Drawn by the woman's testimony to come and hear for themselves, a larger number beyond those first moved by her saying believed because they heard Jesus Himself speak personally, and their faith then rested on what they heard themselves. His teaching cleared their confusion and doubts and convinced them of the truth and their need of a Saviour, so they repented, received His instruction joyfully, and knew and confessed Him as indeed the Christ, the promised Messiah and Saviour of the world. Their faith thus moved beyond belief for another's saying to firsthand personal knowledge and experience, showing that faith must not rest on another person's presentation but see and know the truth for oneself. They believed on His word alone without requiring a sign or miracle or temporal benefit, while the Jews who saw mighty healings would not recognize Him, so that those despised by the Jews received the light the Jews rejected. His love and grace were thereby shown to be not limited by race or nation, breaking down the partition between Jew and Gentile, and proving that the harvest comes speedily when truth is sown and the Spirit impresses hearts, with one soul reached becoming the means of bringing many more to hear and then carry the truth onward to others.
Setting and Wording
The setting is the meeting at Jacob's well, where Jews and Samaritans stood as bitter enemies with no social intercourse between them. On the long noontide journey Jesus arrived faint from hunger and thirst, with no rope or water-jar to reach the deep well, and waited in the lot of humanity. He who made the ocean and opened the springs of the earth rested weary and dependent on a stranger's kindness, asking an outcast Samaritan woman for a drink. He asked rather than offering a favor, because trust awakens trust, to find the key to the heart.
Drawn by the woman's testimony and invitation, many came at first out of curiosity to the well and to the city to see Him. The Samaritans asked Him to stay, and He stayed two days among them teaching them, and they were eager to hear the truth. He then left them to continue His journey to Galilee without tarrying at Nazareth. During those two days many more came to believe through hearing His own words, beyond those first drawn by the woman's testimony.
The phrase his own word means hearing Jesus Himself speak personally, and many more means a larger number beyond those first drawn by the woman's saying. Their faith then rested on what they heard themselves, not only on her saying. Hearing Him themselves they moved from her testimony to personal conviction.
From Testimony to Conviction
The woman's witness first drew the townspeople to come and hear for themselves, and the single soul first reached became the means of bringing others to the Saviour. Those first drawn by her saying sought Him out during His two-day stay in their city, and then a still larger number believed because they heard His own words personally. Their faith therefore rested not on her report alone but on what they themselves heard from Him.
His own explanation cleared their understanding, relieved doubts and confusion, and convinced them of the truth and of their need of a Saviour. The Holy Spirit impressed that truth upon their hearts, so that they received His instruction joyfully, drank the water of life He gave, repented of their sins, and accepted Him as Saviour and Redeemer. Even the woman who had broken God's commandments had been shown that He knew the sins of her life yet was her friend who loved and pitied her, and that if she would forsake her sins God would receive her as His child, and in joy she hurried to call the people to come to the well.
Hearing Him themselves they knew and confessed that He is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world, the promised Messiah and a teacher sent by God. Drawn by the woman's testimony they came to Him, asked Him to stay, and He stayed two days, and their faith then rested on His own word heard personally and grew beyond her saying. What began as belief because of her testimony became recognition through hearing Jesus Himself.
Their advance from belief for the woman's saying to firsthand personal knowledge and experience shows that faith must not rest on another person's presentation and mind but must see and know the truth for oneself. Many came at first out of curiosity because of her report that she had found the Messiah, but they believed because they saw and heard Him for themselves. Every individual must therefore search the Scriptures for himself with a humble heart like a child, reaching out for more light and knowledge, see and find the evidence for himself with the reasoning powers God has given, know the truth is truth for himself, and then speak it as what he knows.
Manner That Won Hearts
Though a Jew, He crossed the prejudice separating Jews and Samaritans and set at naught Pharisaic custom and prejudice by mingling freely with this despised people. He accepted their hospitality, slept under their roofs, ate with them at their tables of food prepared and served by their hands, and taught in their streets. He did not create barriers or constantly thrust upon them that they were wrong, but treated them with utmost kindness, courtesy, and human sympathy. By sympathy and social kindliness He drew their hearts to Himself by the tie of human sympathy.
His kindness and human sympathy drew their hearts to Him and recognized their human dignity, while His divine grace brought them the salvation that the Jews rejected. His kind, welcoming treatment and teaching among them gave His words blessed, life-giving power that fell on thirsty souls. That power awakened new impulses, made them long to become worthy of His confidence, and opened to these outcasts of society the possibility of a new life.
He met the woman at Sychar personally and opened rich truths to her because He saw her receptive spirit. Wherever hearts are open He is ready to instruct plainly without parables. His own word thus led many others besides her to believe.
Faith Without Signs
The Samaritans received Him on His word alone, believing because they heard His own teaching without requiring any sign or miracle to establish His divinity. They were ready to receive Him as a teacher sent by God and to accept Him as the promised Messiah and Redeemer, convinced by His words of their need of a Saviour, without making belief depend on receiving some special temporal benefit. The woman herself listened to Christ and accepted Him on His word alone, glad for the light, and published it to her neighbors who then believed on account of what He Himself said, with no miracle done among them.
That ready faith stands in sharp contrast to the Jews, who saw Him come with majesty and grace in mighty healings and a mighty outpouring of His Spirit yet would not recognize Him. Prejudice reigned in Jewish hearts so that even the mightiest miracles did them no good, while pride and mistaken expectations about the prophecies made them incredulous and questioning. It stands also against a superficial belief moved by selfish motives that will believe only if signs and wonders are seen, whereas those despised by the Jews received the light the Jews rejected, His divine grace bringing the Samaritans the salvation the Jews refused.
His work at Sychar showed that His love and grace were not limited by race or nation, but that the gospel is for all people and was not confined to the Jews. God's kingdom has no national or social boundaries, and in staying two days to preach salvation to the world He broke down the partition wall between Jew and Gentile. The gospel invitation is therefore not to be narrowed to a select few but given to all, with no circumstance of birth or nationality or condition of life turning away His love.
The same believing without demanding wonderful miracles to testify of God's working teaches how knowledge of doctrine comes, by coming to investigate the Scriptures with a teachable spirit ready to learn, with heart emptied of prejudice. It is learned by bringing ideas to the Scriptures rather than bringing the Scriptures to ideas, and by discerning where God is working. In the same way every individual must search the Scriptures for himself with a humble heart like a child, reaching out for more light and knowledge. He must see and find the evidence for himself with the reasoning powers God has given, know for himself that truth is truth, and then speak it as what he knows.
Their believing because of His own word proves that those who have never heard the truth have hearts more susceptible to belief than those who have been in the truth and had evidences of God's work. Unbelievers drawn out to hear Him for themselves can thus receive Christ directly, while those with light remain under a pressure of unbelief and excuse themselves.
Later Harvest for Church
The Samaritans who came out at first from curiosity after the woman's report asked Jesus to remain, and He stayed two days with them, so that many more believed because they heard Him themselves and not only because of her saying. His teaching bore immediate fruit and confirmed the truth she had shared, clearing the way from her testimony to personal conviction in which they knew that He is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world, and drank the water of life He gave. He opened their minds to the Word of life, and their response shows how truth sown in hearts leads people to believe, to be converted and see the truth as it is in Jesus, and to become able to share that truth with others. This proves that the harvest comes speedily after the sowing when the Holy Spirit impresses truth upon hearts, an object lesson to the disciples and to all interested in the salvation of souls in how sowing can be followed quickly by an ingathering.
That work left believing Samaritans in Samaria who did not persecute believers, so that the scattered persecuted church later found a safe asylum among them. His loving treatment and His words and works of mercy and powerful preaching among them prepared them to receive His message. Later they welcomed His followers and became a harvest for the gospel when Philip preached the risen Redeemer, showing that the gospel was not confined to the Jews.
After the woman found the Saviour at Jacob's well she at once brought others to Him and carried the light to her countrymen, so that a whole cityful came to hear Jesus and many more put faith in Him upon hearing Him themselves. She thus proved a more effective missionary than His own disciples, who despised her and saw nothing in Samaria to indicate an encouraging field. Their thoughts were fixed on a great work to be done in the future, and they did not see the harvest to be gathered right around them. His stay was meant to bless those disciples who were still under Jewish bigotry, enmity, contempt and hatred toward the Samaritans, teaching them by example that contempt and hatred must give place to pity and sympathy. They recalled that lesson with new meaning after His ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, when Peter preached in Samaria and John labored at Ephesus and Smyrna, which helped teach them that people outside Israel, including those despised by the Jews, were hungry for truth and could receive salvation. His two days of work among them preceded His journey to Galilee, where reports of His miracles and the temple cleansing helped prepare people to receive Him and led some to hope He was the promised Deliverer.
Call to Personal Witness
The account illustrates the power of His words and the certainty of His invitation to receive God's mercy and life, for many came to believe because they heard Him speak Himself. After the woman found the Saviour at Jacob's well she at once brought others to Him and carried the light to her countrymen, so that a whole cityful came to hear Jesus and many more put faith in Him upon hearing Him themselves. She proved a more effective missionary than His own disciples. They despised her and saw nothing in Samaria to indicate an encouraging field, with their thoughts fixed on a great work to be done in the future, and they did not see the harvest to be gathered right around them.
His work was largely composed of personal interviews with faithful regard for a one-soul audience, and the truth received by that one soul was carried to thousands so that many more believed. Truth given to one soul is carried from that soul to thousands. Many Samaritans came to believe in Jesus through hearing His own words, beyond those first drawn by the woman's testimony. His teaching confirmed the truth to them, and the Holy Spirit impressed it on their hearts, and they recognized Him as the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Their response shows that people who hear Christ for themselves can receive the truth and carry it onward to others. Christ opened their minds to the Word of life, to the word of life. Truth sown in people's hearts can lead them to believe and become able to share that truth with others, prompting them to share it with others.
Thousands of hearts can be reached in the most simple, humble way through youth helping youth, which gives workers the experience that fits them for consecrated work in a larger sphere. Even the most intellectual, gifted men and women are refreshed by the simple words of one who loves God and speaks of that love as naturally as a worldling speaks of what fills his mind, while well-prepared and studied words have little influence. The true honest words of a son or daughter of God spoken in natural simplicity open the door to many souls that have long been locked.
Drawn by the woman's testimony to come and hear for themselves, a larger number beyond those first moved by her saying believed because they heard Jesus Himself speak personally, and their faith then rested on what they heard themselves. His teaching cleared their confusion and doubts and convinced them of the truth and their need of a Saviour, so they repented, received His instruction joyfully, and knew and confessed Him as indeed the Christ, the promised Messiah and Saviour of the world. Their faith thus moved beyond belief for another's saying to firsthand personal knowledge and experience, showing that faith must not rest on another person's presentation but see and know the truth for oneself. They believed on His word alone without requiring a sign or miracle or temporal benefit, while the Jews who saw mighty healings would not recognize Him, so that those despised by the Jews received the light the Jews rejected. His love and grace were thereby shown to be not limited by race or nation, breaking down the partition between Jew and Gentile, and proving that the harvest comes speedily when truth is sown and the Spirit impresses hearts, with one soul reached becoming the means of bringing many more to hear and then carry the truth onward to others.
Setting and Wording
The setting is the meeting at Jacob's well, where Jews and Samaritans stood as bitter enemies with no social intercourse between them. On the long noontide journey Jesus arrived faint from hunger and thirst, with no rope or water-jar to reach the deep well, and waited in the lot of humanity. He who made the ocean and opened the springs of the earth rested weary and dependent on a stranger's kindness, asking an outcast Samaritan woman for a drink. He asked rather than offering a favor, because trust awakens trust, to find the key to the heart.
Drawn by the woman's testimony and invitation, many came at first out of curiosity to the well and to the city to see Him. The Samaritans asked Him to stay, and He stayed two days among them teaching them, and they were eager to hear the truth. He then left them to continue His journey to Galilee without tarrying at Nazareth. During those two days many more came to believe through hearing His own words, beyond those first drawn by the woman's testimony.
The phrase his own word means hearing Jesus Himself speak personally, and many more means a larger number beyond those first drawn by the woman's saying. Their faith then rested on what they heard themselves, not only on her saying. Hearing Him themselves they moved from her testimony to personal conviction.
From Testimony to Conviction
The woman's witness first drew the townspeople to come and hear for themselves, and the single soul first reached became the means of bringing others to the Saviour. Those first drawn by her saying sought Him out during His two-day stay in their city, and then a still larger number believed because they heard His own words personally. Their faith therefore rested not on her report alone but on what they themselves heard from Him.
His own explanation cleared their understanding, relieved doubts and confusion, and convinced them of the truth and of their need of a Saviour. The Holy Spirit impressed that truth upon their hearts, so that they received His instruction joyfully, drank the water of life He gave, repented of their sins, and accepted Him as Saviour and Redeemer. Even the woman who had broken God's commandments had been shown that He knew the sins of her life yet was her friend who loved and pitied her, and that if she would forsake her sins God would receive her as His child, and in joy she hurried to call the people to come to the well.
Hearing Him themselves they knew and confessed that He is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world, the promised Messiah and a teacher sent by God. Drawn by the woman's testimony they came to Him, asked Him to stay, and He stayed two days, and their faith then rested on His own word heard personally and grew beyond her saying. What began as belief because of her testimony became recognition through hearing Jesus Himself.
Their advance from belief for the woman's saying to firsthand personal knowledge and experience shows that faith must not rest on another person's presentation and mind but must see and know the truth for oneself. Many came at first out of curiosity because of her report that she had found the Messiah, but they believed because they saw and heard Him for themselves. Every individual must therefore search the Scriptures for himself with a humble heart like a child, reaching out for more light and knowledge, see and find the evidence for himself with the reasoning powers God has given, know the truth is truth for himself, and then speak it as what he knows.
Manner That Won Hearts
Though a Jew, He crossed the prejudice separating Jews and Samaritans and set at naught Pharisaic custom and prejudice by mingling freely with this despised people. He accepted their hospitality, slept under their roofs, ate with them at their tables of food prepared and served by their hands, and taught in their streets. He did not create barriers or constantly thrust upon them that they were wrong, but treated them with utmost kindness, courtesy, and human sympathy. By sympathy and social kindliness He drew their hearts to Himself by the tie of human sympathy.
His kindness and human sympathy drew their hearts to Him and recognized their human dignity, while His divine grace brought them the salvation that the Jews rejected. His kind, welcoming treatment and teaching among them gave His words blessed, life-giving power that fell on thirsty souls. That power awakened new impulses, made them long to become worthy of His confidence, and opened to these outcasts of society the possibility of a new life.
He met the woman at Sychar personally and opened rich truths to her because He saw her receptive spirit. Wherever hearts are open He is ready to instruct plainly without parables. His own word thus led many others besides her to believe.
Faith Without Signs
The Samaritans received Him on His word alone, believing because they heard His own teaching without requiring any sign or miracle to establish His divinity. They were ready to receive Him as a teacher sent by God and to accept Him as the promised Messiah and Redeemer, convinced by His words of their need of a Saviour, without making belief depend on receiving some special temporal benefit. The woman herself listened to Christ and accepted Him on His word alone, glad for the light, and published it to her neighbors who then believed on account of what He Himself said, with no miracle done among them.
That ready faith stands in sharp contrast to the Jews, who saw Him come with majesty and grace in mighty healings and a mighty outpouring of His Spirit yet would not recognize Him. Prejudice reigned in Jewish hearts so that even the mightiest miracles did them no good, while pride and mistaken expectations about the prophecies made them incredulous and questioning. It stands also against a superficial belief moved by selfish motives that will believe only if signs and wonders are seen, whereas those despised by the Jews received the light the Jews rejected, His divine grace bringing the Samaritans the salvation the Jews refused.
His work at Sychar showed that His love and grace were not limited by race or nation, but that the gospel is for all people and was not confined to the Jews. God's kingdom has no national or social boundaries, and in staying two days to preach salvation to the world He broke down the partition wall between Jew and Gentile. The gospel invitation is therefore not to be narrowed to a select few but given to all, with no circumstance of birth or nationality or condition of life turning away His love.
The same believing without demanding wonderful miracles to testify of God's working teaches how knowledge of doctrine comes, by coming to investigate the Scriptures with a teachable spirit ready to learn, with heart emptied of prejudice. It is learned by bringing ideas to the Scriptures rather than bringing the Scriptures to ideas, and by discerning where God is working. In the same way every individual must search the Scriptures for himself with a humble heart like a child, reaching out for more light and knowledge. He must see and find the evidence for himself with the reasoning powers God has given, know for himself that truth is truth, and then speak it as what he knows.
Their believing because of His own word proves that those who have never heard the truth have hearts more susceptible to belief than those who have been in the truth and had evidences of God's work. Unbelievers drawn out to hear Him for themselves can thus receive Christ directly, while those with light remain under a pressure of unbelief and excuse themselves.
Later Harvest for Church
The Samaritans who came out at first from curiosity after the woman's report asked Jesus to remain, and He stayed two days with them, so that many more believed because they heard Him themselves and not only because of her saying. His teaching bore immediate fruit and confirmed the truth she had shared, clearing the way from her testimony to personal conviction in which they knew that He is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world, and drank the water of life He gave. He opened their minds to the Word of life, and their response shows how truth sown in hearts leads people to believe, to be converted and see the truth as it is in Jesus, and to become able to share that truth with others. This proves that the harvest comes speedily after the sowing when the Holy Spirit impresses truth upon hearts, an object lesson to the disciples and to all interested in the salvation of souls in how sowing can be followed quickly by an ingathering.
That work left believing Samaritans in Samaria who did not persecute believers, so that the scattered persecuted church later found a safe asylum among them. His loving treatment and His words and works of mercy and powerful preaching among them prepared them to receive His message. Later they welcomed His followers and became a harvest for the gospel when Philip preached the risen Redeemer, showing that the gospel was not confined to the Jews.
After the woman found the Saviour at Jacob's well she at once brought others to Him and carried the light to her countrymen, so that a whole cityful came to hear Jesus and many more put faith in Him upon hearing Him themselves. She thus proved a more effective missionary than His own disciples, who despised her and saw nothing in Samaria to indicate an encouraging field. Their thoughts were fixed on a great work to be done in the future, and they did not see the harvest to be gathered right around them. His stay was meant to bless those disciples who were still under Jewish bigotry, enmity, contempt and hatred toward the Samaritans, teaching them by example that contempt and hatred must give place to pity and sympathy. They recalled that lesson with new meaning after His ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, when Peter preached in Samaria and John labored at Ephesus and Smyrna, which helped teach them that people outside Israel, including those despised by the Jews, were hungry for truth and could receive salvation. His two days of work among them preceded His journey to Galilee, where reports of His miracles and the temple cleansing helped prepare people to receive Him and led some to hope He was the promised Deliverer.
Call to Personal Witness
The account illustrates the power of His words and the certainty of His invitation to receive God's mercy and life, for many came to believe because they heard Him speak Himself. After the woman found the Saviour at Jacob's well she at once brought others to Him and carried the light to her countrymen, so that a whole cityful came to hear Jesus and many more put faith in Him upon hearing Him themselves. She proved a more effective missionary than His own disciples. They despised her and saw nothing in Samaria to indicate an encouraging field, with their thoughts fixed on a great work to be done in the future, and they did not see the harvest to be gathered right around them.
His work was largely composed of personal interviews with faithful regard for a one-soul audience, and the truth received by that one soul was carried to thousands so that many more believed. Truth given to one soul is carried from that soul to thousands. Many Samaritans came to believe in Jesus through hearing His own words, beyond those first drawn by the woman's testimony. His teaching confirmed the truth to them, and the Holy Spirit impressed it on their hearts, and they recognized Him as the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Their response shows that people who hear Christ for themselves can receive the truth and carry it onward to others. Christ opened their minds to the Word of life, to the word of life. Truth sown in people's hearts can lead them to believe and become able to share that truth with others, prompting them to share it with others.
Thousands of hearts can be reached in the most simple, humble way through youth helping youth, which gives workers the experience that fits them for consecrated work in a larger sphere. Even the most intellectual, gifted men and women are refreshed by the simple words of one who loves God and speaks of that love as naturally as a worldling speaks of what fills his mind, while well-prepared and studied words have little influence. The true honest words of a son or daughter of God spoken in natural simplicity open the door to many souls that have long been locked.