Church Fathers Commentary John 4:13-18

"Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said unto him, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou saidst well, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said truly." — John 4:13-18 (ASV)

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.