\u201cChrist and the Samaritan Woman\u201d \u00a0\u00a0(Jacek Malczewski, d. 1929)
From Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
3.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always been amused by the portion of the story of the woman at the well in which, Jesus having indicated that he knows about her apparently-not-quite-married state, she abruptly changes the topic by raising the question of Jewish\/Samaritan disagreements concerning\u00a0where God should be worshiped (4:16-20). \u00a0But she\u2019s plainly very impressed by his unexpected and miraculous knowledge of her (\u201cSir, I perceive that you are a prophet\u201d), just as Nathaniel had been, earlier (John 1:47-50).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
4.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most Latter-day Saint missionaries, I would guess, have been confronted at one time or another with John 4:24 (\u201cGod is a Spirit)<\/span>\u00a0as part of an argument against the Latter-day Saint concept of God as embodied. \u00a0I\u2019ve always found this argument misguided. \u00a0It would have been very odd if, in a dispute about how and where to worship God, Jesus had suddenly let forth an irrelevant comment about the ontological character of God. \u00a0He\u2019s saying, rather, that God is spiritual, and that worship must be spiritual, as well. \u00a0But, in that sense, we too are spiritual. \u00a0God isn\u2019t simply a rock. \u00a0Nor are we, although \u2014 like God \u2014 we\u2019re enclosed in flesh. \u00a0Worship is a spiritual matter, not just one of outward observances and particular geographical locations.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Greek of John 4:24 reads\u00a0\u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1 \u1f41 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2, and it can be argued \u2014 I<\/em> would argue \u2014 that the King James Bible\u2019s indefinite article a<\/em> (\u201cGod is a<\/em> spirit\u201d) misleads readers just a bit.<\/span>\u00a0 The 1545 Luther Bible handles this passage better, in my judgment, when it omits the indefinite article (\u201cGott ist Geist,\u201d in other words, rather than \u201cGott ist ein<\/em> Geist\u201d), as do such modern English translations as the\u00a0English Standard Version and the rendering by J. B. Phillips, both of which have \u201cGod is spirit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
5.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m struck by the contrast between Nicodemus, the \u201cruler of the Jews\u201d who\u2019s mentioned in John 3, and this ordinary Samaritan woman. \u00a0The honorable\u00a0Nicodemus\u00a0comes to Jesus by night, apparently doesn\u2019t understand what Jesus tells him, describes Jesus merely as \u201ca teacher sent from God,\u201d and, so far as we can see from that chapter, tells nobody else about his conversation with the Savior. \u00a0The morally compromised Samaritan woman at the well, by contrast, converses with Jesus in broad daylight, perhaps even at high noon, immediately perceives him to be a prophet, and tells everybody in her village about him, wondering if he could perhaps be the Messiah. \u00a0Soon, they\u2019re all declaring that he \u00a0is \u201cindeed the Savior of the world\u201d (4:42).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s so much more that might be said about this encounter, but I\u2019ll leave it at that.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 John 4:4-42 \u00a0 1. \u00a0 Why did Jesus need to travel through Samaria in order to reach the Galilee from Judea (4:4)? \u00a0If, as I\u2019ve been saying, he was baptizing at the Jordan River somewhere not too far from Jericho and the northern end of the Dead Sea, couldn\u2019t he simply have traveled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3508,2625,3007,3514,3517,3520,3511],"class_list":["post-70315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-god-is-spirit","tag-new-testament","tag-new-testament-commentary","tag-samaria","tag-samaritan","tag-samaritan-woman","tag-woman-at-the-well"],"yoast_head":"\n
New Testament Note 31<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" John 4:4-42 1. Why did Jesus need to travel through Samaria in order to reach the Galilee from Judea (4:4)? \u00a0If, as I've been\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Testament Note 31\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" John 4:4-42 1. Why did Jesus need to travel through Samaria in order to reach the Galilee from Judea (4:4)? \u00a0If, as I've been\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-12T05:03:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-18T02:25:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/01\/435px-First_century_palestine.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html\",\"name\":\"New Testament Note 31\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-12T05:03:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-18T02:25:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" John 4:4-42 1. Why did Jesus need to travel through Samaria in order to reach the Galilee from Judea (4:4)? \u00a0If, as I've been\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Testament Note 31\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Testament Note 31","description":" John 4:4-42 1. Why did Jesus need to travel through Samaria in order to reach the Galilee from Judea (4:4)? \u00a0If, as I've been","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Testament Note 31","og_description":" John 4:4-42 1. Why did Jesus need to travel through Samaria in order to reach the Galilee from Judea (4:4)? \u00a0If, as I've been","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2019-02-12T05:03:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-02-18T02:25:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/01\/435px-First_century_palestine.gif"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html","name":"New Testament Note 31","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-02-12T05:03:08+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-18T02:25:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" John 4:4-42 1. Why did Jesus need to travel through Samaria in order to reach the Galilee from Judea (4:4)? \u00a0If, as I've been","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-note-31.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Testament Note 31"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/01\/435px-First_century_palestine.gif\")
<\/a>