“Art thou greater
than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and
his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever
drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Jesus is
teaching the Samaritan woman something about wells... and spiritual life, a
lesson made harder to follow in the old KJV. Let’s deconstruct this verse to see if
we can find any gold nuggets of truth:
The first “drinketh” is in the present
participle expressing continuous action, and the second “drinketh” is in the
aorist subjunctive expressing simple punctiliar action, speaking of the fact of
the action at a point in time: “Whoever keeps on drinking of this water will
thirst again, but whoever takes a drink of the water that I shall give him will
never thirst.” The reason one drink of eternal life satisfies without repeated
drinking is given in the context by the two Greek words translated “well.” “Well”,
as in Jacob’s well, is from the Greek word phrear and means a pit dug in the
earth into which water seeps, and becomes stagnant and brackish. “Well”, as in
God’s well, is from the Greek word pege and means a perpetual spring, always
fresh, overflowing and alive.
Continual drinking from the wells of
this life in this world will never quench the soul’s thirst for heart satisfaction,
but one drink of eternal life satisfies forever. Just one drink of eternal
life... salvation, becomes, in and of itself, a supernatural spring, always
alive, refreshing and satisfying to the person in which it flows. But there’s more:
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me,
as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke
concerning the Spirit ...” The Holy Spirit is the well... the implanted eternal
spiritual fountain of God, the water that instantly and forever satisfies the
thirsting heart. And... God’s well is meant to be shared... it flows outward.
And “river” here is the Greek word potamos, a swollen overflowing torrent... a
flood, Saints are meant to be ready sources of Living Water... flooding
everything in their path...
Better translations,
such as the NKJV bring some of this out, but you won’t find the gold without
diligently digging...
“FLOODS OF LIVING WATER”
(Jn. 4:12-14, 7:37-39)
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