Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

“25, 26. between some of--rather, "on the part of." and the Jews--rather (according to the best manuscripts), "and a Jew." about purifying--that is, baptizing, the symbolical meaning of washing with water being put (as in Joh 2:6) for the act itself.”

“Rabbi, &c.--"Master, this man tells us that He to whom thou barest such generous witness beyond Jordan is requiting thy generosity by drawing all the people away to Himself. At this rate, thou shalt soon have no disciples at all." The reply to this is one of t…”

“And who does not perceive it? The words of prophets and apostles are undeniable and most precious truth; but in the words of Christ we hear a voice as from the excellent Glory, the Eternal Word making Himself heard in our own flesh.”

“Note.--How flatly does this contradict the teaching of many in our day, that there neither was, nor is, anything in God against sinners which needed to be removed by Christ, but only in men against God!”

“Jesus baptized not--John being a servant baptized with his own hand; Christ as the Master, "baptizing with the Holy Ghost," administered the outward symbol only through His disciples.”

“But with all that is human, how much also of the divine have we here, both blended in one glorious manifestation of the majesty, grace, pity, patience with which "the Lord" imparts light and life to this unlikeliest of strangers, standing midway between Jews a…”

“How is it that thou--not altogether refusing, yet wondering at so unusual a request from a Jew, as His dress and dialect would at once discover Him to be, to a Samaritan. for, &c.--It is this national antipathy that gives point to the parable of the good Sama…”

“If thou knewest, &c.--that is, "In Me thou seest only a petitioner to thee; but if thou knewest who that Petitioner is, and the Gift that God is giving to men, thou wouldst have changed places with Him, gladly suing of Him living water--nor shouldst thou have …”

“The indwelling of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of Christ is the secret of this life with all its enduring energies and satisfactions, as is expressly said (Joh 7:37-39).”

“But the most glorious thing here is the reason assigned, for salvation is of the Jews--intimating to her that Salvation was not a thing left to be reached by any one who might vaguely desire it of a God of mercy, but something that had been revealed, prepared…”

“He had magnified them to the woman, and yet to themselves He is to the last far more reserved than to her--proving rather than plainly telling them He was the Christ. But what would not have been safe among them was safe enough with her, whose simplicity at th…”

“My meat is, &c.--"A Servant here to fulfil a prescribed work, to do and to finish, that is 'meat' to Me; and of this, while you were away, I have had My fill." And of what does He speak thus?”

“The joy, therefore, of the great harvest festivity will be the common joy of all who have taken any part in the work from the first operation to the last. What encouragement is here for those "fishers of men" who "have toiled all the night" of their official l…”

“"Christ represents Himself as the Husbandman [rather the Lord of the laborers], who has the direction both of the sowing and of the harvest, who commissions all the agents--those of the Old Testament as well as of the New--and therefore does not stand on a lev…”

“These Samaritans were the foundation of the Church afterwards built up there. No miracle appears to have been wrought there (but unparalleled supernatural knowledge displayed): "we have heard Him ourselves" (Joh 4:42) sufficed to raise their faith to a point…”

“For Jesus testified, &c.--This verse had occasioned much discussion. For it seems strange, if "His own country" here means Nazareth, which was in Galilee, that it should be said He came to Galilee because in one of its towns He expected no good reception.”

“46, 47. nobleman--courtier, king's servant, or one connected with a royal household; such as Chuza (Lu 8:3), or Manaen (Ac 13:1). heard that Jesus was come out of Judea--"where he had doubtless seen or heard what things Jesus had done at Jerusalem" (Joh 4…”

“Except ye see signs, &c.--He did believe, both as his coming and his urgent entreaty show; but how imperfectly we shall see; and our Lord would deepen his faith by such a blunt and seemingly rough answer as He made to Nicodemus.”

“In our judgment the evidence is in favor of its being a Passover, but the reasons cannot be stated here. 2, 3. sheep market--The supplement should be (as in Margin) "sheep [gate]," mentioned in Ne 3:1, 32. Bethesda--that is, "house (place) of mercy," from the…”

“We have heard of many waters having a medicinal virtue; but what water was ever known to cure instantaneously a single disease? And who ever heard of any water curing all, even the most diverse diseases--"blind, halt, withered"--alike?”

“(1) To fasten attention upon Himself; (2) By making him detail his case to deepen in him the feeling of entire helplessness; (3) By so singular a question to beget in his desponding heart the hope of a cure.”

“Wait therefore he will, wait he does, and when Christ comes to heal him, lo! he is waiting his turn. What an attitude for a sinner at Mercy's gate! The man's hopes seemed low enough ere Christ came to him.”

“Rise, take up thy bed, &c.--"Immediately" he did so. "He spake and it was done." The slinging of his portable couch over his shoulders was designed to show the perfection of the cure.”

“The Jews--that is, those in authority. (See on Joh 1:19.) it is not lawful to carry thy bed--a glorious testimony to the cure, as instantaneous and complete, from the lips of the most prejudiced!”

“Jesus, there Himself for His own ends, "findeth him there"--not all accidentally, be assured. sin no more, &c.--a glimpse this of the reckless life he had probably led before his thirty-eight years' infirmity had come upon him, and which not improbably had br…”