João 4
J.C. Ryle · Citado em PreceptAustin
João 4
Ryle - Let it be noted, that in doing work for Christ, and laboring for souls, there are sowers as well as reapers. The work of the reaper makes far more show than the work of the sower. Yet it is perfectly clear that if there was no sowing there would be no reaping. It is of great importance to remember this. The Church is often disposed to give an excessive honor to Christ’s reapers, and to overlook the labors of Christ’s sowers.
João 4
Ryle - We should mark....the absolute necessity of conviction of sin before a soul can be converted to God. The Samaritan woman seems to have been comparatively unmoved until our Lord exposed her breach of the seventh commandment (“You shall not commit adultery." Ex 20:14+). Those heart-searching words, “Go, call your husband,” appear to have pierced her conscience like an arrow. From that moment, however ignorant, she speaks like an earnest, sincere inquirer after truth. And the reason is evident. She felt that her spiritual disease was discovered. For the first time in her life she saw herself. To bring thoughtless people to this state of mind should be the principal aim of all teachers and ministers of the Gospel. They should carefully copy their Master’s example in this place. Till men and women are brought to feel their sinfulness and need, no real good is ever done to their souls. Till a sinner sees himself as God sees him, he will continue careless, triding, and unmoved. By all means we must labour to convince the unconverted man of sin, to prick his conscience, to open his eyes, to show him himself. To this end we must expound the length and breadth of God’s holy law. To this end we must denounce every practice contrary to that law, however fashionable and customary. This is the only way to do good. Never does a soul value the Gospel medicine until it feels its disease. Never does a man see any beauty in Christ as a Saviour, until he discovers that he is himself a lost and ruined sinner. Ignorance of sin is invariably attended by neglect of Christ. (John 4 Commentary) We should mark, lastly, Christ’s gracious willingness to reveal Himself to the chief of sinners. He concludes His conversation with the Samaritan woman by telling her openly and unreservedly that He is the Saviour of the world. “I that speak to thee,” He says, “am the Messiah.” Nowhere in all the Gospels do we find our Lord making such a full avowal of His nature and office as He does in this place. And this avowal, be it remembered, was made not to learned Scribes, or moral Pharisees, but to one who up to that day had been an ignorant, thoughtless, and immoral person! Dealings with sinners, such as these, form one of the grand peculiarities of the Gospel. Whatever a man’s past life may have been, there is hope and a remedy for him in Christ. If he is only willing to hear Christ’s voice and follow Him, Christ is willing to receive him at once as a friend, and to bestow on him the fullest measure of mercy and grace. The Samaritan woman, the penitent thief, the Philippian jailor, the publican Zacchæus, are all patterns of Christ’s readiness to show mercy, and to confer full and immediate pardons. It is His glory that, like a great physician, He will undertake to cure those who are apparently incurable, and that none are too bad for Him to love and heal. Let these things sink down into our hearts. Whatever else we doubt, let us never doubt that Christ’s love to sinners passeth knowledge, and that Christ is as willing to receive as He is almighty to save. What are we ourselves? This is the question, after all, which demands our attention. We may have been up to this day careless, thoughtless, sinful as the woman whose story we have been reading. But yet there is hope. He who talked with the Samaritan woman at the well is yet living at God’s right hand, and never changes. Let us only ask, and He will “give us living water.” Cyril Hocking - John 4:16–20 THOU ART A PROPHET THE MEEKNESS and gentleness of Christ is mighty! By it He casts down reasonings and all that is against the knowledge of God with a view to, ‘bringing into captivity every thought’. If Samaritan-like strongholds of carnal ignorance and religious pretence are to fall, if the deep divide between these peoples is to be crossed, His must be the initiative. He must fuel a woman’s curiosity, convict her out of her own mouth, and lead her on to confess Him. He knows all that is in women, vv. 16–18. John has written already that He knows also all men and what is in them!, 2:23–25. His command to go, to call her husband, and then to return to Him was His means of baring her conscience that He might clothe her with blessing. For this she must confess, with shame, her sins. Yes she avoids candid confession, seeking to cover up with the part-truth that currently she does not have a husband. What was gently owned as ‘well (truly) said’ as far as it went (and we must note that this was her briefest response by far!), called for the Lord to fill in the whole truth. This concerned her past, the ‘five skeletons in her marital cupboard’, and her present immoral relationship with yet another man. Who or what is this Stranger who scans her past and present, and puts her on the defensive? He is a prophet, vv. 19–20. For this woman, this meant that He could discern and expose her secrets with convicting power. However, conviction of sin is one thing; confession of it is quite another. Sinful flesh is practised in the art of procrastination when truth calls for change, though certainly for more than a change of subject!, cf. v. 17. Her own carnal state precludes her from the act of worship, yet she chooses to raise the differences of opinion between their peoples regarding the authentic place of worship. Samaritans have ancient traditions to favour their sanctuary site; ‘our fathers worshipped in this mountain (Gerizim)’, whereas ‘ye (Jews) say, that in Jerusalem is the place men ought to (must) worship’. One more than a prophet is called for now to reveal how the Father’s quest for ‘true worshippers’ will be satisfied. The Son must reveal this! For no one knows ‘the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him’, Matt. 11:27. John 4:17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; BGT John 4:17 ἀπεκρίθη ἡ γυνὴ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· οὐκ ἔχω ἄνδρα. λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· καλῶς εἶπας ὅτι ἄνδρα οὐκ ἔχω· NET John 4:17 The woman replied, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "Right you are when you said, 'I have no husband,' NLT John 4:17 "I don't have a husband," the woman replied.Jesus said, "You're right! You don't have a husband-- ESV John 4:17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; NIV John 4:17 "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. GNT John 4:17 ἀπεκρίθη ἡ γυνὴ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Οὐκ ἔχω ἄνδρα. λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Καλῶς εἶπας ὅτι Ἄνδρα οὐκ ἔχω· KJV John 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: YLT John 4:17 the woman answered and said, 'I have not a husband.' Jesus saith to her, 'Well didst thou say -- A husband I have not; ASV John 4:17 The woman answered and said unto him, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou saidst well, I have no husband: CSB John 4:17 "I don't have a husband," she answered. "You have correctly said, 'I don't have a husband,'" Jesus said. NKJ John 4:17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said,`I have no husband,' NRS John 4:17 The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; NAB John 4:17 The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband." Jesus answered her, "You are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband.' NJB John 4:17 The woman answered, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You are right to say, "I have no husband"; GWN John 4:17 The woman replied, "I don't have a husband." Jesus told her, "You're right when you say that you don't have a husband. John 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries THE WOMAN'S "CONFESSION" While her "confession" was true, it was not total. She kept back the lurid detail that she was presently living in an adulterous relationship. Just a small detail, but one which she sought to conceal. THOUGHT - Do we ever do this when we confess our sins? (1 John 1:9+, Jas 5:16+) Do we tell enough of the truth, but not the whole truth? I am not saying we should recount every lurid detail, but we should agree with God about our basic missteps and not try to "sugarcoat" our confession. And if we are led to confess to another believer, we need to be especially careful not to defile them with our description! I have seen this done even in an individual who was "testifying" just prior to being dunked under water (before the entire congregation) and he went into some of the lurid details of his past as the owner of a strip club. I personally felt defiled by his "testimony." The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” - The woman is surely hoping her answer would put an end this is part of the conversation. And yet she is in a sense confessing for even Jesus acknowledges "you have correctly said...."
João 4
Ryle - Our Lord’s commendation of the woman’s honest confession deserves notice. It teaches us that we should make the best of an ignorant sinner’s words. An unskilful physician of souls would probably have rebuked the woman sharply for her wickedness, if her words led him to suspect it. Our Lord on the contrary says, “Thou hast well said.” NET Note - The word order in Jesus’ reply is reversed from the woman’s original statement. The word “husband” in Jesus’ reply is placed in an emphatic position. Warren
João 4
Ryle writes that "Augustine regards these five husbands as significant of “the five senses of the body,” which are as five husbands by which the soul of the natural man is ruled! I cannot think that our Lord meant anything of the kind." This allegorical approach is one reason so many of the expositors have such a difficult time interpreting prophetic passages. The only safe approach is the literal approach.
João 4
Ryle - We should mark, fifthly, the uselessness of any religion which only consists of formality. The Samaritan woman, when awakened to spiritual concern, started questions about the comparative merits of the Samaritan and Jewish modes of worshipping God. Our Lord tells her that true and acceptable worship depends not on the place in which it is offered, but on the state of the worshipper’s heart. He declares, “The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this place nor at Jerusalem worship the Father.” He adds that “the true worshippers shall worship in spirit and in truth.” The principle contained in these sentences can never be too strongly impressed on professing Christians. We are all naturally inclined to make religion a mere matter of outward forms and ceremonies, and to attach an excessive importance to our own particular manner of worshipping God. We must beware of this spirit, and especially when we first begin to think seriously about our souls. The heart is the principal thing in all our approaches to God. “The Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Sa. 16:7.) The most gorgeous cathedral-service is offensive in God’s sight, if all is gone through coldly, heartlessly, and without grace. The feeblest gathering of three or four poor believers in a cottage to read the Bible and pray, is a more acceptable sight to Him who searches the heart than the fullest congregation which is ever gathered in St. Peter’s at Rome. (John 4 Commentary) Rod Mattoon - R. Kennedy visited the Amazon and spoke through an interpreter to a Brazilian Indian who was recently saved. He asked, "What do you like to do the most?" Kennedy expected an answer such as "hunting or fishing." The Indian replied by saying, "Being occupied with God." Kennedy asked the question again, thinking that something was lost in the translation. The answer was the same. The Indian's answer was an excellent definition of worship. How is your worship of the Lord Jesus Christ? Does He really have your adoration, praise, and thanks? Does He have your devotion and obedience to His will? If you are skipping out of church, He doesn't. If there is no change, obedience, or surrender of your will to Christ, there is no worship taking place in your life. Emotion without devotion is nothing more than commotion. JOHN 4:9-25 WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH God, the infinitely holy One, is worthy of our worship. He is our Creator, Sustainer, and Savior. Without His loving care and guidance we would have no hope. We must therefore take the time and put forth the effort to worship Him in a way that brings honor and glory to His name. When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, He said, "God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." In the devotional classic The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence explains what this means. "To worship God in truth is to recognize . . . that God is what He is; that is to say, infinitely perfect, infinitely to be adored, infinitely removed from evil, and thus with every attribute divine." Brother Lawrence then added, "What man shall there be, however small the reason he may have, who will not use all his strength to render to this great God his reverence and worship?" Christ is not valued at all until He is valued above all Norman Geisler - When Cultists Ask - JOHN 4:23—Does this verse indicate that only God the Father—and not Jesus—is to be worshiped? MISINTERPRETATION: John 4:23 says, “An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers” (NASB). The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that only the Father is to be worshiped. Christ is to be shown “obeisance” (Watchtower, 15 February 1983, 18). CORRECTING THE MISINTERPRETATION: The same Greek word used for worshiping the Father (proskuneō) is used of worshiping Christ in the New Testament. Jesus was worshiped by Thomas (John 20:28), angels (Heb. 1:6), wise men (Matt. 2:11), a leper (Matt. 8:2), a ruler (Matt. 9:18), a blind man (John 9:38), a woman (Matt. 15:25), the women at the tomb (Matt. 28:9), and the disciples (Matt. 28:17). In the Book of Revelation, the worship that the Father receives (4:10) is exactly the same as the worship received by Jesus Christ (5:11–14). Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse - John 4:23 “Nevertheless, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for indeed, the Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him.” (NWT) Jehovah’s Witnesses often use this verse in their house-to-house preaching work. After greeting the householder, they ask, “Whom do you worship as God? What is his name?” If the answer given is “the Lord,” or “God,” the JW will respond, “That’s a title. What is God’s name?” Many people will then answer, “Jesus!” whereupon the Witness will read John 4:23 and then comment, “You are not a true worshiper, because you are worshiping the Son. The Bible says here that the true worshipers will worship ‘the Father.’ Do you know the Father’s name?” Then JWs proceed to present their standard argument about the name Jehovah. Much of the Witnesses’ preaching activity follows this same theme: denying the deity of Christ, while teaching that only the Father (Jehovah) must be worshiped. To establish this doctrine, they take their new students on a guided tour through the Bible, studiously avoiding such passages as Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 28:9; John 1:1; John 8:58–59; John 20:28; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:6; and so on—all of which reveal the deity of Christ and the propriety of worshiping him. In fact, Watchtower Society translators, in preparing their New World Translation, were careful to translate the Greek word proskuneo (worship, reverence, do obeisance to) in a very selective manner. Wherever the word is used of the Father, they translate it as “worship,” but wherever it refers to the Son, they render it as “do obeisance to.” (See discussion of Heb. 1:6 for further details.) After agreeing that the Father should be worshiped, ask the Jehovah’s Witness if he respects the Father’s wishes in other matters, too. Naturally, he will answer, “Yes!” Then direct him in his own Bible to John 5:23, where it says that the Father requires “that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.… ” If the Witness does not give worshipful honor to the Son, then his worship of the Father is in vain, because the same verse goes on to read: “He that does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” See also Genesis 18:1–2; Exodus 3:14; Psalm 110:1; Isaiah 9:6; Daniel 10:13, 21; and Hebrews 1:6. Question: What does it mean that God is spirit? Answer: The teaching that “God is spirit” is found in John 4:24: “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” Jesus said this to a woman who thought that physical locale has a bearing on proper worship of God. The fact that God is spirit means that God the Father does not have a human body. God the Son came to earth in human form (John 1:1), but God the Father did not. Jesus is unique as Emmanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Numbers 23:19 emphasizes God’s truthfulness by contrasting Him with mortal men: “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.” Some question why the Bible sometimes speaks of God as if He has a body. For example, Isaiah 59:1 mentions God’s “hand” and “ear.” Second Chronicles 16:9 speaks of God’s “eyes.” Matthew 4:4 puts words in God’s “mouth.” In Deuteronomy 33:27 God has “arms.” All of these verses are examples of anthropomorphism—a way of describing God with anatomical or emotional terms so that humans can better understand Him. The use of anthropomorphism, a form of figurative language, does not imply that God has an actual body. To say that God is spirit is to say that God the Father is invisible. Colossians 1:15 calls God the “invisible God.” First Timothy 1:17 praises God, saying, “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.” Even though God is spirit, He is also a living, personal being. As such, we can know Him personally. Joshua 3:10 speaks of God in this way, saying, “You will know that the living God is among you.” Psalm 84:2 declares, “My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God” (ESV). Philosophically, God must be a spirit in order to be infinite. Also, if God was limited to a physical body, He could not be omnipresent (in all places at once). God the Father is not limited to the dimensional restrictions of created things but can exist in all places at one time. God is the uncreated First Cause that is the power behind all other beings. Interestingly, in John 4:24 Jesus makes the connection between God being spirit and worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. The idea is that, since God is spirit, people must worship Him accurately (in truth) and in spirit (with their soul or heart), as opposed to relying on traditions, rituals, and physical locales. GotQuestions.org H A