Jο 4, 23}3Οἱ ἀληθεῖς προσκυνηταὶ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ προσάγουσι τῷ θεῷ τὰς πνευματικὰς θυσίας, ὅ ἐστιν ἀρετὴ καὶ θεοσέβεια. 131 {3Jο 4, 23}3Οὐκοῦν καὶ ὁ νόμος διὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον γέγονε καὶ ἡ συγκατάβασις τῆς σκιᾶς συνεχωρήθη διὰ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἀλήθειαν. 132 {3Jο 4, 23}3Τὸ ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ· πνεῦμα λέγει τὸ νοητὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ὅπερ σχέσει καὶ διαθέσει ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ γινόμενον προσκυνεῖ τὸν θεὸν ὡς καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι, τῆς ἐν τόπῳ προσκυνήσεως οὐκ οὔσης ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ. 133 {3Jο 4, 24}3Πνεῦμα καλεῖται ὁ θεὸς οὐχ ὡς ἄνεμος, ἀλλ' ὡς ἀσώματος καὶ ζωο ποιὸς οὐσία· ὥσπερ γὰρ εἰσπνεόμενοι τὸν ἀέρα ζῶμεν, οὕτω καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ διδόντος τὸ παρεκτικὸν τῆς ζωῆς ζῶμεν. πνεῦμά ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἀσώματον φύσιν. 134 {3Jο 4, 25}3Ἀπὸ
About this text
Ammonius of Alexandria, Fragmenta in Joannem (Greek).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 85 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.