This is a study of the race of Jesus. It is accepted by most that Jesus was a Jew, but some question that. This study shows that the Bible makes it clear that He was a Jew.

1. JESUS WAS A JEW
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
New InternationalVersion
You Samaritans worshipwhat you do not know; we
worship what we do know, for salvationis from the
Jews.
New Living Translation
You Samaritans know very little about the one you
worship, while we Jews know all about him, for
salvationcomes through the Jews.
Question:"Was Jesus a Jew?"
Answer: One needs only to searchthe internet today to determine that there is
greatcontroversyand disagreementoverthe question of whether Jesus of
Nazarethwas actually Jewish. Before we cananswerthis question adequately,
we must first ask another question: who (or what) is a Jew? Eventhis
question has its controversialelements, and the answerdepends on who is
answering. But one definition that eachof the major sects ofJudaism—
Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform—wouldprobably agree to is, “A Jew is

2. any personwhose mother was a Jew or any person who has gone through the
formal process ofconversionto Judaism.”
Although the Hebrew Bible does not specificallystate anywhere that
matrilineal descentshould be used, modern rabbinical Judaism believes that
there are severalpassagesin the Torah where this is understood or implied,
such as Deuteronomy 7:1-5; Leviticus 24:10; and Ezra 10:2-3. Then there are
severalexamples in Scripture of Gentiles converting to Judaism (e.g., Ruth,
the Moabitess;see Ruth 1:16 where Ruth voices her desire to convert) and are
consideredevery bit as Jewishas an ethnic Jew.
So, let’s considertwo questions:Was Jesus a Jew ethnically? And, was Jesus
an observant Jew religiously?
Was Jesus a Jew ethnically, or was his mother a Jew? Jesus clearlyidentified
with the Jews ofHis day, His physical people and tribe, and their religion
(although He strongly rejectedthe pharisaicalreinterpretation of the
religion). God purposely sent Him to Judah: “He came to His own [Judah],
and His own [Judah] did not receive Him. But as many [Jews]as received
Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who
believe in His name... (John 1:11-12 NKJV), and He clearlysaid, "You
[Gentiles]worship what you do not know; we [Jews]know what we [Jews]
worship, for salvationis of the Jews” (John4:22).
The very first verse of the New Testamentclearlyproclaims the Jewish
ethnicity of Jesus. “The book of the genealogyofJesus Christ, the son of
David, the sonof Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). It is evident from passageslike
Hebrews 7:14, “Forit is clearthat our Lord descendedfrom Judah,” that
Jesus descendedfrom the tribe of Judah, from which we getthe name “Jew.”
And what about Mary, the mother of Jesus? In the genealogyin Luke chapter

3. 3, we see clearlythat Mary was a direct descendantof King David which gave
Jesus the legalright to ascendthe Jewishthrone as well as establishing
without any doubt that Jesus was a Jew ethnically.
Was Jesus an observantJew religiously? Both of Jesus'parents had “done
everything required by the Law of the Lord” (Luke 2:39). His relatives,
Zechariah and Elizabeth, were also Torah-observantJews(Luke 1:6), so we
can see that probably the whole family took their Jewishfaith very seriously.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), Jesus continually affirmed the
authority of the Torah and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17) even in the Kingdom
of Heaven (Matthew 5:19-20). He regularly attended synagogue (Luke 4:16),
and His teaching was respectedby the other Jews ofHis day (Luke 4:15). He
taught in the JewishTemple in Jerusalem(Luke 21:37), and if He were not a
Jew, His going into that part of the Temple would simply not have been
allowed(Acts 21:28-30).
Jesus also displayedthe outward signs of being an observant Jew. He wore
tzitzit (tassles)on His clothing (Luke 8:44; Matthew 14:36)to serve as a
reminder of the commandments (Numbers 15:37-39). He observed Passover
(John 2:13) and went up to Jerusalem(Deuteronomy16:16) on this very
important Jewishpilgrimage feastday. He observedSuccoth, or the feastof
tabernacles (John7:2, 10)and went up to Jerusalem(John 7:14) as required
in the Torah. He also observedHanukkah, the festivalof lights (John 10:22)
and probably RoshHashanah, the feastof trumpets (John 5:1), going up to
Jerusalemon both those occasions as well, even though it isn't commanded in
the Torah. Clearly, Jesus identified Himself as a Jew (John 4:22) and as King
of the Jews (Mark 15:2). From His birth to His last PassoverSeder(Luke
22:14-15), Jesus livedas an observantJew.

4. BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Worship And Holy Places
John 4:21
J.R. Thomson
The superstition of the Samaritanwoman gave occasionto the utterances by
Christ of his sublime revelation regarding the spirituality of worship. There
was competition betweenthe Samaritans, who performed their devotions
upon the summit of Gerizim, and the Jews, to whom Jerusalemwas the holy
city and the temple the house of God. Jesus put aside this controversyand
rivalry, and passedfrom it to the enunciation of speciallyChristian truth.
I. THERE IS A NATURAL TENDENCYIN MEN AND IN NATIONS TO
REGARD CERTAIN PLACES AS SACRED. Where is the country in which
there have not been consecratedmountains, valleys, and groves? Where the
religion which has not boastedits sacredoracles, its solemn temples, its spots
hallowedby memorable, by awful associations? Devotion, atall events of a
kind, is stimulated by localassistance.The buildings where one has
experiencedunusual emotions acquire sanctity and elicit reverence.
II. THE SATISFACTION OF THIS TENDENCYOFTENOBSCURES THE
SPIRITUALITY OF TRUE WORSHIP. The means are mistaken for the end;
the place for the purposes it is intended to promote. Hence it has often come to
pass that those who are most employed about sacredplaces, and who become
most familiar with them, have less than others of the sentiment of true
devotion. There is a proverb, "The nearer to Rome, the further from God."
III. DURING THE PREPARATORYDISPENSATION,IT PLEASED GOD
IN HIS WISDOM TO MAKE USE OF THIS TENDENCYTO PROMOTE
EDUCATIONAL ENDS. The temple at Jerusalemactuallywas the house of

5. God; in it was the holiestplace; its beauty was the beauty of holiness. Such a
provision was adapted to the religious childhood of humanity. Thus reverence
was inculcated, the consciousness ofa Divine presence was elicited, and the
minds of men were drawn on to more elevatedand spiritual conceptions.
IV. THE INCARNATION SUPERSEDEDALL LOCAL SANCTITY. Our
Lord Jesus became the true Tabernacle, the true Temple. In him dwelt all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily. The temple of his body was takendown, but in
three days was rearedagain. On the other hand, the temple at Jerusalemwas
destroyed, never to be replaced.
V. THE TENDENCYOF TRUE RELIGION IS NOT SO MUCH TO
DECONSECRATE ANYPLACE AS TO CONSECRATEALL PLACES.
Doubtless, as our Lord declared, spiritual worship is independent of localities.
Yet all places where Christians meet, and where the Masteris spiritually
present, become "holiness unto the Lord."
"Jesus, where'erthy people meet,
There they behold thy mercy seat;
Where'erthey seek thee thou art found,
And every spot is hallowedground!" T.

6. Biblical Illustrator
Ye worship ye know not what.
John 4:22, 23
The true worship
A. Beith, D. D.
I. THE DISTINCTIONBETWEENTHE SAMARITANS AND THE JEWS.
1. Samaritanworship was offered in ignorance. Theywere little better
qualified than the Athenians. Rejecting the prophets, their faith restedon
tradition, and was given up to superstition. As they were ignorant of the
objectso they were of the form of worship which God had appointed. "Will
worship," howevercostlyand apparently honouring, is rejected. So the
Saviour brought home to the woman the sad fact that she had never
worshipped. This is just the case ofthose who only repeat the words of prayer
taught them in childhood.
2. The true worshipper's worship with knowledge.(1)The Spiritual Israel.
Christ was a worshipper of God not only as Mediator but as man. As High
PriestHe gives to His people His informing Spirit, through whom they have
an intelligent knowledge ofGod's characterand will, and the form by which
to approach Him.(2) The literal Israel to whom were committed the oracles of
God, and such worshippers as Zacharias and Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna.
3. A specialrelationexisted betweenthe Jews andthe greatSalvation.
(1)Its author was a Jew.
(2)Its first messengerswere Jews.
(3)And as Salvationso the true worship was of the Jews. To that all the Old
Testamentworship pointed.

7. II. THE TRUE WORSHIP.
1. Who are the true worshippers? Those
(1)Who have Spiritual knowledge ofGod;
(2)Who worship with grace in the appointed way;
(3)Who are opposedto all false worship;
(4)Who apprehend the true medium of worship and so have admission into
the holiest.
2. What is it to worship the Father?
(1)Notas the judge and avenger.
(2)With the fellowship of children, not the penance of bond servants.
3. What is worship in Spirit?
(1)Notmere outward worship.
(2)Notmere intellectualworship.
(3)But "praying in the Holy Ghost" in that new nature He has given and with-
the help He has promised.
4. What is worship in truth?
(1)That which corresponds with the nature of the God of truth.
(2)Through Him who is full of grace and truth, by whom alone we have access
to God.
5. What is "the hour?" —
(1)As coming it is the objectof Divine appointment.
(2)As come, the era foretold, the dispensation of the Spirit had actually
arrived.

8. (3)Is there not a personalhint of that supreme moment which the woman
made the crisis of her spiritual history! Only then can true and Spiritual
worship begin.
III. ONLY THE TRUE WORSHIP IS PLEASING TO GOD. The Father has
a right to determine this and has done so.
(A. Beith, D. D.)
Christ's revelationof God
H. J. Van Dyke, D. D.
I. THIS REVELATION INCLUDES THREE THINGS.
1. God is real — not a dream or picture, a thought or an abstraction. The
living God is. Thou art born of Him, and thy power to think of Him is proof of
His existence.
2. God is Spiritual — not a material substance or a physical force. These
cannot create thought, feeling, and free will. I am greaterthan mountains,
rivers, gravitation, electricity;I reason, love, hope, will. The objectof my
worship must be like me and far above me.
3. God is personal —(1) Positivism tells us that He is abstractand general. "A
Being immense and eternal — Humanity" (Comte). But adorationfixes itself
on a single person.(2)Pantheism tell us that He is everything, the Eternal
substance which appears as conscious in our thought and unconscious in
nature (Hegel). But we can no more worship this than a leaf can a tree, or a
wave the ocean.(3)Agnosticismtells us that He is unknowable, "the Powernot
ourselves which makes for righteousness"(M. Arnold). But behind the power
we seek the Will, behind the law the Giver.(4) From these vague abstractions
the soulflies to God the Father with an eye to pity and an arm to save.
II. THE INFERENCEis swift and inevitable.
1. Our worship must correspondto the reality of God's nature.

9. 2. The text does not condemn outward forms. Christ used and instituted them.
But all forms are dead and meaningless without reality.
3. In the temple there must be a spiritual altar; on the altar a living fire — the
motion of the heart towards God. As fire is manifest in light and heat so is
worship in praise and prayer. Without the intercourse of the two spirits it is
only a painted fire.Lessons:
1. When you are bewildered in your religionremember that the most adorable
attributes are not metaphysicalbut spiritual. Our Father brings Him nearto
us.
2. True worship is no light thing. It is not found in a carelesssleepyhour; not
possible to a divided frivolous mind.
3. This text does not unconsecrate the Church; it consecratesthe world.
(H. J. Van Dyke, D. D.)
We know what we worship
Can we be sure of God
J. Clifford, D. D.
? —
I. CHRIST SPEAKS OF GOD the Father, the God of salvation, Godthe
Spirit, IN A TONE OF INTENSE AND UNFALTERING CONVICTION.
"We know" — not guess, dream, desire. He knows Him not as an empty
name, or a key to interpret creation, or as a centralsun of the philosophy of
Providence. At least, then, Jesus is not an agnostic, but knew God as God
knew Him. Christ is our example as thinker and knower. Canwe then climb
to the height of His full assurance ofunderstanding?
II. THIS QUESTION, ALWAYS INTERESTING, IS JUST NOW
CHARGED WITH EXTRAORDINARYURGENCY. These are days of the
revision and reconstructionof religious knowledge.

10. 1. The word God is so overwhelming and vast that some thoughtful souls
shrink from declaring their belief in Him. Atheism has done us this service:
that it has forcedon us what a greatthing it is to maintain the existence of
God.
2. Others occupying a different standpoint infer that we have not the faculties
requisite for grasping this revelation.
3. It is essentialto manhood, conduct and characterthat we do not trifle with
this question. Either God can be known or He cannot, and we ought to settle
what the facts really are and be sure that there is no chance of knowing God,
or else searchfor Him with all the heart; for what a man knows and is sure of
is the measure of His peace, powerand growth. For the world's regeneration
God must be more than an enigma, He must be known.
III. THE ANSWER TO THIS INQUIRY IS NOT SO DIFFICULT AS IT
SEEMS. It is not dependent upon the range of our information, but upon the
use of the right organs and methods of verification. Though we know little we
need not be less positive and assuredabout it. We may rejoice in the boundless
expanse and be sure of the patch of blue above us, and of the ray of truth that
shines through it: though we cannot embrace its illimitable sketchesofbeauty
and glory. A real agnosticismis for ever being married to a practicaland life-
enriching positivism. Though we cannot be sure of anything, it does not follow
that we can be sure of nothing. "We cannot by searching find out God." Even
Moses couldonly catcha glimpse of the glory of His goodness. Who of us
knows his friend in his totality, much less God. Christ's knowledge was
limited and yet He knew the Father so well that He took the plan of His life
from Him as a boy of twelve, and never lost it till He said, "Father, into Thy
hands I commend my Spirit." This is the secretof human progress. Menbuilt
in certitute have been creators of new epochs and saviours of men. Paul's "I
know" was the inspiration of His "One thing I do."
IV. If God then cannot be fully known, WHAT IS THE KNOWLEDGE WE
MAY HAVE, HOW MAY WE GET IT AND TEST ITS VALIDITY? Christ
gives the answer, "forsalvationis of the Jews." We Jewsknow Godbecause
we are the depositaries ofsalvationfor ourselves and for all men. Salvation is

11. life, character, ethicalstability, enthusiasmfor righteousness, God. We are
gloriously and divinely saved, and therefore divinely and surely taught.
1. This tells us that nothing assures like life and fortifies like experience. Truth
is set in the clearradiance of our deliverance from false thoughts, base
passions, wrong aims, and mean deeds.
2. The case citedby Christ proves His principle. From the Jews salvationhas
gone forth. They were a people savedof the Lord and knew Him through their
salvations.(1)Where will you find a people so completelyfreed from mental
perplexity about God?(2)To what people will you go for evidence of a more
persistentethical stability?(3) Nor is there a literature of hope so rich as the
Old Testament.
3. It follows that our assurance ofGod does not depend upon our speculative
faculties, but on our practical powers which every marl can and must use.(1)
Intuition, the direct gaze of the soulon creationand life, compelling the
recognitionof a presence and power as the clearestand most real of all facts.
Life sees life, and in life sees law, order, mind and heart.(2) Science shows that
this idea of God is the deepestand most essentialofall that geta place in
human thought. The total results of human inquiry is to prove —
(a)The existence ofan energy, infinite and omnipresent, underlying and
comprehending all the phenomena of the universe.
(b)That it works for righteousness.
(c)That it is personal, a living and holy will.(3) History is a revelationof God.
"Salvationof the Jews"is only part of God's redeeming work. Redemption is
the pivot on which the entire human story turns.(4) Life. You will derive your
largestaids from personaldevotion to Christ, acceptanceofHis discipline,
and effort to do all His will.
(J. Clifford, D. D.)
How we may know God

12. New Cyclopaedia.
The writer askedan agednegress if she had known Washington. She
answeredby asking, "Do you know God? I hope I know something of Him,
ma'am." "How, then, may one know God, sir?" "We may learn something
about His goodness andhandiwork from what we see in yonder garden, and
in these beautiful trees." "Youare right, massa;but is there no other way of
knowing him?" "Yes, ma'am, we may also learn something of Him from His
dealings with the sons of men, the history of nations, and the lives of
individuals." "Canwe? But in no other way?" "Fromthe Bible we gain more
knowledge ofGod than from all the other sources put together." "Yes,
indeed! and is there no other way?" "By experience." Laying her hand upon
her heart, and lifting her bleared eyes to heaven, she exclaimed, "Ah, now you
have it, massa!"
(New Cyclopaedia.)
Ignorant worshippers
Raikes'Diary.
The Dowager-DuchessofRichmond went one Sunday with her daughter to
the Chapel-Royal, atSt. James's, but being late, they could find no places.
After looking about some time, and seeing the case was hopeless, she saidto
her daughter, "Come away, Louisa;at any rate, we have done the civil thing."
(Raikes'Diary.)
Ignorant worship affects the life for evil
A Thug at Meirut, who had been guilty of many murders; was arrested, and
cast, heavily ironed, into prison. There a missionary visited him, and preached
Christ to him with such success,that he professedconversion. As he was
brought before the judge, and confronted by many witnesses, he said, pointing
to them, "No need of these;I am ready to avow the crimes of my dreadful

13. life." He then proceededto declare, that, having been brought up among the
Thugs, he fully believed, that, by the shedding of the blood of eachvictim, he
had not only pleasedthe dreadful goddess Kali, but procured her favour for
himself. And he recountedmurder after murder in which he had been
engaged, some ofthem attended with such cruelty, that those presentwho had
begun to feelsome pity for him againshrunk back;the judge himself lifting
up his bands, and exclaiming, "How could you be guilty of enormities like
these!" The only reply the poor man made to the judge was to place his hand
in the bosomof his linen vest to take forth a little book; then, holding it up in
his hand, he "said, "Had I but receivedthis book sooner, the book of Jesus,
my Saviourand my God, I should not have done it."
God may be worshipped anywhere
E. Bakersteth.
Isaac's closetwas a field. He went out to meditate in the field at the eventide.
David's closetwas his bedchamber. "Commune with your own heart upon
your bed, and be still." Our Lord's closetwas a mountain. "When he had sent
the multitude away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray, and when the
evening was come, He was there alone." Peter's closetwas upon the house-top.
Peter"went upon the house-top to pray, about the sixth hour." Hezekiah's
closetwas turning his face towards the wall, and praying unto the Lord.
(E. Bakersteth.)
Salvationis of the Jews
One nation and all nations
A. Vinet, D. D.
I. THE WHOLE PRIDE OF MODERN WISDOM IS THIS: "SALVATION
OF MAN IS FROM MAN." This has been differently understood.
1. Human nature formerly was eachindividual man.

14. 2. Latterly human nature has been consideredone person or society.
3. However, at no time could man have regarded himself merely as an
individual being, for societyis to man what the soilis to the plant.
4. Betweenthe two man found a resting place in nationality, a beneficent idea
when we place it in the line where individuality and humanity meet. But so far
from this individuality lost its finest character. Personalreligion, by being
made national property, was merged in the community and humanity was
almost entirely effaced.
II. HISTORY IS FROM ONE POINT OF VIEW THE CHRONOLOGYOF
NATIONALITIES, AND GOD HAS RECTIFIED AND CONSECRATED
THE IDEA OF NATIONALITY TO THE TRIUMPH OF THE PRINCIPLES
OF INDIVIDUALITY AND HUMANITY.
1. Thus the Christian can acceptChrist's statementthat Christianity is of the
Jews. Non-Christians, however, object.(1)One would not deny that salvation
in a sense is of, say, the French.(2)Others refuse to allow a particular people
to be the dispenser of common felicity. But none but a Christian wishes it to
come from the Jews.
2. About the term salvationthere is no dispute. It is the welfare of human
nature and the fulfilment of its destinies. Christ came to save humanity as well
as man.
3. In what sense, then, canit come from the Jews? No one will, of course,
mistake the channel for the source (Revelation7:10). In its ignorance ancient
poetry representedcertaincountries as the abode of the sun. This is false in
physics but true in morals. In the world of grace the rising sun has a home.
Salvationis of the Jews. How? Notbecause Christ was born and lived in
Palestine, spoke its language, choseJewsas disciples, orwas crucified by
Jews. Salvationis of the Jews as the waterof stream comes from the basin in
the rock at the top of the mountain. There the wateris collectedand from
thence it flows, but the wateris from heaven.
4. This being established, let us avail ourselves of the doctrine that eachpeople
is the bearerand representative of an idea, and that eachidea in order to fix

15. itself in the world has need of a people. This truth is invariably cultivated at
the expense of other truths, and thus becomes exaggerated, andis never more
than part of the truth. Now if this be the case, might not a whole people in
conformity with this greatlaw be the apostle of the truth which contains all
truth! Now God has dealt with a certain people in a manner favourable to the
discharge of this function. The Jews were a Theocracy, a people amongst
whom God lived, whom Godgoverned, to whom He spake, andwhose law was
His worship, a people electedfor this very purpose.
5. But why confine this truth to the Jews?Was it the whole truth? How is this
national deposit reconciliable with the doctrine that salvationis personal
acceptanceofChrist? Let us see. Christ and your soul have met! But at what
cost? You are dying with thirst; a drop of waterfrom the river revives you. It
was only a drop, not the river, but the whole volume of waterwas necessaryto
carry along the drop. The river therefore savedyou. In the same waythe
Church savedyou because it gave you the knowledge ofChrist whom you
savingly received. The Church by its volume and might carries forward that
element by which you are renewed. How has that current been formed? Look
well at those waves red with human blood and dark with martyr ashes. Your
Christianity, howeverindividual it may be, is extractedfrom the Christianity
of sixty generations.
6. Why, then, since eachof us proceeds from the Church, should not the
Church proceedfrom the Jews. As everything ends with the individual, so
everything begins. The Church was within the Jewishnation, this whole
nation was in the loins of Abraham the father of us all. So the ancient
posterity of Jacobfind a place in the work of individual salvation.
III. OUR PROPOSITIONWOULD BE TOO EASILY DEFENDED IF WE
COULD SAY THAT CHRIST IS ONLY THE LAST DEVELOPMENT OF
THE WISDOM OF THE JEWS. It is not because He is a Jew, but because He
is God manifest in the flesh, that He is our salvation. Yet —
1. The Jewishrace from which He came fulfilled an important function in
preparing for His advent. The Old Testamentis a progressive instruction that
leads us gradually up to Him. The law in the letter is succeededby the law in

16. the Spirit, a ritual worship by the worship of the heart, legislationby
prophecy, Abraham by Moses,Mosesby Isaiah, so that when the King arrives
there is a people ready to receive Him.
2. This people, which will be the first fruits of a universal Father, could only
be drawn from the Jewishpeople.
3. But apart from the spiritual Israel, the Jewishpeople as a whole received
from God the educationnecessaryto be the forerunner of Christ among the
nations, and when Christianity, after having collectedin Judaea all that
belongedto it, finds Jewishcolonies whichDivine Providence had scattered
which became the first Christian churches.
4. The Jews also carriedtheir history with them which became an immortal
lessonfor the human race, viz., the manner in which God interposes in human
affairs, just as a specimen of a plant explains the whole species.
5. Here we must turn to Romans 11:12. As a political societyand race, the
Jews had to fall away, because the new economyappealedto individuals. But
the falling awayis not to be for ever. It must, is, and will be gatheredanew
according to the principle of individuality and the law of liberty. The world
will yet see its fulness, and what will that fulness be? (Isaiah 49:16-19).
(A. Vinet, D. D.)
The spiritual ignorance of the Samaritans
F. D. Maurice, M. A.
The assertionofthis, as the greatcalamity of the Samaritan — that he knew
not what he worshipped — is abundantly borne out by history. It was in all
times a country of superstition, the early home of Baalworshippers, the later
home of enchanters and fanatics, and of sects putting forward pretensions to
all kind of spiritual powers. The Jew, on the contrary, clung to a distinct
objectof adoration. He was a protestant againstthe worship of spiritual
fantasies. This poor shadow showedwhat the substance was which the Jew
had inherited, and which was his distinction among all nations. Salvation was

17. to go forth from his land. And salvation, so our Lord teaches us, consists in
knowing what we worship; for that knowledge saves menfrom slavery to the
world's idols, and to the idols of their own hearts, which is their greatcurse
and misery.
(F. D. Maurice, M. A.)
The straightforwardness ofJesus
G. J. Brown, M. A.
In speaking here to a Samaritan, He indicates some points in which the Jews
were superior, and in which her nation might well follow them: while to the
Jews, onthe other hand (as in the case ofthe parable of the goodSamaritan,
and in His remark after the miracle of healing ten lepers), He takes occasion
to notice some superiority in the conduct of Samaritans, whereintheir nation
might well follow them. Thus He corrects the failings of eachby pointing out
some superiority in the other: reproving eachto their own face, but
commending them to others:exactly the converse ofthat conduct which is too
common among those who profess to be His disciples, who, on the contrary,
are often in the unchristian habit of flatter. ins people in their presence and
slandering them behind their back:keeping their faults from themselves, but
making them known to others.
(G. J. Brown, M. A.)
Aptness of Christ
ArchdeaconPaley.
Our Saviour always had in view the posture of mind of the persons whom He
addressed. He did not entertain the Pharisees withinvectives againstthe open
impiety of their Sadduceanrivals; nor, on the other hand, did He soothe the
Sadducee's earwith descriptions of Pharisaicalpomp and folly. In the
presence ofthe Pharisees,He preached againsthypocrisy;to the Sadducees He

18. proved the resurrectionof the dead. In like manner, of that knownenmity,
which subsisted betweenthe Jews and Samaritans, this faithful Teachertook
no undue advantage to make friends or proselytes of either. Upon the Jews He
inculcated a more comprehensive benevolence;with the SamaritanHe
defended the orthodoxy of the Jewishcreed.
(ArchdeaconPaley.)
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
Ye worship ye know not what - The Samaritans believed in the same God with
the Jews;but, as they rejectedall the prophetical writings, they had but an
imperfect knowledge ofthe Deity: besides, as they incorporatedthe worship of
idols with his worship, they might be justly said to worship him whom they
did not properly know. See the accountof their motley worship, 2 Kings
17:26-34. But after Sanballathad built the temple on Mount Gerizim, the
idolatrous worship of the Cutheans and Sepharvites, etc., was entirely laid
aside;the same religious service being performed in the Samaritantemple
which was performed in that at Jerusalem.
We know what we worship - We Jews acknowledge allthe attributes of his
nature, and offer to him only the sacrificesprescribedin the law.
Salvationis of the Jews - Εκ των Ιουδαιωνεστιν, Salvationis from the Jews.
Salvationseems here to mean the Savior, the Messiah, as it does Luke 2:30;
Acts 4:12; : and so the womanappears to have understood it, John 4:25. The
Messiahwas to spring from the Jews - from them, the preaching of the
Gospel, and the knowledge ofthe truth, were to go to all the nations of the
world. It was to the Jews that the promises were made; and it was in their
prophetic Scriptures, which the Samaritans rejected, that Jesus Christ was
proclaimed and described. See Isaiah11:3.

19. Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
Ye worship ye know not what - This probably refers to the comparative
ignorance and corruption of the Samaritan worship. Though they receivedthe
five books ofMoses, yetthey rejectedthe prophets, and of course all that the
prophets had said respecting the true God. Originally, also, they had joined
the worship of idols to that of the true God. See 2 Kings 17:26-34. Theyhad,
moreover, no authority for building their temple and conducting public
worship by sacrifices there. On all these accounts they were acting in an
unauthorized manner. They were not obeying the true God, nor offering the
worship which he had commanded or would approve. Thus, Jesus indirectly
settled the question which she had proposedto him, yet in such a way as to
show her that it was of much less importance than she had supposed.
We know - We Jews. This they knew because Godhad commanded it; because
they worshipped in a place appointed by God, and because they did it in
accordancewith the direction and teaching of the prophets.
Salvationis of the Jews - They have the true religion and the true form of
worship; and the Messiah, who will bring salvation, is to proceedfrom them.
See Luke 2:30; Luke 3:6. Jesus thus affirms that the Jews hadthe true form of
the worship of God. At the same time he was sensible how much they had
corrupted it, and on various occasions reprovedthem for it.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for
salvationis from the Jews.
Ye know not ... The Samaritan worship (see under John 4:7) was faulty in
severalimportant factors. It was founded upon only a part of the word of God
(the Pentateuch), and even that part was not strictly obeyed. Also, many
polluting elements of paganismhad been incorporatedinto it.

20. That which we know ... Thus Jesus affirmed the truth of the Old Testament
and the validity of the covenantwith the chosenpeople, affirming the
authenticity of the Hebrew religion.
Salvationis from the Jews ... God took hold "ofthe seedof Abraham"
(Hebrews 2:16); the Jews were custodians ofthe Scripture (Romans 3:2);
Christ was born "under the law." The Old TestamentScriptures are they
which "testify" of Christ (John 5:39). Even the church today is the Israelof
God, and all Christians are "the seedof Abraham" (Galatians 3:29). In the
sense oforigins and the typical nature of the Jewishreligion, it is still true that
"salvationis of the Jews."
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
Ye worship ye know not what,.... However, as to her question, he more
directly replies by condemning the Samaritans, and their ignorance in
worship, and by approving the Jews;and so manifestly gives the preference to
the Jews, notonly with respectto the place, and objectof worship, but with
respectto knowledge andsalvation. As for the Samaritans, he suggests, that
they were ignorant, not only of the true objectof worship, but knew not what
they themselves worshipped; or, at least, were not agreedin it. The original
inhabitants of those parts, from whence these Samaritans sprung, were
idolatrous Heathens, placedby the king of Assyria in the room of the ten
tribes he carriedaway captive;and these feared not the Lord, for they "knew
not the manner of the God of the land": wherefore lions were sent among
them which slew many of them; upon which the king of Assyria ordered a
priest to be sent to instruct them: but notwithstanding this, they had everyone
gods of their own, some one, and some another; and so served divers graven
images, they and their children, and their children's children, to the time of
the writer of the Book ofKings; see 2 Kings 17:24. And though after
Manasseh, andother Jews were come among them, and they had receivedthe
law of Moses,they might have some knowledge ofthe true God, yet they
glorified him not as God; and though they might in words profess him, yet in
works they denied him; and even after this they are very highly chargedby

21. the Jews with idolatrous practices on this mount. Sometimes they sayF7 the
Cuthites, or Samaritans, worshipped fire; and at other times, and which
chiefly prevails with them, they assertF8,that their wise men, upon searching,
found that they worshipped the image of a dove on Mount Gerizim; and
sometimes they sayF9, theyworshipped the idols, the strange gods, or
Teraphim, which Jacobhid under the oak in Sichem; which last, if true, may
serve to illustrate these words of Christ, that they worshipped they knew not
what, since they worshipped idols hid in the mount.
"R. Ishmael bar Jose, theysayF11 wentto Neapolis, (Sichem, calledNaplous,)
the Cuthites, or Samaritans came to him (to persuade him to worship with
them in their mountain); he said unto them, I will show you that ye do not
"worshipat this mountain", but "the images which are hid under it"; for it is
written, Genesis 35:4;"and Jacobhid them" under the oak which was by
Shechem.'
And elsewhereF12 it is reported of the same Rabbi, that he went to Jerusalem
to pray, as before relatedon John 4:20, and after what passedbetweenhim,
and the Samaritan he met with at Mount Gerizim, before mentioned, he
added;
"and said to him, I will tell you what ye are like, (ye are like) to a dog that
lusts after carrion; so because ye know the idols are hid under it, (the
mountain,) as it is written, Genesis 35:4 and Jacobhid them, therefore ye lust
after it: they said--this man knows that idols are hid here, and perhaps he will
take them away;and they consulted togetherto kill him: he arose, andmade
his escapein the night.'
But this was not the case ofthe Jews:
we know what we worship; Christ puts himself among them, for he was a Jew,
as the woman took him to be; and, as man, was a worshipper of God; he
feared, loved, and obeyed God; he trusted in him, and prayed unto him;
though, as God, he was the objectof worship himself: and the true
worshippers among the Jews, ofwhich sort Christ was, knew God, whom they
worshipped, spiritually and savingly; and the generalityof that people had

22. right notions of the God of Israel, having the oracles, andservice of God, and
being instructed out of Moses, and the prophets:
for salvationis of the Jews;the promises of salvation, and of a Saviour, were
made to them, when the Gentiles were strangers to them; the means of
salvation, and of the knowledge ofit, as the word, statutes, and ordinances,
were enjoyed by them, when others were ignorant of them; and the Messiah,
who is sometimes styled "Salvation", see Genesis 49:18,was notonly
prophesied of in their books, and promised unto them, but came of them, as
well as to them; and the number of the savedones had been for many
hundreds of years, and still was among them; the line of electionran among
them, and few among the Gentiles were called and saved, as yet.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye worship ye know not what — without any revealedauthority, and so very
much in the dark. In this sense, the Jews knew what they were about. But the
most glorious thing here is the reasonassigned,
for salvationis of the Jews — intimating to her that Salvation was not a thing
left to be reachedby any one who might vaguely desire it of a God of mercy,
but something that had been revealed, prepared, depositedwith a particular
people, and must be sought in connectionwith, and as issuing from them; and
that people, “the Jews.”
People's New Testament
Salvationis of the Jews. In the controversybetweenthe Jews andSamaritans,
the former were right on the greatissue. The Samaritans worshiped, but knew
not what they worshiped, because they rejectedthe prophets who would have
directed them.

23. Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
That which ye know not (ο ουκ οιδατε — ho ouk oidate). Cf. Acts 17:23. “You
know whom to worship, but you do not know him” (Westcott). The
Samaritans rejectedthe prophets and the Psalms and so cut themselves off
from the fuller knowledge ofGod.
We (ημεις — hēmeis). We Jews. Jesus is a Jew as he fully recognizes (Matthew
15:24).
That which we know (ο οιδαμεν — ho oidamen). Neuter singular relative as
before. The Jews, as the chosenpeople, had fuller revelations of God (Psalm
147:19.;Romans 9:3-5). But even so the Jews as a whole failed to recognize
God in Christ (John 1:11, John 1:26; John 7:28).
For salvationis from the Jews (οτι η σωτηρια εκ των Ιουδαιωνεστιν — hoti
hē sōtēria ek tōn Ioudaiōn estin). “The salvation,” the Messianic salvation
which had long been the hope and guiding star of the chosenpeople (Luke
1:69, Luke 1:71, Luke 1:77; Acts 13:26, Acts 13:47). It was for the whole
world (John 3:17), but it comes “out of” (εκ — ek)the Jews. This tremendous
fact should never be forgotten, howeverunworthy the Jews may have proved
of their privilege. The Messiah, God‘s Son, was a Jew.
Vincent's Word Studies
Ye know not what ( ὁ οὐκ οἴδατε )
Literally, what ye know not. Rev., rightly, that which ye know not. Compare
Acts 17:23, where the correctreading is ὃ , what, insteadof ὃν , whom: “what
therefore ye worship in ignorance.” This worshipof the unknown is common
to vulgar ignorance and to philosophic culture; to the Samaritan woman, and
to the Athenian philosophers. Compare John 7:28; John 8:19, John 8:27. The

24. neuter expressesthe unreal and impersonal characterofthe Samaritan
worship. As the Samaritans receivedthe Pentateuchonly, they were ignorant
of the later and largerrevelationof God, as containedespeciallyin the
prophetic writings, and of the Messianic hope, as developedamong the Jews.
They had preservedonly the abstractnotion of God.
We
Jesus here identifies Himself with the Jewishpeople. The essence ofthe true
Jewishworship is representedby Him.
Know what we worship ( προσκυνοῦμενὃ οἴδαμεν)
Literally, and as Rev., we worship that which we know. On know, see on John
2:24. The neuter that which, is used of the true as of the unreal object of
worship, perhaps for the sake ofcorrespondencewith the preceding clause, or
because the object of worship is conceivedabstractlyand not personally.
Compare John 14:9.
Salvation( ἡ σωτηρία )
The word has the article: the salvation, promised and to be revealedin Christ.
Is of the Jews
Rev., rightly, from the Jews ( ἐκ ). Nottherefore belongs to, but proceeds
from. See Isaiahhref="/desk/?q=isa+2:3&sr=1">Isaiah2:3; Micah4:2. Even
the Old Testamentidea of salvationis bound up with Christ. See Romans 9:4,
Romans 9:5. The salvationis from the Jews, evenfrom that people which has
rejectedit. See on John 1:19. On the characteristicis from, see on John 1:46.
The passageillustrates John's habit of confirming the divine authority of the
Old Testamentrevelation, and of showing its fulfillment in Christ.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvationis of
the Jews.

25. Ye worship ye know not what — Ye Samaritans are ignorant, not only of the
place, but of the very object of worship. Indeed, they fearedthe Lord after a
fashion; but at the same time servedtheir own gods, 2 Kings 17:33.
Salvationis from the Jews — So spake all the prophets, that the Saviour
should arise out of the Jewishnation: and that from thence the knowledge of
him should spread to all nations under heaven.
The Fourfold Gospel
Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know1; for
salvationis from the Jews2.
Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know. Jesus
here speaks as a Jew, and draws a comparison betweenthe intelligent worship
of his people and the ignorant worship of the Samaritans. Thoughthe
Samaritans possessedthe Pentateuch, they were without the revelationof God
which the prophets of Israel had developed, and their worship was neither
authorized nor accreditedby God. Moreover, it led toward nothing; for
salvationwas evolved from the Jewish religion, and not from that of Samaria.
For salvationis from the Jews. Salvationproceededfrom the Jews. From
them, according to the flesh, Christ came, and from them came also the
prophets, apostles, andinspired writers who have given us that full knowledge
of salvationwhich we possesstoday. We must take the words of Jesus as
referring rather to the two "religions" than to the two peoples. Thoughas a
body the Jews did not know whom they worshiped, and though their teachers
were blind leaders of the blind, yet the fault was in their unbelief, and not in
the revelationor religion in which they refused to believe. On the contrary, if
the Samaritans had believed his religion to the full, it would hardly have been
sufficient to have enabled him to know what he worshiped. Samaria was, in

26. the days of idolatry of Israel, a chief seatof Baalworship, and in later days it
was the home of magicians and sorcerers.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
He now explains more largelywhat he had briefly glancedat about the
abolition of the Law; but he divides the substance of his discourse into two
parts. In the former, he charges with superstition and error the form of
worshipping God which had been used by the Samaritans, but testifies that
the true and lawful form was observedby the Jews. And he assigns the cause
of the difference, that from the word of God the Jews obtained certainty as to
his worship, while the Samaritans receivednothing certain from the mouth of
God. In the secondpart, he declares that the ceremonies hitherto observed by
the Jews wouldsoonbe at an end.
22.Youworship what you know not, we worship what we know. This is a
sentence worthy of being remembered, and teaches us that we ought not to
attempt any thing in religion rashly or at random; because, unless there be
knowledge, it is not God that we worship, but a phantom or idol. All good
intentions, as they are called, are struck by this sentence, as by a thunderbolt;
for we learn from it, that men cando nothing but err, when they are guided
by their own opinion without the word or command of God. For Christ,
defending the person and cause ofhis nation, shows that the Jews are widely
different from the Samaritans. And why?
Becausesalvationis from the Jews. Bythese words he means that they have
the superiority in this respect, that God had made with them a covenantof
eternal salvation. Some restrict it to Christ, who was descendedfrom the
Jews;and, indeed, since
all the promises of God were confirmed and ratified in him,

27. (2 Corinthians 1:20,)
there is no salvationbut in him. But as there can be no doubt that Christ gives
the preference to the Jews onthis ground, that they do not worship some
unknown deity, but God alone, who revealedhimself to them, and by whom
they were adopted as his people;by the word salvationwe ought to
understand that saving manifestation which had been made to them
concerning the heavenly doctrine.
But why does he say that it was from the Jews, whenit was rather deposited
with them, that they alone might enjoy it? He alludes, in my opinion, to what
had been predicted by the Prophets, that the Law would go forth from Zion,
(Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2,) for they were separatedfor a time from the rest of the
nations on the express condition, that the pure knowledge ofGod should flow
out from them to the whole world. It amounts to this, that God is not properly
worshipped but by the certainty of faith, which cannot be produced in any
other way than by the word of God. Hence it follows that all who forsake the
word fall into idolatry; for Christ plainly testifies that an idol, or an
imagination of their own brain, is substituted for God, when men are ignorant
of the true God; and he charges with ignorance all to whom God has not
revealedhimself, for as soonas we are deprived of the light of his word,
darkness and blindness reign.
It ought to be observedthat the Jews, whenthey had treacherouslysetaside
the covenantof eternal life which God had made with their fathers, were
deprived of the treasure which they had till that time enjoyed; for they had
not yet been driven out of the Church of God. Now that they deny the Son,
they have nothing in common with the Father;
for whosoeverdenieth the Sonhath not the Father,
(1 John 2:23.)
The same judgment must be formed concerning all who have turned aside
from the pure faith of the Gospelto their own inventions and the traditions of
men. Although they who worship God according to their own judgment or
human traditions flatter and applaud themselves in their obstinacy, this single

28. word, thundering from heaven, lays prostrate all that they imagine to be
divine and holy, You worship what you do not know It follows from this that,
if we wish our religion to be approved by God, it must rest on knowledge
obtained from His word.
Ver. 22. "Ye worship that which ye do not know;we worship that which we
know, because salvationcomes from the Jews."
The antithesis, which is so clearlymarked betweenye and we proves,
whateverHilgenfeld may say, who wrongly cites Hengstenberg as being of his
opinion (comp. the Commentary of the latter, I. pp. 264-269), thatthe ye
denotes the Samaritans and the we Jesus and the Jews. After having put His
impartiality beyond suspicionby the revelation of the greatfuture announced
in John 4:21, Jesus enters more closelyinto the question proposedto Him and
decides it, as relatedto the past, in favor of the Jews. "Itis at Jerusalemthat
the living God has made Himself known;and that because it is by means of
the Jews thatHe intends to give salvationto the world." God is known only so
far as He gives Himself to be known. The seatof the true knowledge ofHim
can, therefore, only be where He makes His revelation;and this place is
Jerusalem. By breaking with the course oftheocratic development since the
time of Moses, andrejecting the prophetic revelations, the Samaritans had
separatedthemselves from the historic God, from the living God. They had
preservedonly the abstractidea of the one God, a purely rational
monotheism. Now the idea of God, as soonas it is takenfor God Himself, is no
more than a chimera. Even while worshiping God, therefore, they do not
know what they worship. The Jews, onthe contrary, have developed
themselves in constantcontactwith the divine manifestations;they have
remained in the schoolof the God of revelation, and in this living relation they
have preserved the principle of a true knowledge. And whence comes this
peculiar relation betweenthis people and God? The answeris given in what
follows. If Godhas made Himself so speciallyknownto the Jews, it is because

29. He wished to make use of them, in order to accomplishthe salvation of the
world. It is salvation which, retroactivelyin some sort, has produced all the
previous theocratic revelations, as it is the fruit which, although appearing at
the end of the annual vegetation, is the real cause ofit. The true cause of
things is their aim. Thus is the ὅτι, because, explained.
This passagehas embarrassedrationalistic criticism, which, making the Jesus
of our Gospelan adversary of Judaism, does not allow that He could have
proclaimed Himself a Jew, and have Himself united in this we His own
worship and that of the Israelitish people. And indeed if, as d" Eichthal
alleges (Les Evangiles I. p. xxviii.), the Jesus ofthe fourth Gospel, "from one
end to the other of His preaching, seems to make sport of the Jews,"and
consequentlycannot "be one of them," there is a flagrant contradiction
betweenour passageandthe entire Gospel.Hilgenfeldthinks that, at John
4:21, Jesus addresses the Jews and the Samaritans takentogether, as by a
kind of prosopopoeia, andthat at John 4:22, by the words: we worship that
which we know, he designates Himself, (with the believers)in oppositionto
these Jews and Samaritans. We have already seenat John 4:21 that this
explanation cannot be sustained, and this appears more clearlystill from the
words of John 4:22 : "Becausesalvationcomes from the Jews," which
evidently prove that the subject of "we worship" can only be the Jews.
D"Eichthaland Renanmake use here of different expedients. The enigma is
explained, says the first, when it is observedthat this expressionis only "the
annotation, or rather the protest, which a Jew of the old schoolhad inscribed
on the margin of the text, and of which an error of the copyisthas made a
word of Jesus" (p. xxix., note). And this scholaris in exstaciesoverthe
services whichcriticism can render to the interpretation of the sacred
writings! Renan makes a similar hypothesis. "The 22dverse, which expresses
an opposite thought to that of John 4:21; John 4:23, seems anawkward
addition of the evangelistalarmedat the boldness of the saying which he
reports" (p. 244 , note). Arbitrariness could not be pressedfurther. The critic
begins by decreeing whatthe fourth Gospelmust be; an anti-Jewishbook.
Then, when he meets an expressionwhich contradicts this allegedcharacter,
he rejects it with a stroke of the pen. He obtains, thus, not the Gospelwhich is,
but that which he would have. But is it supposed that the first Jew whom one

30. might meet was in possessionofthe authentic copy of our Gospel, to modify it
according to his fancy; or that it was very easyfor any chance foreigner, when
this writing was once spread abroad, to introduce an interpolation into all the
copies which were in circulation among the Churches? As for Renan"s
hypothesis, it supposes that the evangelistthought he knew more than the
Masterwhom he worshiped; which is not very logical. The alleged
incompatibility of this saying with John 4:21; John 4:23, and with spirit of the
fourth Gospelin general, is an assertionwithout foundation. (See
Introduction, p. 127-134.)
At John 4:21 Jesus has transferred the question to the future, when the
localizedworship of ancient times should no longer exist. In John 4:22, He has
justified the Jews, historicallyspeaking.At John 4:23 He returns to the future
announced in John 4:21, and describes allits grandeur.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is
of the Jews.
Ver. 22. We know what we worship] Christ also, as man, worshippeth, being
less than himself as God. Christ is worshipped by angels as God, being greater
than himself as man.
Ye worship ye know not what] And yet these Samaritans thought themselves
the only right worshippers. As Turks hold themselves the only Moslems, that
is, true believers;as Hermotimus, the Stoic in Lucian, thought his sectthe best
of all other, as being ignorant of any other himself.

31. Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
John 4:22. Ye worship ye know not what:— The Samaritans worshipped the
true God, and seemto have had as just notions of his perfections in generalas
the Jews;for they drew them from the five books ofMoses, the authority of
which they acknowledged. If so, the meaning of the clause in the original, can
hardly be what our versionhas affixed to it, Ye worship ye know not what;
but its proper translationseems to be, Ye worship the Deity whom ye do not
know;viz. "by any revelation which he has made of himself to you," — the
words το θειον, the Deity, being understood, "Whereas we Jewsworshipthe
Deity, whom we know;viz. by a revelationwhich he has made of himself to
us;—for salvationis of the Jews:—Whatknowledge youhave of salvation, as
well as the author of salvation, cometh, by your own confession, from us;—
you have your religion from us." If the readerthinks that this interpretation
makes too greata supplement necessary, let him look to the following
passages, particularly the words inserted in italics merely by the translators,
as they stand in the common version: Mark 7:4; Mark 7:11. Luke 6:22. John
1:8; John 9:1; John 15:25 and particularly John 18:28 where the original
words αλλ ινα φαγωσι το πασχα, must be rendered, But stoodwithout, that
they might eat the passover. These examples prove, that the elliptical stile is
familiar to St. John; and the one lastmentioned is no less peculiar than that
which may be supposedin the passageunder consideration. See also 2
Thessalonians 2:3 where the words, that day shall not come, are
necessarilysuppliedin our language by our translators. Some indeed give our
Lord's words a more easysense, thus: "Since God has declaredthat
Jerusalemis the place of offering sacrificesacceptably, ye worship him
without just conceptions ofhim, when you fancy he has chosenGerizim." Yet
it may be doubted whether the error of the Samaritans concerning the place
of worship, would be reckonedby our Lord as a sufficient reasonfor saying of
them, that they worshipped they knew not what. There are others who would
paraphrase the whole passagethus: "As you take me for a prophet, believe
me, that the occasionofthis dispute about the place of worship, will soonbe
removed; sacrifices, now offeredat both places, shallere long ceaseforever; a
new dispensationwill be opened, which will require the true disciples of it to
worship in all places;every where offering up their hearts to God, and

32. disposedto obey him in all things. When your ancestors came into this land,
they knew not the manner of God's worship; and indeed knew not God
himself: And even you, though better instructed, are yet, in both respects,
defective in your knowledge. Knowledge is more abundant with us the people
of the Jews;and from among the Jews comethsalvation, by reasonof the
Messiah's birth among them, who is to introduce this new dispensation, and to
render a temple unnecessary, eitheron Gerizim, or at Jerusalem."
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
22.]But he will not leave the temple of Zion and the worship appointed by
God without His testimony. He decides her question not merely by affirming,
but by proving the Jewishworshipto be the right one. In the Samaritan
worship there was no leading of God to guide them, there were no prophetic
voices revealing more and more of His purposes. The neuter ὅ is used to shew
the want of personality and distinctness in their idea of God:—the secondὅ,
merely as corresponding to it in the other member of the sentence. Orperhaps
better, both, as designating merely the abstractobject of worship, not the
personalGod.
The ἡμεῖς is remarkable, as being the only instance of our Lord thus speaking.
But the nature of the case accounts forit. He never elsewhereis speaking to
one so setin oppositionto the Jews on a point where Himself and the Jews
stoodtogetherfor God’s truth. He now speaks as a Jew. The nearestapproach
to it is in His answerto the Canaanitishwoman, Matthew 15:24;Matthew
15:26.
ὅτι, because:this is the reasonwhy we know what we worship, because the
promises of God are made to us, and we possess them and believe them: see
Romans 3:1-2.
ἡ σωτ. ἐκ τ. ἰ. ἐστ.] It was in this point especially, expectationofthe promised
salvationby the greatDeliverer (see Genesis 49:18), thatthe Samaritan
rejectionof the prophetic word had made them so deficient in comparisonof
the Jews. Butnot only this;—the MessiahHimself was to spring from among

33. the Jews, andhad sprung from among them;—not ἔσται, but ἐστίν, the
abstractpresent, but perhaps with a reference to what was then happening.
See Isaiah2:1-3.
Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae
DISCOURSE:1617
SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS
John 4:22. Salvationis of the Jews.
THIS is part of the answerof our blessedLord to the Samaritan woman. He
had takenoccasion, from an observationof hers, to shew her that he was well
acquainted with the most secrethistory of her past life; and not from report
merely, but from his ownomniscient mind, from which nothing could be hid.
He had told her, that “she had had five husbands;” (all of whom, it is
probable, had put her awayfor her adulteries;) and that “the personwith
whom she was now living was not her husband.” She, wishing to get rid of so
painful a subject, proposed a question relative to a controversywhich then
existed betweenthe Samaritans and the Jews, as to the place where God was
to be worshipped. Our Lord, satisfiedwith having discoveredto her his
characteras a prophet of the Most High, graciouslywavedthe prosecutionof
a subject which was so painful to her, and turned his attention to that which
she had submitted to him. In reply to her question, he informed her, that the
time was coming when all distinctions of places should be lost; so far, at least,
as related to acceptable worship:for that all, of whateverplace or country,
who should worship Godin spirit and in truth, should be acceptedofhim. At
the same time he informed her that the question itself must be determined in
favour of the Jews. The Samaritans, indeed, had much to say in their own
behalf, and in support of the cause which they maintained. They could say,
that on Mount Gerizim, for the sanctity of which they pleaded, Abraham
himself had built an altar [Note:Genesis 12:6-7.], as had Jacobalso;(for
Sichem, or Shechem, where he built it, was so close to Mount Gerizim, that a
man’s voice might be distinctly heard from the one to the other [Note: Genesis

34. 33:18-20. with Judges 9:7.]:) and that, consequently, that place had a prior
claim to Zion, on which no altar had been raised, till many hundred years had
elapsed. They could also with truth affirm, that Moses himself, under the
specialdirection of Jehovah, had commanded, that all the congregationsof
Israel, as soonas they should gain possessionofthe Promised Land, should
assemble round Mount Gerizim; and that from thence the blessings of
Jehovahshould be pronounced, whilst his curses should be declaredfrom
Mount Ebal, which was nearto it [Note:Deuteronomy 11:29;Deuteronomy
27:11-13.]. Theycould also appealto the JewishScriptures, that Joshua and
all Israel had actually complied with this command [Note:Joshua 8:33-34.];
and had thereby sanctified that mountain in a more especialmanner, and
marked it out as the place which God had chosenfor his more peculiar
worship in all future ages.
But, in answerto all this, our Lord informed her, that the Samaritans “knew
not whom they worshipped.” Though they occupiedthe land of Israel, they
were not Israelites, but foreigners, whom the king of Assyria had sent to
occupy the land, when he carried captive the ten tribes of Israel[Note:2
Kings 17:24.]. Nor did they, in reality, know the true God: for it was only in
consequence ofthe judgments which God had inflicted on them for their
idolatries, by sending lions to devour them, that they had everthought of
worshipping him at all. To avert his displeasure, they had desired that a
Jewishpriest might be sentback to the land, to instruct them how to worship
Jehovah;but, at the same time, they retained their own idolatries; thus
“fearing the Lord, and serving other Gods [Note: 2 Kings 17:25-27.].” The
Jews, onthe contrary, worshipped Jehovahalone;(for never after the
Babylonish captivity did they return to idolatry;) and they possessedthat
revelation of God’s will, through the knowledge ofwhich alone any human
being could be saved:“Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we
worship; for salvationis of the Jews.”
Thus was the controversy determined in favour of the Jews. But that being no
longerof any consequence to the Church, we forbearto notice it any further;
and shall fix our attention on that generaldeclaration, which is still of as great
importance as ever, that “salvationis of the Jews.”

35. It is of them originally, as derived from them; and it is of them instrumentally,
as communicated altogetherby them.
I. It is of the Jews, as being originally derived from them—
The way of salvationhas been one and the same, from the very moment that
the promise was given in Paradise, that“the Seedof the woman should bruise
the serpent’s head.” But, having been only traditionally handed down, it was
but very imperfectly known, even in the family of Abraham; and by the world
at large it was almost, if not entirely, forgotten. But it pleasedGod, when he
brought out from their bondage in Egypt the descendants ofAbraham, to give
them a written revelationof his will, and to make knownto them the way of
salvation, not only in its greatleading article, the sacrifice ofChrist, but in
many minute particulars, as we shall see by an investigationof their
CeremonialLaw.
The Jewishreligion, so far as the wayof salvationwas concerned, was
founded altogetheron sacrifice. No personcould approach unto Godwithout
a sacrifice:but by means of sacrifices speciallyappointed, every one might
hope to obtain forgiveness ofsin, and acceptancewith his reconciledGod. For
this end there were sacrificesofferedevery morning and every evening
throughout the year; and on the Sabbath-day they were doubled [Note:
Numbers 28:3-4; Numbers 28:9-10.]:but on the greatday of annual
atonement they were multiplied, with the most significantrites that can be
imagined. The high priest was to take the blood of the sacrifices, andto carry
it within the vail, and to sprinkle it upon the Mercy-seat, and before the
Mercy-seat, in tokenthat the hopes of all Israel were founded upon the
sacrifices thus offered as an atonementfor their sins [Note:Leviticus 16:14.].
After that was done, he was to offer incense, and then to come out and bless
the people.
But, as has been observed, there were many peculiar ordinances appointed for
their instruction, as to the more minute points to be attended to in this great
work. On some occasions, the offenders themselves were to lay their hands
upon the head of their sacrifices:on some, the blood of the sacrifices was to be
sprinkled on the offerers:on some the blood was to be sprinkled, mixed with

36. water[Note: Leviticus 14:6-7. Hebrews 9:19.]. And the efficacyof all these
offerings was pre-eminently marked in the ordinance of the scape-goat.One
goathaving been killed, and its blood carried within the vail, another goat,
calledthe scape-goat, whichhad been chosenby lot for this purpose, was
brought forth, and had all the sins of all the Children of Israellaid upon it by
the hands of the High Priest;and it was then led, with all the guilt of Israel
upon its head, into the wilderness, nevermore to be seenby man; that so all
the people might see that their iniquities were taken away, and that the
punishment due to them should not be inflicted.
Now, all this was designedto shadow forth to that people the way of salvation.
And, in truth, to those who had any spiritual discernment, salvation was
exhibited with a clearness quite sufficient for the circumstances under which
the people were. They were children; and were to be taught like children, by
types and shadows:and all who lookedthrough those types to the sacrifice
which they shadowedforth, were savedas effectually as we are by looking
back upon the offering which has now been once offeredupon Calvary.
In all this was Christianity depicted. On what are the hopes of Christians
founded, but on sacrifice, eventhe sacrifice ofour Lord Jesus Christ? Except
through his atoning blood, not a creature in the universe can ever come to
God. In presenting that offering, he himself was the Priest, as well as the
victim: and having offered himself up to God upon the cross, he rose from the
dead, and went with his own blood within the vail, there to present it before
the Mercy-seat:and on that he founds his all-prevailing intercession.
But, let us come to a few particulars, and we shall see how the light beams
upon us from every part of the JewishScriptures. We have said, that, on some
occasions,the offender laid his hands upon the head of his offering, just as
Aaron did on the scape-goat, whenhe confessedoverhim all the sins of all the
Children of Israel. And this teaches us, that it is not sufficient for us that the
Lord Jesus Christ has been offeredfor our sins: we must go to him: we must
confess overhim, as it were, our sins: and we must by faith transfer to him
our guilt, and declare before God, that we have no hope whateverbut in his
atoning blood. It has been said also, that on some occasions, the offerer was
sprinkled with the blood of his offering: and this, also, must we do; taking, as

37. it were, the bunch of hyssop in our hands, and dipping it in the Redeemer’s
blood, and sprinkling our own souls with it, as the only possible means of
purging our consciencesfrom guilt, and of bringing us into a state of peace
with God. It is in reference to this that we are said to “have come to the blood
of sprinkling, which speakethbetter things than that of Abel.” The sacrifice of
Abel received, indeed, a sweettokenof God’s favourable acceptance;but the
blood of our sacrifice washesallour sins away, and gives us a title to an
everlasting inheritance.
It has been observed, that, on some occasions, the blood was mixed with
water, and then sprinkled on the offerer. This shews us, that we must have the
Holy Spirit also poured out upon us: according as it is said, “I will sprinkle
cleanwaterupon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from
all your idols will I cleanse you.” The Lord Jesus Christ, we are told, “came
not by wateronly, but by water and blood:” and this very mystery was
intimated at the time of our Saviour’s crucifixion, when the soldierpierced
our Saviour’s side, and forthwith came, in two distinguishable streams, blood
and water:the one to cleanse us from the guilt of sin; the other, from its
power: according as it is written, “Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
We might prosecute this subject in a greatvariety of particulars, and shew in
all of them the correspondence betweenthe salvationshadowedforth by the
law, and that exhibited by the Gospel. But we wish to keepthe subjectas
simple as possible, and not to perplex it by too greata variety. There is,
however, one point which it is of great importance to mention. It will be
remembered, that, when Moseswas aboutto make the tabernacle, a very
strict and solemn command was given him, (the injunction is repeatedly
mentioned in the Pentateuch,)“See thoumake all things according to the
pattern shewnto thee in the mount.” The same injunction was given to David,
also, when he was desirous to build the temple. And St. Paul very particularly
notices the former, as of vast importance. But whence was it that such stress
was laid on this apparently unimportant matter? It was from hence:The law
was given to shadow forth the Gospel:and it was to be the model to which the
whole edifice of Christianity was to be conformed, in every the minutest
particular. Now, if there was any one thing added to the tabernacle, or

38. omitted in it, or altered in any respect, it would not be a perfect
representationof Christianity. But the two were to correspondwith each
other, as the impression with the seal:and if there were any thing in the
tabernacle superfluous or defective, the correspondence wouldbe lost, and
God would be greatlydishonoured. But the necessarycare was taken:Moses
was faithful in all his house as a Servant, for a testimony of those things which
were to be spokenafter: and the same fidelity has Christ shewnas a Son,
whose house are we, if we “hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of our
hope firm unto the end.”
Thus it appears that we have receivedsalvationoriginally from the Jews;to
whom, in every particular, it was first revealed. But we go on to observe, 2dly,
That we have also receivedit instrumentally from them, in that it has been
altogethercommunicatedto us through their ministrations.
It was first preachedto us by Moses andthe prophets. We had known nothing
of a Messiah, if they had not pointed him out. We have already seenhow
much we are indebted to Moses forhis writings: which make known to us the
very first prophecy of a Saviour; and shew us how Abel, and Noah, and
Abraham, found acceptance withGod. To him we owe it, that the model
shewnto him in the mount was so carefully copied, that there is not so much
as a pin in his tabernacle which has not its corresponding article in the
Christian Edifice. From him we have such a view of Christianity as the Gospel
itself can scarcelybe said to afford. Doubtless, till the ceremonies prescribed
by him had the true light reflected on them, they were very obscure:but now
that they have been explained to us from above, we see the Gospelembodied,
as it were, and made visible even to the eye of sense. Who that contemplates
one goatofferedin sacrifice to God, and the other bearing awayall the sins of
all the people of Israelthat had been laid upon his head, does not see, before
his very face, what the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, is daily effecting for all
that believe in him? Even the moral law itself, which Moses alsohas recorded,
has the very same tendency, and, in the ears of all who understand it,
proclaims the utter impossibility of being saved, exceptby the sacrifice that
should in due time be offered; insomuch that St. Paul calls it “a schoolmaster,
to bring us to Christ.” All the prophets concur with him in the very same
testimony; and proclaim with one voice, that “there is no remissionof sins but

39. by blood;” and that “there is no other name given under heaven whereby we
can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ.” We are told, that “to him give all
the prophets witness, that through his name whosoeverbelievethin him shall
receive remissionof sins.” Ask we of Isaiah? His testimony is, “He was
wounded for our transgressions,and bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisementof our peace was upon him; and by his stripes we are healed.”
To the same effectspeaks also the Prophet Daniel: “Messiahshallbe cut off;
but not for himself.” “He shall make an end of sin, and make reconciliation
for iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness.”And Joelpoints him out,
as “that Lord, on whom whosoevershallcall, shall be saved.”
The lastand greatestofall the prophets was Johnthe Baptist: and he pointed
out the very Saviour himself in these emphatic words; “Beholdthe Lamb of
God, that taketh awaythe sin of the world!” Here we see the union of the law
and of the Gospelto be preciselysuch as we have representedit. The lamb
was at that very time offeredevery morning and evening in sacrifice to God
for the sins of Israel; and here was Jesus pointed out as the Lamb that should
take away, not the sins of one people only, but of the whole world.
And what was the testimony borne by our Lord himself? Did he not declare,
that He was come to “give his life a ransom for many?” Did He not, when he
administered the sacramentalcup to his Disciples, say, “This is my blood of
the New Testament, whichis shed for you, and for many, for the remissionof
sins?”
But what said his Apostles, when the time was come for the full disclosure of
the greatmystery of Redemption? They with one voice declare, that “he died
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God;” that we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness ofsins; and that “allwho
believe in him are justified from all things, from which we could not be
justified by the law of Moses.” In the Epistle to the Hebrews the parallel
betweenthe law and the Gospelis distinctly drawn; so that nothing is left to
fancy or conjecture;but all is declaredon infallible authority to have been
accomplishedin him, to the unspeakable advantage ofour souls;since, “if the
blood of bulls and of goats, andthe ashes ofan heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, much more shall the blood of Christ,

40. who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge our
consciencefrom dead works to serve the Living God.”
And to whom are we indebted for all this knowledge? To Jews, from first to
last: to Jewishprophets and to JewishApostles:yea, the very Saviour himself
who effectedthis salvation, and to whom they all bare witness;he himself
proclaimed it; he himself displayed its power whilst he yet hanged on the
cross;and after his resurrectionhe gave this commissionto his Disciples, “Go
into all the world, and preachthe Gospelto every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized, shall be saved: and he that believeth not, shall be damned.”
Now, what of all these things can we learn from the philosophers of Greece
and Rome? No more than from the beasts themselves. It was hidden from
them altogether. If we want to know what kind of a Saviour was to come, we
must learn it from Jews. If we would know what ground there is to believe
that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies;to Jews we must go, to obtain the desired
information. If we would learn how we are to come to the Saviour, and to
obtain acceptance throughhim; we must sit at the feet of Jews, andreceive
instruction from their lips. We have not a hope that is not founded on their
word; nor can a ray of consolationshine into our souls, that is not emitted
from their writings. We do not sufficiently considerthis: but we ought never
to forget how greatly we are indebted to the Jews:since, whether in its
primary structure or its subsequent conveyance, our“salvationis altogether
of them;” of them originally, of them instrumentally, of them exclusively: so
that not a soul amongstus shall ever go forth from this devoted land to the
mountains of eternal bliss, but as instructed, instigated, and assistedby a Jew.
From this subject we cannot but learn our duty in two important respects:
first, to seek this salvation for ourselves;and next, to exert ourselves in order
to impart this salvationto those from whom we have receivedit.
First, then, let us seek this salvationfor ourselves.
It cannot be that Almighty God should have done so much for our salvation,
and we be at liberty to neglectit. The Apostle’s question is full of awful and
impressive energy, “How shall ye escape,if ye neglectso greatsalvation?”
Surely, if God has given his only dearSon to be a sacrifice forsin; if, in order

41. to prepare the world for the reception of him, he shadowedforth all his work
and offices with such precision, that it should be impossible for any
considerate mind not to see and understand the way of salvation;if Prophets
and Apostles, for such a series of ages,bare witness to him at the peril of their
lives, in order that we might know him, and be partakers ofhis benefits; does
it become us to despise it all, as if it were no better than a cunningly-devised
fable 2 Surely, we must see that it is our bounden duty to flee for refuge to this
hope that is setbefore us. We must remember what the very term “Salvation”
implies: it implies, that we are lost: for if in ourselves we be not lost, we
cannot need a Saviour. But we are lost, every one of us; for we are sinners,
condemned by God’s righteous law; and “the wrath of God abideth on us.” I
fear it will appearharsh to say, that we are in this respecton a footing with
the fallen angels, evenwith “the spirits that are already in the prison” of hell.
But, if I say the truth before God, this is the only difference betweenthem and
us: they are lost beyond redemption; whereas we, though lost, have salvation
offered to us: but, if we neglectthis salvation, we shall perish, under a load of
guilt beyond all expressionaggravated, andunder a punishment beyond all
conceptionterrible. Whatever may have been the guilt of the fallen angels,
from this, at least, they are free; they have never poured contempt on a
redeeming God, never rejecteda proffered salvation:but these are the sins
that will be chargedon us, if we embrace not the salvationwhich is revealedto
us in the Gospel.
I say, then, to every soul before me, seek this salvation which the Jews have
brought unto you: seek it simply, mixing nothing with it, but relying
altogetheron the atoning blood of Christ, “who, though he knew no sin, was
made sin for you, that you, who had no righteousness, might be made the
righteousness ofGod in him.” And seek it humbly, confessing overthe Lord
Jesus Christ your every sin, and transferring it by faith to his sacredhead. In
point of dependence, you must renounce your most righteous acts as much as
your vilest sins; and you must look to his blood to cleanse youfrom the
iniquity even of your holiest things. Seek it constantly too:it was every day in
the yearthat the offerings for sin were made: and every day and hour must
you look to your greatSacrifice, if you would have it available for your eternal
good. Seek it, moreover, unreservedly. Neglectnotthe water, any more than

42. the blood. It will be a fatal mistake to think of ever being saved by the
sacrifice ofChrist, if you be not renewedand sanctified by his Spirit. These
two are inseparably joined by God himself; and it will be at the peril of your
souls, if ever you attempt to put them asunder. Lastly, I would say, seek it to
the full extent of your necessities.I have purposely deferred till now all
mention of the sacrificesthat were appointed for the sins of ignorance. They
are particularly statedin the fourth chapter of the Book ofLeviticus. There
you will see, that, if a man had ever so ignorantly and unintentionally
contracteddefilement, (say, by the touching of a bone or a grave, or any thing
that had been previously touched by one unclean,) he must bring his offering,
as soonas everhe discoveredthat he had transgressed:and, if he should
refuse to bring his appointed offering, he must be cut off from the Lord’s
people, as a despiser of the law, and a rebel againsthis God. Thus must we do,
even for the slightestinadvertence or defect. And if, from an idea that our
offence has been light and venial, we hope to remove its guilt by any other
means than the blood of Christ, we shall surely perish. If we had never
violated God’s holy law but once, and that only by an inadvertent thought,
there remains for us but one way of salvation, one only door of hope: and, if
we will not enter at that door, and walk in that way, “there remains nothing
for us but a certainfearful looking-forof wrath and fiery indignation to
consume us.” I say then, again, to every soul amongstyou, seek for salvation
in Christ alone. There was but one brazen serpent erectedin the camp of
Israel: and there is but one Saviour appointed for the whole world. “There is
no other wayunto the Father but by Him:” but “those who come to Godin his
Son’s name, he will in no wise castout.”
Next, let us exert ourselves to impart this salvation to those from whom we
have receivedit. I appealto all: if we are so indebted to the Jewishpeople of
former ages, shouldwe not endeavour, in some respect, to requite them by
shewing kindness to their descendants?and if we are constrainedto say that
“salvationis of the Jews,”shouldwe not, now that the Jews themselves are
ignorant of that salvation, endeavour to impart to them the light which we
enjoy, and constrainthem, in their turn, to say, “Salvationis of the
Christians?” For, surely, if it be of them in its commencement, it is, and ought
to be, of us in its progress and consummation. And I would ask, is it not a

43. scandalto the whole Christian world, that they should have so long and so
shamefully neglectedthose to whose ancestors theyare so greatly indebted? It
was never God’s design that we should “hide our candle under a bushel,” and
concealit from the very persons who have put it into our hands. On the
contrary, St. Paul expresslysays, that as we have been benefited by their
unbelief, so we should strive to benefit them by our faith: “As we in times past
have not believed God, but have now obtained mercy through their unbelief;
so have these also now not believed, that through our mercy they also may
obtain mercy.” Whilst, therefore, we withhold from them the instruction
which God has qualified us to impart, we defeatthe very designs of God
himself, and may well have required at our hands the blood of all who perish
through our neglect.
If we would know in what waywe ought to exert ourselves forthem, we need
only inquire how they exerted themselves for us. Beholdthe Prophets and
Apostles, in the different ages in which they lived: which of them all, with the
exceptionof the Prophet Jonah, did not engage inhis work with zeal, and
execute it with fidelity? Of all the Apostles, there was but one who did not
actually sealthe truth with his blood; as John also was willing to do, if he had
been calledto it. And all the first Christian converts, when driven from
Jerusalem, “wenteverywhere preaching the word,” happy if by any means
they might impart to us benighted heathens the salvationwhich they had
found. Should not, then, some measure, at least, of that zeal be shewnby us?
Should not their souls be precious in our eyes, as ours were in theirs? It is a
shame to us that we think so lightly of this matter; and that we, who ought to
take the lead in every thing that is goodand great, are so backwardto exert
ourselves in this holy cause. I well know that sloth and indifference will
furnish us with reasons enoughfor delay: but I would ask, whatreasonhas
any man for neglecting this duty, which might not have been urged with still
greaterforce by the Jews fora neglectof us? The attempt to convert the Jews
might have been deemed visionary a few years ago:but shall it be judged
visionary now? I say, without fearof contradiction, that the efforts which
have been made within these few years have produced a greateffect, if not in
numerous conversions, yetat leastin that which must precede conversion;
and which conversionmay reasonably, in many instances, be expectedto

44. follow; I mean, the conviction of their minds of the truth of Christianity. I do
say, that this effectis seen, felt, and acknowledgedby the Jews themselves:
and if the periodical publications which are issued forth on this subject were
perused, the truth of this assertionwould most abundantly appear. Permit
me, then, to call the attention of this assembly to this momentous subject; and
to press on all who hear me this day, to “come to the help of the Lord against
the mighty,” even againstthe mighty prejudices of the Jewishpeople, and the
no less formidable indifference of the Christian world. A goodexample here
would be felt throughout the land, and would tend not a little to diffuse, both
among Jews athome and Jews abroad, the light which we possess, andthe
salvationwe enjoy. I ask, is that true which our Lord has spoken, “Ifye
believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins?” If this be true, then are
that whole people perishing by millions. And shall we suffer them thus to
“perish for lack of knowledge?”Godforbid. If any of us know what salvation
is, we ought to impart it to others. We feelthis obligationin some measure to
the heathen, to whom we are not at all indebted; and yet overlook it in
reference to the Jews, from whom we have receivedall the light and
knowledge we possess. This ought not so to be: this should not continue one
hour longer: we ought all to rise, as one man, to repair, as far as possible, our
past neglect, and to fulfil our duties to God and man. But, if we will still
continue to hide our talent in a napkin, know all of you, that you shall be
calledinto judgment for it, and that the doom of the unprofitable servant
must awaityou. But “let me hope better things, though I thus speak, even
things that accompanysalvation.” I thank God that some at leasthave awaked
to the calls of justice and of mercy; of justice to God, who has entrusted them
with their talents; and of mercy to the Jews, who so greatly need their
improvement of them. And I pray God that this spirit may abound more and
more; and that they who embark in this goodcause may soonhave the
happiness to see that “they have not laboured in vain, nor run in vain.”
Heinrich Meyer's Critical and ExegeticalCommentaryon the New Testament

45. John 4:22. Jesus has answeredthe question as to the where of worship; He
now turns, unasked, to the object of worship, and in this He pronounces in
favour of the Jews. The chain of thought is not: “as matters now stand,” and
so on (Lücke and most others); such a change of time must have been
indicated.
ὃ οὐκ οἴδατε]ye worship what ye know not. God is meant, who is named not
personally, but by the neuter, according to His essence andcharacter, not as
He who is worshipped, but as that which is worshipped (comp. the neuter,
Acts 17:23, according to the more correctreading); and this is simply God
Himself, not τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ or τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν (Lücke), which would not be in
keeping with the conceptionexpressedin προσκυνεῖν; for what is worshipped
is not what pertains to God, but God (comp. John 4:21; John 4:23-24). The
οὐκ οἴδατε is to be understood relatively; comp. John 7:28. As the Samaritans
receivedthe Pentateuchonly, they were without the developed revelation of
God containedin the subsequent books of the O. T., particularly in the
Prophets, especiallythe stedfast, pure, and living development of Messianic
hope, which the Jews possessed, so also they had lost, with the temple and its
sacredshrines, the abiding presence of the Deity (Romans 3:2; Romans 9:4-5).
Jesus, therefore, might well speak of their knowledge ofGod, in comparison
with that of the Jews ( ἡμεῖς), who possessedthe full revelation and promise,
as ignorance;and He could regardthis greatsuperiority of the Jews as
unaffected by the monotheism, howeverspiritual, of the Samaritans.
According to de Wette, whom Ebrard follows, the meaning is: “ye worship,
and in so doing, ye do what ye know not,”—whichis said to refer to the
arbitrary and unhistorical manner in which the Samaritan worship
originated. According to this, the ὅ would have to be takenas in ὃ δὲ νῦν ζῶ,
Galatians 2:20 (comp. Bengel), so that it would denote the προσκύνησις itself,
which is accomplishedin the προσκυνεῖν (see Bernhardy, p. 106). But in that
case it would have been more logicalto write ὃ ὑμεῖς προσκυνεῖτε, οὐκ οἴδατε.
Tittmann, Morus, Kuinoel, also erroneouslysaythat ὃ stands for καθʼ ὅ, pro
vestra ignorantia. It is the accusative ofthe object, in which is included the
dative, or even the accusative ofthe demonstrative (for προσκύν. is construed
in both ways; see Lobeck, adPhyrn. p. 463).

46. ἡμεῖς] i.e. Jews, without a conjunction, and hence all the more emphatic.
According to the whole connection, it must mean we Jews, notChristians, as if
ἡμεῖς were intended in the Gnostic sense to denote, as something altogether
new, the distinctively Christian consciousness,as contrastedwith the
unconscious worshipof the Israelitish race in its Samaritan and Jewish
branches (Hilgenfeld, comp. his Zeitschr. 1863, p. 213 ff.). That Jesus, being
Himself a Jew (Galatians 4:4; John 1:11), should reckonHimself among the
Jews, cannotbe thought strange in the antithesis of such a passageas this. But
in what follows, the Lord rises so high above this antithesis between
Samaritan and Jew, that in the future which He opens up to view (John 4:23-
24), this national distinctiveness ceases to have any significance. Still, in
answerto the woman’s question, He could simply and definitely assignto the
Jews that superiority which historically belongedto them before the
manifestation of that higher future; but He could not intend “to sether free
from the unreality of her national existence” (Luthardt), but rather,
considering the occasionwhichpresented itself, could make no concessionto
the injury of the rights of His patriotism as Messiah, basedas this was upon
historicalfact and upon the divine purpose (Romans 1:16).
ὅτι ἡ σωτ., κ. τ. λ.] because salvation(of course, not without the σωτήρ,
though this is not named) proceeds from the Jews (not from the
Samaritans),—a generaldoctrinalstatement, incontestably true, basedupon
the promise to Abraham, Genesis 12 (comp. Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2),
concerning the σωτηρία of the Messiah’s kingdom, whose future
establishment is representedas present, as is natural in such an axiomatic
statementof historic fact. As salvation is of the Jews, this design of their
existence in the economyof grace constitutes the reason( ὅτι) why they, as a
nation, possessedthe true and pure revelationof God, whose highest
culmination and consummation is that very σωτηρία;comp. Romans 9:4-5. It
must not, indeed, be overlookedthat ἡμεῖς … οἴδαμενwas not true of every
individual of the ἡμεῖς (not of those who rejectedthe σωτηρία), but refers to
the nation as a whole in its ideal existence as the people of God, whose
prerogative as such could not be destroyed by empirical exceptions. Thus the
invisible church is hidden in the visible.

47. Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
John 4:22. ὃ οὐκ οἴδατε)Ye know not what. He shows under how great
ignorance they labour; wherefore He also adds, τῷ πατρί, the Father, which
the womanhad not added. Although ὅ, what, inasmuch as it is not repeatedin
the subsequentmember of the sentence, does not seemto denote the objectof
worship, but the form; in this sense, Ye know not what worship ye practise;
we know, what is our worship.— ἡμεῖς, we)He speaks as anordinary Jew;
inasmuch as not being yet known to the Samaritanwoman.— ἡ σωτηρία,
Salvation) Truly so!The very derivation of the name Jesus, whomthe woman
calls a Jew, John 4:9. Comp. John 4:42, [The Samaritans]“We know that this
is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”— ἔστιν, is) For such was the
promise: that the Saviour and the knowledge ofHim would originate from the
Jews, andthat from the Jews that knowledge wouldbe extended to others.
[Jesus speaksofthe Jews in more glorifying terms when addressing foreigners
than when addressing Jews.—V. g.]
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
You have no certain rule for your worship, but only do things which your
fathers did, without any revelationof the Divine will, by which you may be
assuredthat what you do is acceptable to God. We know that God hath
revealedhis will, that his people should worship him at Jerusalemby such
rites and performances as he himself hath instituted in his word, so as we are
certain that what we do is acceptable to God: for unto the Jews (ofold) were
committed the oracles ofGod, the ordinary means of salvation; Out of Zion
went forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, Isaiah2:3.
Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
We know what we worship; the Jews had both a divinely appointed systemof
worship, and a clear revelationfrom God of his nature and the service
required by him. The Samaritans receivedonly the five books of Moses, and

48. their services onmount Gerizim were without the divine warrant, and
mingled with superstitious observances.
Salvationis of the Jews;from them the Messiahwas to come.
Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
22. ὃ οὐκ οἴδ. That which ye know not. The higher truth having been planted
for the future, Christ proceeds to answerher question as to the present
controversy. The Samaritanreligion, even after being purified from the
original mixture with idolatry (2 Kings 17:33; 2 Kings 17:41), remained a
mutilated religion; the obscurity of the Pentateuch(and of that a garbled text)
unenlightened by the clearerrevelations in the Prophets and other books of
O.T. Such a religion when contrastedwith the Jewish, which had developedin
constantcontactwith Divine revelation, might well be calledignorance.
ἡμεῖς κ.τ.λ. We worship that which we know. The abstractform conveyed by
the neuter should be preserved in both clauses (Acts 17:23). The first person
plural here is not similar to that in John 3:11 (see note there), though some
would take it so. Christ here speaks as a Jew, and in such a passagethere is
nothing surprising in His so doing. As a rule Christ gives no countenance to
the view that He belongs to the Jewishnation in any specialway, though the
Jewishnation speciallybelongs to Him (John 1:11): He is the Saviour of the
world, not of the Jews only. But here, where it is a question whether Jew or
Samaritan has the largershare of religious truth, He ranks Himself both by
birth and by religion among the Jews. ‘We,’therefore, means ‘we Jews.’
ὅτι. The importance of the conjunction must not be missed: the Jews know
their God because the salvation of the world issues from them. Their religion
was not, like the Samaritan, mere deism, but a παιδαγωγός leading on to the
Messiah(Galatians 3:24).
ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τ. Ἰ. ἐ. The salvation, the expectedsalvation, is of the Jews;i.e.
proceeds from them (not belongs to them), in virtue of the promises to
Abraham (Genesis 12:3; Genesis 18:18;Genesis 22:18)and Isaac (Genesis
26:4): comp. Isaiah 2:3; Obadiah 1:17. This verse is absolutelyfatal to the
theory that this Gospelis the work of a Gnostic Greek in the secondcentury

49. (see on John 19:35). That salvation proceededfrom the Jews contradicts the
fundamental principle of Gnosticism, that salvation was to be soughtin the
higher knowledge ofwhich Gnostics had the key. Hence those who uphold
such a theory of authorship assume, in defiance of all evidence, that this verse
is a later interpolation. The verse is found in all MSS. and versions. See
Introduction, Chap. II. 2. Forτῶν Ἰουδαίωνsee on John 13:33.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
22. Ye worship ye know not what—Ye worship; ye, in fact, worship God; but
ye know not what is the true characterofthe God ye worship. It is a factitious,
narrow, Samaritan deity you adore, standing in supposed specialcovenant
relations to you, which relations are historically and really untrue. So that
even if, through its ignorant sincerity, your prayer reaches throughthe mists
and darkness to the true God, that true God which you thus successfully
worship, ye do not truly know.
We know what we worship—The God worshipped by the Jews was the God of
the Pentateuchand the prophets, standing truly in the historicalrelations in
which the true Jews believed.
Salvationis of—Ratherfrom the Jews. Fortheirs was the covenantedand
prophesied Christ, in whom salvationis embodied. And even if that salvation
went forth to save the pious Samaritan in his twilight, it truly went forth from
the Jews.
Expository Notes ofDr. Thomas Constable
By "you" Jesus meant the Samaritans (plural "you" in Gr.). They worshipped
a God whom they did not really know. The reasonfor this was their rejection
of most of His revelation in the Old Testament. Moreoverthe Samaritans had
added pagan concepts to their faith that had come from their Gentile
forefathers. If the woman truly believed that Jesus was a prophet, as she

50. claimed, she would have had to acceptHis statement. There was more and
truer information about God that she and her fellow Samaritans needed to
learn than they presently knew. Jesus was providing that correctionand that
new revelation.
In contrast, the Jews acceptedallof God"s revelationin the Old Testament
and therefore knew the God whom they worshipped. Additionally they were
the people through whom that revelation had come. Jesus here summarized
all Old Testamentrevelationas being essentiallysoteriological. Godintended
His revelationto result in salvationfor humankind (cf. John 3:17). In that
sense salvationhad come through the Jews (cf. Romans 3:2; Romans 9:4-5).
Salvationalso came from the Jews in that Messiahcame from Judah"s tribe (
Genesis 49:10)whereas the Samaritans tracedtheir ancestry through Joseph.
[Note:Josephus, Antiquities of . . ., 11:8:6.]
Jesus did not take sides on the question of the place of worship, but He did
clarify the proper basis of authority as being the whole Old Testament.
Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament
John 4:22. Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we
know. The two questions at issue betweenJews and Samaritans were those of
holy place and holy Scripture. The former, though of far inferior importance
(as the Jews’themselves were by their ‘dispersion’ being gradually trained to
know), was the more easilyseizedupon by national prejudice and zeal. Of this
question Jesus has spoken. He passes onimmediately to the other, which the
woman had not raised, but which was of vital moment. The Samaritans did
really worship God,—there is no slur caston the intention and aim of their
worship; their error consistedin clinging to an imperfect revelation of Him,
receiving Moses but rejecting the prophets. Hating and avoiding Jews, they
cut themselves off from the training given by God to that people through
whom His final purposes were to be made known to the world. It was the