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Verse Takeaways
1
A Clever Half-Truth
Commentators note the woman's response, "I have no husband," was a clever half-truth. While technically correct that the man she lived with was not her legal husband, her statement was designed to evade Jesus' command and hide her sinful lifestyle. Scholars like A.T. Robertson point out that Jesus immediately saw through this "veiled deceit," affirming the literal truth of her words while preparing to reveal the full truth of her heart.
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John
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Commentaries
15
Albert Barnes
On John 4:17
18th Century
Theologian
I have no husband. This was said, evidently, to evade the subject. Perhaps she feared that if she came there with the man that she lived w…
AT Robertson
On John 4:17
I have no husband (ουκ εχω ανδρα). The Greek ανηρ means either "man" or "husband." She had her "man," but he was not a legal "husb…
Charles Ellicott
On John 4:17
19th Century
Bishop
I have no husband.—The stroke has left its mark. It lays bare to her own consciousness the past and present life, but she does not…
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Charles Spurgeon
On John 4:17–18
19th Century
Preacher
Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in …
Expositor's Bible Commentary
On John 4:17
Jesus’ request to call her husband was both proper and strategic—proper because it was not regarded as good etiquette for a woman to talk with a ma…
John Calvin
On John 4:17
16th Century
Theologian
I have not a husband. We do not yet fully perceive the fruit of this advice, by which Christ intended to pierce the heart of this woman, t…
John Gill
On John 4:17
17th Century
Pastor
The woman answered and said, I have no husband
Which was a truth she would not have spoken at another time or place,…
Matthew Henry
On John 4:4–26
17th Century
Minister
There was great hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews. Christ's road from Judea to Galilee lay through Samaria. We should not go into places o…