Christ's Doctrine of Faith: A Study of "Believing" in John's Gospel (John 4:21)

Image Credit: Media from Wix

The fourteenth time the idea of “believing” occurs in John’s Gospel is John 4:21, which reads: “Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father” (KJV).

So, what is the context here? First off, we must see that the term “believe” occurs in a command Jesus is giving to the woman at the well. Second, let’s go to the beginning of John 4! After John the Baptist’s God-glorifying declaration of Christ’s superiority to him, Jesus knows about how the Pharisees had heard that He (His disciples, not Himself directly) had made and baptized more disciples than John. With this knowledge, He leaves Judaea and goes to Galilee. However, He has to go through Samaria, and He happens upon Sychar, a Samaritan city, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph, wherein Jacob’s well is. Becoming wearied in His humanity, Jesus sits on the well while it is the sixth hour. Then, a Samaritan woman comes to the well to draw water, and He asks her for a drink, since His disciples had gone into the city to buy meat. The Samaritan woman responds by asking Him how it is that He, being a Jew, is asking for a drink from her, a woman of Samaria, since the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Christ answers her question by saying that, if she knew the gift of God and who it is who is asking her for a drink, she would ask Him, and He would give her living water. The woman then asks Him from where He has this living water, since the well is deep and He has nothing to draw with. She follow up this question by asking Him if He is greater than their father Jacob, who gave them the well and drank from it himself, along with his children and his cattle. Jesus answers by telling her that whoever drinks of the water from the well will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water He will give him will never thirst. More than never thirsting again, the recipient of the water that Jesus gives will have that water in him as a well of water springing up into eternal life. Now convinced, the woman asks Him for this water so that she thirsts not and doesn’t have to come to the well anymore to draw, obviously thinking that this water is physical water. Christ then tells her to go, call her husband, and return. The woman replies that she has no husband, to which Christ says that she has said it well and truly, because she has had five husbands and now has a man who is not her husband. The woman responds by saying she perceives Him to be a prophet before talking about how her Samaritan ancestors worshipped in this mountain, while the Jews say that men ought to worship in Jerusalem. It is here where we come across our occurrence of “believe.” Jesus responds to her theological musing by telling her to believe Him before stating that the hour is coming when they will not worship the Father in the mountain or at Jerusalem. Since it is necessary to get the full context, we’ll dive into the next 3 verses after John 4:21. Christ continues by telling her that she and her people are worshipping what they do not know, while the Jews know what they worship, because salvation comes from the Jews. Going on, He says that the hour is coming, and is even happening right at this moment as He is talking with her, when the true worshippers will worship God the Father in spirit and in truth, because it is these people whom God is seeking to worship Him. He declares that God is a Spirit, [1] and that they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. This is the context of our passage this week!

Now, what can we learn about faith from this passage? Before giving the Samaritan woman the truth about the change of worship His coming will bring, He tells her to believe Him. In other words, He is telling her to receive what He says as true. [2] So, here we learn that believing Christ is something that we’ve been learning of so far in this study of this Gospel: receiving what Jesus says as true. This is what we learn about faith from John 4:21!

[1] Or, even more simply, God is Spirit, depending on what the most accurate way to translate the Greek is. [2] I remember hearing a commentator say something along the lines of that Christ is telling her to believe Him so she’ll be prepared to accept what He says, because it is so astounding that it is hard to believe. I could be getting that wrong, but I did read a commentator say something that was at least somewhat like I’ve said here in this footnote.