Church Fathers Commentary John 4

Glossa Ordinaria: After relating how John checked the envy of his disciples regarding the success of Christ’s teaching, the Evangelist next addresses the envy of the Pharisees and Christ’s retreat from them. When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard...

St. Augustine of Hippo: If the Pharisees' knowledge that our Lord was making and baptizing more disciples than John had truly led them to follow Him wholeheartedly, He would not have left Judea but would have remained for their sake. However, seeing that their knowledge of Him was coupled with envy, making them persecutors instead of followers, He departed from there. He could have, if He had pleased, stayed among them and escaped their hands, but He wished to set an example for future believers, showing that it is no sin for a servant of God to flee from the fury of persecutors. He did this as a good teacher, not out of fear for Himself, but for our instruction.

St. John Chrysostom: He also did it to pacify human envy and perhaps to avoid casting suspicion on the dispensation of the incarnation. For if He had been captured and then escaped, the reality of His flesh would have been doubted.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It may perplex you to be told that Jesus baptized more disciples than John, and then immediately after, Though Jesus Himself baptized not. What? Is there a mistake that is then corrected?

St. John Chrysostom: Christ Himself did not baptize, but those who reported the fact represented it this way to stir up the envy of their hearers, making it seem that Christ Himself baptized. The reason He did not baptize Himself had already been declared by John: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Now, He had not yet given the Holy Spirit; therefore, it was fitting that He should not baptize. But His disciples baptized as an effective mode of instruction, which was better than gathering believers here and there, as had been done with Simon and his brother. Their baptism, however, had no more power than the baptism of John; both were without the grace of the Spirit, and both had one object: to bring people to Christ.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, both statements are true, for Jesus both baptized and did not baptize. He baptized in that He cleansed; He did not baptize in that He did not perform the immersion. The disciples supplied the ministry of the body, while He supplied the aid of that Majesty of whom it was said, The same is He who baptizes.

Alcuin of York: The question is often asked whether the Holy Spirit was given by the baptism of the disciples, when later it is said, The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39). We reply that the Spirit was given, though not in as manifest a way as He was after the Ascension, in the form of fiery tongues. For just as Christ Himself in His human nature always possessed the Spirit, yet at His baptism the Spirit descended visibly upon Him in the form of a dove, so also before the manifest and visible coming of the Holy Spirit, all saints could possess the Spirit secretly.

St. Augustine of Hippo: We must believe that Christ's disciples were already baptized themselves, either with John’s baptism or, as is more probable, with Christ’s. For He who had stooped to the humble service of washing His disciples’ feet would not have failed to administer baptism to His servants, who would thus be enabled to baptize others in their turn.

St. John Chrysostom: Upon withdrawing from Judea, Christ rejoined those He was with before, as we read next: And departed again into Galilee. Just as the Apostles, when they were expelled by the Jews, went to the Gentiles, so Christ goes to the Samaritans. But to deprive the Jews of all excuse, He does not go there to stay, but only passes through on His way, as the Evangelist implies by saying, And he must needs go through Samaria.

Samaria receives its name from Somer, a mountain there, named after a former owner. The inhabitants of the country were formerly not Samaritans, but Israelites. But in time they fell under God’s wrath, and the king of Assyria transplanted them to Babylon and Media, placing Gentiles from various regions in Samaria in their place.

God, however, to show that it was not from a lack of power on His part that He delivered up the Jews, but because of the sins of the people themselves, sent lions to afflict the foreigners. This was reported to the king, and he sent a priest to instruct them in God’s law. But not even then did they wholly cease from their iniquity; they only partially changed. In time, they turned to idols again, and while they still worshiped God, they called themselves Samaritans, after the mountain.

The Venerable Bede: He must needs pass through Samaria, because that country lay between Judea and Galilee. Samaria was the principal city of a province of Palestine and gave its name to the whole district connected with it. The particular place to which our Lord went is given next: Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar.

St. John Chrysostom: It was the place where Simeon and Levi carried out a great slaughter on account of Dinah.

Theophylact of Ohrid: But after the sons of Jacob had desolated the city by slaughtering the Shechemites, Jacob annexed it to the portion of his son Joseph, as we read in Genesis: I have given to you one portion above your brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword, and with my bow. This is referred to in what follows: near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It was a well. Every well is a spring, but not every spring is a well. Any water that rises from the ground and can be drawn for use is a spring. But where it is ready at hand on the surface, it is called only a spring; where it is deep and low down, it is called a well, not a spring.

Theophylact of Ohrid: But why does the Evangelist mention the parcel of ground and the well? First, to explain what the woman says, Our father Jacob gave us this well; secondly, to remind you that what the Patriarchs obtained by their faith in God, the Jews had lost by their impiety. They had been supplanted to make room for Gentiles. Therefore, there is nothing new in what has now taken place, that is, in the Gentiles succeeding to the kingdom of heaven in place of the Jews.

St. John Chrysostom: Christ prefers labor and exercise to ease and luxury, and therefore travels to Samaria not in a carriage but on foot, until at last the exertion of the journey fatigues Him. This is a lesson to us that, far from indulging in superfluities, we should often deprive ourselves even of necessities: Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey...

St. Augustine of Hippo: Jesus, we see, is strong and weak: strong, because in the beginning was the Word; weak, because the Word was made flesh. Jesus, being weak and wearied with His journey, sat thus by the well.

St. John Chrysostom: This is as if to say He sat not on a seat or a couch, but on the first place He saw—upon the ground. He sat down because He was wearied and to wait for the disciples. The coolness of the well would be refreshing in the midday heat: And it was about the sixth hour.

Theophylact of Ohrid: He mentions our Lord’s sitting and resting from His journey so that none might blame Him for going to Samaria Himself after He had forbidden the disciples to go.

Alcuin of York: Mystically, our Lord also left Judea; that is, He left the unbelief of those who condemned Him and, through His Apostles, went into Galilee—that is, into the fickleness of the world. He thus taught His disciples to pass from vices to virtues. I conceive the parcel of ground was left not so much to Joseph as to Christ, of whom Joseph was a type and whom the sun, moon, and all the stars truly adore. To this parcel of ground our Lord came so that the Samaritans, who claimed to be inheritors of the Patriarch Israel, might recognize Him and be converted to Christ, the legal heir of the Patriarch.

St. Augustine of Hippo: His journey is His assumption of the flesh for our sake. For where does He go, who is everywhere present? What can this mean, except that to come to us, it was necessary for Him to take upon Himself a visible form of flesh? So then, what does His being wearied with His journey mean, but that He is wearied in the flesh? And why is it the sixth hour? Because it is the sixth age of the world. If we count the ages as hours, the first is from Adam to Noah; the second from Noah to Abraham; the third from Abraham to David; the fourth from David to the Babylonian captivity; the fifth from there to the baptism of John. On this calculation, the present age is the sixth hour.

At the sixth hour, then, our Lord comes to the well. The dark abyss of the well, I think, represents the lowest parts of this universe—that is, the earth. Jesus came to it at the sixth hour, which is the sixth age of humanity, the old age, as it were, of the "old man" whom we are commanded to put off so that we may put on the new.

For we reckon the different ages of a person's life in the same way: the first age is infancy, the second childhood, the third boyhood, the fourth youth, the fifth adulthood, and the sixth old age. Again, the sixth hour is the middle of the day, the time when the sun begins to descend. This signifies that we who are called by Christ are to check our pleasure in visible things, so that by refreshing the inner man with the love of things invisible, we may be restored to the inward light that never fails. His sitting signifies His humility, or perhaps His role as a teacher, since teachers were accustomed to sit.

St. John Chrysostom: So that this conversation might not appear to violate His own command against talking to the Samaritans, the Evangelist explains how it arose. Namely, He did not arrive with the prior intention of talking with the woman, but simply would not send her away when she came. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Notice that she comes quite by chance.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The woman here is a type of the Church—not yet justified, but about to be. It is part of the resemblance that she comes from a foreign people. The Samaritans were foreigners, though they were neighbors. In the same way, the Church was to come from the Gentiles and be alien to the Jewish race.

Theophylact of Ohrid: The discussion with the woman arises naturally from the situation. Jesus says to her, Give me to drink. As a man, the labor and heat He had undergone had made Him thirsty.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Did Jesus also thirst for that woman’s faith? He thirsts for the faith of those for whom He shed His blood.

St. John Chrysostom: This also shows us not only our Lord’s strength and endurance as a traveler, but also His indifference to food, for His disciples did not carry food with them. As the text says, His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. This shows the humility of Christ; He is left alone. If He had wished, it was in His power not to send them all away or, upon their departure, to have others remain to attend to Him. But He chose not to do so, for in this way He accustomed His disciples to trample on every kind of pride.

However, someone might say, "Is humility in fishermen and tentmakers such a great matter?" But these very men were suddenly raised to the most lofty position on earth: that of friends and followers of the Lord of the whole earth. Men of humble origin, when they arrive at a position of dignity, are for this very reason more likely than others to be lifted up with pride, since the honor is so new to them. Therefore, to keep His disciples humble, our Lord taught them in all things to master their pride.

When the woman was told, Give Me to drink, she very naturally asks, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? She knew He was a Jew from His appearance and speech. Here, observe her simplicity. For even if our Lord had been obligated to avoid interacting with her, that was His concern, not hers. The Evangelist does not say that the Samaritans would have no dealings with the Jews, but that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. The woman, however, though not at fault herself, wished to correct what she perceived as a fault in another.

After their return from the captivity, the Jews held a deep-seated animosity toward the Samaritans, whom they regarded as foreigners and enemies. The Samaritans did not accept all the Scriptures, but only the writings of Moses, and they gave little importance to the Prophets. They claimed to be of Jewish origin, but the Jews considered them Gentiles and hated them, just as they did the rest of the Gentile world.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The Jews would not even use their vessels. So the woman was astonished to hear a Jew ask to drink from her vessel, a request so contrary to Jewish custom.

St. John Chrysostom: But why did Christ ask for what the law did not allow? It is no answer to say that He knew she would not give it, for if that were the case, He clearly should not have asked. Rather, His very reason for asking was to show His indifference to such observances and to abolish them for the future.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He who asked to drink from the woman’s vessel, however, thirsted for the woman’s faith. Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, ‘Give me to drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.

Origen of Alexandria: For it is a doctrine, as it were, that no one receives a divine gift who does not seek it. Even the Savior Himself is commanded by the Father to ask, so that He may receive it, as we read, Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. And our Savior Himself says, Ask, and it will be given to you. Therefore, He says here emphatically, you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He lets her know that He was not asking for the water she was thinking of, but that, knowing her faith, He wished to satisfy her thirst by giving her the Holy Spirit. For this is how we must interpret the "living water," which is the gift of God, as He says, If you knew the gift of God.

Living water is water that comes from a spring, as distinct from water collected in ponds and cisterns from the rain. If spring water also becomes stagnant—that is, if it collects in some place where it is completely separated from its source—it ceases to be living water.

St. John Chrysostom: In Scripture, the grace of the Holy Spirit is sometimes called fire, sometimes water, which shows that these words are expressive not of its substance but of its action. The metaphor of fire conveys the vibrant and sin-consuming property of grace; the metaphor of water conveys the cleansing of the Spirit and the refreshing of the souls who receive Him.

Theophylact of Ohrid: He calls the grace of the Holy Spirit "living water," meaning it is life-giving, refreshing, and stirring. For the grace of the Holy Spirit is always stirring the one who does good works, directing the movements of his heart.

St. John Chrysostom: These words elevated the woman’s perception of our Lord and made her think He was no ordinary person. She addresses Him reverently with the title "Lord." The woman says to Him, Lord, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then do you get that living water?

St. Augustine of Hippo: She understands "living water" to mean the water in the well, and therefore says, "You wish to give me living water, but you have nothing to draw with as I do. You cannot, then, give me this living water." She then asks, Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?

St. John Chrysostom: It is as if she said, "You cannot claim that Jacob gave us this well but used a different one himself, for he and those with him drank from it—which they would not have done if he had a better one. You cannot, then, give me water from this well, and you do not have another, better well, unless you admit that you are greater than Jacob. From where, then, do you have the water that you promise to give us?"

Theophylact of Ohrid: The addition, and his livestock, shows the abundance of the water. It is as if to say, "Not only is the water so fresh that Jacob and his sons drank from it, but it is so abundant that it satisfied the vast herds of the patriarchs’ livestock."

St. John Chrysostom: See how she associates herself with the Jewish lineage. The Samaritans claimed Abraham as their ancestor on the ground of his having come from Chaldea, and they called Jacob their father, as he was Abraham’s grandson.

The Venerable Bede: Or she calls Jacob their father because she lived under the Mosaic law and possessed the farm that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Origen of Alexandria: In the mystical sense, Jacob’s well is the Scriptures. The learned then drink like Jacob and his sons; the simple and uneducated drink like Jacob’s livestock.

St. John Chrysostom: To the woman’s question, “Are you greater than our father Jacob?” He does not reply, “I am greater,” lest He should seem to boast. Instead, His answer implies it. Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.” It is as if He said, “If Jacob is to be honored because he gave you this water, what will you say if I give you water far better than this?” He makes the comparison, however, not to depreciate Jacob, but to exalt Himself. For He does not say that Jacob’s water is worthless, but asserts a simple fact of nature: namely, that whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This is true of both material water and that which it represents. For the water in the well is the pleasure of the world, which is an abode of darkness. Men draw it with the waterpot of their lusts; pleasure is not enjoyed unless it is preceded by lust. And when a man has enjoyed this pleasure—that is, drunk of the water—he thirsts again. But if he has received water from Me, he will never thirst. For how will they thirst, who are filled with the abundance of the house of God? He promised this fullness of the Holy Spirit.

St. John Chrysostom: He explains the excellence of this water—namely, that he who drinks of it never thirsts—in what follows: “But the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Just as a man who had a spring within him would never feel thirst, so too the one who has this water that I will give him will not be thirsty.

Theophylact of Ohrid: For the water that I give is ever-multiplying. The saints receive through grace the seed and principle of good, but they themselves make it grow by their own cultivation.

St. John Chrysostom: See how the woman is led by degrees to the highest doctrine. First, she thought He was a lax Jew. Then, hearing of the living water, she thought it meant material water. Afterward, she understands it is spoken of spiritually and believes that it can take away thirst. Yet she does not know what it is, only that it is superior to material things. The woman says to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw.” Observe that she now prefers Him to the patriarch Jacob, for whom she had such veneration.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Alternatively, the woman still understands Him only in a fleshly sense. She is delighted to be relieved from thirst forever and takes our Lord's promise in a carnal sense. God had once granted to His servant Elijah that he would neither hunger nor thirst for forty days; if He could grant this for forty days, why not forever?

Eager to possess such a gift, she asks Him for the living water: “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw.” Her poverty obliged her to labor beyond her strength. If only she could hear the words, “Come to Me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.” Jesus had said this very thing—that she no longer needed to labor—but she did not understand Him.

At last, our Lord was resolved that she should understand. Jesus says to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” What does this mean? Did He wish to give her the water through her husband? Or, because she did not understand, did He wish to teach her by means of her husband? The Apostle indeed says of women, “If they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home.” But this applies only where Jesus is not present. Our Lord Himself was present here; what need was there, then, for Him to speak to her through her husband? Was it through her husband that He spoke to Mary, who sat at His feet?

St. John Chrysostom: The woman, then, being urgent in asking for the promised water, Jesus says to her, “Go, call your husband,” to show that he too should have a share in these things. But she was in a hurry to receive the gift and wished to conceal her guilt, for she still imagined she was speaking to a man. The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Christ answers her with a timely reproof, exposing her past husbands and her present one, whom she had concealed. Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband.’”

St. Augustine of Hippo: Understand that the woman did not have a lawful husband but had formed an illicit connection with someone. He tells her, “You have had five husbands,” in order to show her His miraculous knowledge.

Origen of Alexandria: Could Jacob’s well mystically signify the letter of Scripture, and the water of Jesus that which is above the letter, which not all are permitted to penetrate? That which is written was dictated by men, whereas the things which “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,” cannot be reduced to writing, but are from the fountain of water that springs up into eternal life—that is, the Holy Spirit. These truths are unfolded to those who, no longer carrying a human heart within them, are able to say with the Apostle, “We have the mind of Christ.”

The woman wished to attain, like the angels, angelic and superhuman truth without using the water from Jacob’s well. For the angels have a well of water within them, springing from the Word of God Himself. She says therefore, “Sir, give me this water.” But it is impossible in this life to have the water given by the Word without first drawing from Jacob’s well. Therefore, Jesus seems to tell the woman that He cannot supply her with it from any other source. If we are thirsty, we must first drink from Jacob’s well. Jesus says to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” According to the Apostle, the Law is the husband of the soul.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Some interpret the five husbands to be the five books given by Moses. And they understand the words, “He whom you now have is not your husband,” as spoken by our Lord about Himself. It is as if He said, “You have served the five books of Moses as five husbands, but now He whom you have—that is, whom you hear—is not your husband, for you do not yet believe in Him.” But if she did not believe in Christ, she was still united to those five husbands, the five books. Why then is it said, “You have had five husbands,” as if she no longer had them? And how do we understand that a man must have these five books in order to pass over to Christ, when he who believes in Christ, far from forsaking these books, embraces them all the more strongly in their spiritual meaning? Let us turn to another interpretation.

Jesus, seeing that the woman did not understand and wishing to enlighten her, says, “Call your husband,” meaning, “Apply your understanding.” For when life is well-ordered, the understanding—which pertains to the soul—governs the soul. Though the understanding is nothing other than the soul, it is at the same time a certain part of it. This very part of the soul, called the understanding or intellect, is itself illuminated by a superior light. Such a Light was speaking with the woman, but in her, there was no understanding ready to be enlightened.

Our Lord, therefore, says as it were, “I wish to enlighten, but there is no one here to be enlightened. Call your husband”—that is, “apply your understanding, through which you must be taught and by which you must be governed.” The five former husbands can be explained as the five senses. Before a person has the use of reason, he is governed entirely by his bodily senses. Then reason comes into action, and from that time forward he is capable of forming ideas and is influenced by either truth or error. The woman had been under the influence of error, which was not her lawful husband but an adulterer. Therefore, our Lord says, “Put away that adulterer who corrupts you, and call your husband, so that you may understand Me.”

Origen of Alexandria: And what more proper place than Jacob’s well for exposing the unlawful husband—that is, the perverse law? For the Samaritan woman is meant to represent a soul that has subjected itself to its own kind of law, not the divine law. And our Savior wishes to marry her to a lawful husband—that is, Himself, the Word of truth who was to rise from the dead and never die again.

St. John Chrysostom: The woman is not offended by Christ’s rebuke. She does not leave Him and go away. Far from it, her admiration for Him is raised. The woman said to Him, Sir, I perceive that you are a Prophet. It is as if she said, “Your knowledge of me is extraordinary; you must be a prophet.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: The husband was beginning to come to her, though He had not yet fully come. She thought our Lord was a prophet, and He was a prophet, for He says of Himself, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country.

St. John Chrysostom: And having come to this belief, she asks no questions relating to this life, such as the health or sickness of the body. She is not troubled about thirst; she is eager for doctrine.

St. Augustine of Hippo: She then begins to inquire about a subject that perplexed her: Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. This was a great dispute between the Samaritans and the Jews. The Jews worshipped in the temple built by Solomon and made this a ground for boasting over the Samaritans. The Samaritans replied, “Why do you boast because you have a temple which we do not? Did our fathers, who pleased God, worship in that temple? Is it not better to pray to God on this mountain, where our fathers worshipped?”

St. John Chrysostom: By “our fathers,” she means Abraham, who is said to have offered up Isaac here.

Origen of Alexandria: Or, to put it another way, the Samaritans regarded Mount Gerizim, near which Jacob dwelt, as sacred and worshipped upon it, while the sacred place of the Jews was Mount Zion, God’s own choice. The Jews, being the people from whom salvation came, are the type of true believers; the Samaritans are the type of heretics. Gerizim, which means “division,” suits the Samaritans; Zion, which means “watchtower,” suits the Jews.

St. John Chrysostom: Christ, however, does not solve this question immediately. Instead, He leads the woman to higher things, of which He had not spoken until she acknowledged Him to be a prophet and therefore listened with fuller belief. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. He says, “Believe me,” because we need faith—the mother of all good, the medicine of salvation—to obtain any real good. Those who try to do so without it are like people who venture onto the sea without a boat and, able to swim only a little way, are drowned.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Our Lord says, “Believe Me,” with great fitness, as the husband is now present. For now there is one in you that believes; you have begun to be present in understanding. But if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.

Alcuin of York: In saying, “the hour comes,” He refers to the Gospel dispensation, which was now approaching. Under this dispensation, the shadows of types were to withdraw, and the pure light of truth was to enlighten the minds of believers.

St. John Chrysostom: There was no necessity for Christ to show why the fathers worshipped on the mountain and the Jews in Jerusalem. He was therefore silent on that question. Nevertheless, He asserted the religious superiority of the Jews on another ground—not of place, but of knowledge: You worship you know not what; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

Origen of Alexandria: “You” literally refers to the Samaritans, but mystically, it refers to all who understand the Scriptures in a heretical sense. “We” literally means the Jews, but mystically, it means “I, the Word, and all who conform to My Image,” who obtain salvation from the Jewish Scriptures.

St. John Chrysostom: The Samaritans worshipped what they did not know—a local, partial God, as they imagined, of whom they had the same notion as they had of their idols. Therefore, they mingled the worship of God with the worship of idols. But the Jews were free from this superstition; indeed, they knew God to be the God of the whole world, and for this reason He says, We worship what we know.

He counts Himself among the Jews in condescension to the woman’s idea of Him, speaking as if He were a Jewish prophet when He says, “We worship,” though it is certain that He is the Being who is worshipped by all. The words, For salvation is of the Jews, mean that everything intended to save and amend the world—the knowledge of God, the abhorrence of idols, all other such doctrines, and even the very origin of our religion—comes from the Jews. In “salvation,” He also includes His own presence, which He says is of the Jews, as the Apostle tells us, Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came. See how He exalts the Old Testament, showing it to be the root of everything good, thus proving in every way that He Himself is not opposed to the Law.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It is saying much for the Jews to declare in their name, We worship what we know. But He does not speak for the reprobate Jews, but for that party from whom the Apostles and the Prophets came. Such were all those saints who laid the prices of their possessions at the Apostles’ feet.

St. John Chrysostom: The Jewish worship, then, was far superior to the Samaritan, but even it was to be abolished: The hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. He says, “and now is,” to show that this was not a prediction like those of the ancient Prophets, to be fulfilled in the course of ages. The event, He says, is now at hand; it is approaching your very doors. The words “true worshipers” are used for the sake of distinction, for there are false worshipers: those who pray for temporal and frail benefits, or whose actions are always contradicting their prayers.

Or by saying “true,” He excludes the Jews along with the Samaritans. For the Jews, though better than the Samaritans, were yet as much inferior to those who were to succeed them as the type is to the reality. The true worshipers do not confine the worship of God to a place but worship in the spirit, as Paul said, Whom I serve with my spirit.

Origen of Alexandria: It is said twice, “The hour comes,” and the first time it is without the addition, “and now is.” The first instance seems to allude to that purely spiritual worship which is suited only to a state of perfection; the second refers to earthly worship, perfected as far as is consistent with human nature.

When that hour our Lord speaks of arrives, the mountain of the Samaritans must be avoided, and God must be worshipped in Zion, where Jerusalem is, which is called by Christ “the city of the Great King.” This is the Church, where sacred oblations and spiritual victims are offered up by those who understand the spiritual law. So, when the fullness of time has come, the true worship, we must suppose, will no longer be attached to Jerusalem (that is, to the present Church), for the Angels do not worship the Father at Jerusalem. Thus, those who have obtained the likeness of the Jews worship the Father better than those who are at Jerusalem.

And when this hour has come, we shall be accounted by the Father as sons. For this reason it is not said, “Worship God,” but, “Worship the Father.” For the present, however, the true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

St. John Chrysostom: He speaks here of the Church, in which there is true worship, and such as is fitting for God. He therefore adds, For the Father seeks such to worship Him. For although He formerly willed that humanity should linger under a dispensation of types and figures, this was done only in condescension to human frailty and to prepare people for the reception of the truth.

Origen of Alexandria: But if the Father seeks, He seeks through Jesus, who came to seek and to save that which was lost and to teach people what true worship was. God is a Spirit—that is, He constitutes our real life, just as our breath (spirit) constitutes our bodily life.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, it signifies that God is incorporeal and that He therefore ought to be worshipped not with the body but with the soul, by the offering up of a pure mind. That is, they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The Jews neglected the soul but paid great attention to the body, with its various kinds of purification. Our Lord seems to refer to this here, saying that we must worship the incorporeal God not by the cleansing of the body, but by the incorporeal nature within us—that is, the understanding, which He calls the spirit.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Or, by saying that God, being a Spirit, ought to be worshipped in spirit, He indicates the freedom and knowledge of the worshipers and the uncircumscribed nature of the worship, according to the saying of the Apostle, Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

St. John Chrysostom: And that we are to worship “in truth” means that whereas the former ordinances were typical (that is, circumcision, burnt offerings, and sacrifices), now, on the contrary, everything is real.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Or, because many think that they worship God in the spirit (that is, with the mind) who yet hold heretical doctrines concerning Him, for this reason He adds, “and in truth.” The words might also refer to the two kinds of philosophy among us: active and contemplative. The “spirit” would stand for action, according to the Apostle, As many as are led by the Spirit of God, while “truth,” on the other hand, would stand for contemplation. Or, to take another view, since the Samaritans thought that God was confined to a certain place and ought to be worshipped there, our Lord may be teaching them in opposition that the true worshipers worship not locally, but spiritually. Or again, since everything in the Jewish system was a type and shadow, the meaning may be that the true worshipers will worship not in type, but in truth. God, being a Spirit, seeks spiritual worshipers; being the Truth, He seeks true ones.

St. Augustine of Hippo: “Oh, for a mountain to pray on,” you cry, “high and inaccessible, so that I may be nearer to God, and God may hear me better, for He dwells on high!” Yes, God dwells on high, but He has regard for the humble. Therefore, descend so that you may ascend. “Ways on high are in their heart,” it is said, “passing in the valley of tears”—and in “tears” is humility. Would you pray in the temple? Pray in yourself, but first become the temple of God.

St. John Chrysostom: The woman was astonished by the loftiness of His teaching, as her words show: The woman said to Him, I know that Messias comes, which is called Christ.

St. Augustine of Hippo: "Unctus" is the term in Latin, "Christ" in Greek, and "Messiah" in Hebrew. She knew, then, who could teach her, but did not yet know Who was teaching her. When He is come, He will tell us all things. It is as if she said, "The Jews now contend for the temple and we for the mountain; but He, when He comes, will level the mountain, overthrow the temple, and teach us how to pray in spirit and in truth."

St. John Chrysostom: But what reason did the Samaritans have to expect the Messiah's coming? They acknowledged the books of Moses, which foretold it. Jacob prophesies of Christ, The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from beneath his feet, until Shiloh come. And Moses says, The Lord your God shall raise up a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren.

Origen of Alexandria: It should be known that just as Christ arose from among the Jews, not only declaring but also proving Himself to be the Christ, so also among the Samaritans a man named Dositheus arose, who claimed that he was the prophesied Christ.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It is a confirmation for discerning minds that the five husbands signified the five senses, given that the woman makes five carnal answers before finally mentioning the name of Christ.

St. John Chrysostom: Christ now reveals Himself to the woman. Jesus said to her, I that speak to you am He. If He had told the woman this at the beginning, it would have seemed vain. Now, having gradually awakened her to the thought of Christ, His disclosure of Himself is perfectly opportune. He was not so open with the Jews, who asked Him, If You be the Christ, tell us plainly. This was because they did not ask in order to learn, but to harm Him; whereas she spoke from the simplicity of her heart.