Commentary on the Gospel According to John John Calvin
John Calvin others. If any man disapproves of us, or of any thing that we do or say, 73 we are immediately offended without any good reason. Let any man examine himself, and he will find this seed of pride in his mind, until it has been eradicated by the Spirit of God. This woman, therefore, knowing that the superstitions of her nation were condemned by the Jews, now offers an insult to them in the person of Christ.
For the Jews hold no intercourse with the Samaritans. These words I consider to have been uttered by the woman. Others suppose that the Evangelist added them for the sake of explanation, and, indeed, it is of little consequence which meaning you prefer. But I think it more natural to believe that the woman jeers at Christ in this manner: "What? Is it lawful for you to ask drink from me, when you hold us to be so profane?" If any prefer the other interpretation, I do not dispute the point. Besides, it is possible that the Jews carried their abhorrence of the Samaritans beyond proper bounds; for as we have said that they applied to an improper purpose a false pretense of zeal, so it was natural for them to go to excess, as almost always happens with those who give way to wicked passions.
John 4:10-15
John 4:10-15
10. Jesus answered and said to her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11. The woman saith to him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; whence, therefore, hast thou living water? 74 12. Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and himself drank of it, and his children, and his cattle? 13. Jesus answered and said to her, Every one that drinketh of this water will thirst again; 14. But he who drinketh of the water which I shall give him will never thirst; but the water, which I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life. 15. The woman saith to him, Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, and may not come hither to draw.
10. Jesus answered. Christ now, availing himself of the opportunity, begins to preach about the grace and power of his Spirit, and that to a woman who did not at all deserve that he should speak a word to her. This is certainly an astonishing instance of his goodness. For what was there in this wretched woman, that, from being a prostitute, she suddenly became a disciple of the Son of God? Though in all of us he has displayed a similar instance of his compassion. All the women, indeed, are not prostitutes, nor are all the men stained by some heinous crime; but what excellence can any of us plead as a reason why he deigned to bestow on us the heavenly doctrine,
73"Et qui reprouve ce que nous disons ou faisons." 74"Ceste eau vive;" — "this living water."