God is love John 4. Great Christian Library

When Jesus found out about the rumor that had reached the Pharisees, that He makes more disciples and baptizes than John, although Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples, He left Judea and went back to Galilee.

He had to pass through Samaria.

So he comes to the city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the plot of land given by Jacob to his son Joseph;

There was the well of Jacob. Jesus, being weary from the journey, sat down by the well; it was about six o'clock. A woman from Samaria comes to draw water. Jesus says to her: Give Me a drink.

For His disciples went to the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman says to Him how, being a Jew, do You ask me, Samaritan woman, to drink? for the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans.

First, let's establish the place of action of the events described in this passage. Palestine stretches from north to south for about 200 km. During the time of Jesus, this territory was divided into three parts. Galilee was to the north, Judea was to the south, and Samaria was in between. At this stage of His ministry, Jesus did not want to be involved in the baptismal controversy, and therefore He decided to leave Judea for a while and move His ministry to Galilee. There had been centuries of enmity between Jews and Samaritans, but the shortest route from Judea to Galilee was through Samaria, taking only three days. Another way - bypassing Samaria - lay through the Jordan along the eastern bank of the river, then again through the Jordan. This journey took twice as long. Jesus, if He wanted to come quickly to Galilee, had to go through Samaria.

On the way, Jesus and His disciples came to the city of Sychar, not far from which there is a fork: one road goes northeast to Scythopolis, the other goes west to Nablus and further to En-Ganim. At the fork in the road stands the well-known well of Jacob to this day.

Many Jewish traditions and memories were associated with this place. There was a plot of land bought by Jacob (Gen. 33:18-19). Jacob, on his deathbed, bequeathed this land to Joseph (Gen. 48:22); and after the death of Joseph in Egypt, his body was returned to Palestine and buried on it (Josh. N. 24:32).

The well was over 30 meters deep. This is not a spring well - water seeps into it from the ground; it is obvious that without a rope it is impossible to draw water from it.

When Jesus and His little group came to the fork, Jesus, tired from the journey, sat down to rest. It was noon. The Jewish day began at 6 o'clock, and the sixth hour for the Jews is twelve o'clock in the afternoon, noon - that is, the heat itself. Jesus was tired from the journey and was thirsty. His disciples went ahead to buy food in a Samaritan city. Some changes must have already taken place with them: before meeting Jesus, it most likely would not have occurred to him to buy food in a Samaritan city. In their minds, little by little, perhaps even unconsciously, the barriers collapsed.

While Jesus was sitting there, a Samaritan woman came to the well. It remains a mystery why she needed to go there, because the well was at a distance of about one kilometer from Sychar, where she lived, and there must have been water. Maybe she was considered so immoral that the women drove her away from the village well and she had to go here for water. Jesus asked her for a drink; she turned around in surprise. “I am a Samaritan and You are a Jew,” she said, “how can You ask me for a drink?” And here John explains to the Greeks, for whom he, in fact, wrote the Gospel, that there were almost no contacts between the Jews and the Samaritans.

It is clear that this is only a summary of the conversation that took place. It is obvious that the meeting itself included much more than is outlined here. For an analogy, you can take the minutes of the meeting, in which only the most important of the issues discussed are noted. Apparently, the Samaritan woman poured out her whole soul to the stranger. After all, she had never met a person with such kind eyes, in which there was no expression of condemnation and superiority, and she opened her heart to Him. Much is said here about the character of Jesus.

1. Here is given real proof His human nature. Jesus was tired from the journey and sat down to rest at the edge of the well. It is noteworthy that it is John, who, like no other of the evangelists, emphasizes the divinity of Jesus, also emphasizes His human nature. John does not show us a figure free from fatigue and human effort, he shows us a person just like us, for whom life is the same tension as it is for us. Before us is a tired person who needs to move on.

2. His warm sympathy is shown here. A Samaritan woman would run in terror from an ordinary religious fanatic or an orthodox religious leader. She would avoid meeting such a person. Even if he spoke to her, which is extremely unlikely, she would meet him with bashful or even hostile silence. But talking to Jesus seemed to her the most common thing. She met a friend, not a critic, who didn't judge, but understood.

3. Here Jesus is shown as the destroyer of barriers. The enmity between Jews and Samaritans was an old, old thing. Around 720 BC, the Assyrians invaded the Northern Kingdom - Samaria, captured and subjugated it. They acted in the same way as all the conquerors did at that time - they took almost the entire population to Assyria (2 Kings 17:6), and other inhabitants were brought into this region from Babylon, Kuta, Abba, Hamath and Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17:24). But still it was impossible to take the whole people into slavery: some of the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom remained. They began to marry newly arrived foreigners and, thereby, committed an unforgivable sin for the Jews - they lost their racial purity. Even today, in a strict Jewish family, if a son or daughter is combined with marriage to a pagan, their symbolic funeral is held. Such a person is dead in the eyes of Orthodox Judaism. So, most of the inhabitants of Samaria were taken into slavery in Assyria. They never returned, but assimilated with the population of their new homeland; these are the lost tribes. And those who remained in the country mixed with the foreigners who came and lost the right to be called Jews.

Over time, the same invasion and the same defeat befell the southern kingdom with its capital Jerusalem. All the inhabitants were also taken to Babylon, but did not lose their national characteristics; they stubbornly and unfailingly remained Jews. In the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, the exiles, by the grace of the Persian kings, returned to Jerusalem. They first of all set themselves the task of restoring the Temple. The Samaritans came and offered their help in a sacred cause, but they were contemptuously told that their help was undesirable: they had lost their Jewish origin and lost the right to participate in the restoration of the Temple, the house of God. The Samaritans were terribly offended by this refusal and were very offended by the Jews from Jerusalem. All this happened about 450 B.C., but the enmity remained as burning even in the time of Jesus.

This enmity became especially bitter after the apostate Jew Manasseh married the daughter of the Samaritan Sanballat (Nehemiah 13:28) and began to build a second temple on Mount Gerizim, in the very center of Samaria. In the era of the Maccabees, in 129 BC, the Jewish leader and commander John Hyrcanus led an offensive against Samaria, captured and destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim. This further exacerbated the Samaritans' hatred of the Jews. The Jews contemptuously called the Samaritans Gutians, after the name of one of the peoples resettled there by the Assyrians. The Jewish rabbis had a saying: "Let no one eat the bread of the kuteans, for whoever eats their bread is like one who eats pork." In the book of Jesus, the son of Sirach, God says: “My soul abhors two peoples, and the third is not a people: these are the Philistines who sit on Mount Seir, and the stupid people who live in Shikimah” (Sir. 50:27-28). Shechem was one of the most famous Samaritan cities. The Samaritans responded to the Jews with hatred.

It is said that once Rabbi Johanan passed through Samaria, past Mount Gerizim on his way to Jerusalem to pray. The Samaritan asked him, "Where are you going?" “I am going to Jerusalem to pray,” Rabbi Johanan replied. “Wouldn’t it be better for you to pray on this holy mountain (Mount Gerizim) than in a cursed house?” said the Samaritan. As we have seen, pilgrims from Galilee to Jerusalem had to pass through Samaria if they wanted to take the shortest route, and the Samaritans took pleasure in interfering with their journey. The enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans was already more than 400 years old, but it was as intense and sharp as before. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Samaritan woman was amazed that Jesus spoke to her, the Samaritan woman.

4. But Jesus broke down barriers in yet another way. The Samaritan woman was a woman, and Orthodox rabbis forbade a rabbi in a public place to greet a woman. A rabbi could not even talk to his wife, daughter, or sister in a public place. There were even Pharisees who were called “the shell-shocked and bleeding Pharisee,” because when they saw a woman on the street, they closed their eyes and hit the walls of their houses! If a rabbi was seen talking to a woman in a public place, that was the end of his reputation. And Jesus spoke to this woman, and not just to a woman, but to a woman of ill repute. Even any decent man, let alone a rabbi, would not like to be seen in the company of such a woman, or even exchanging a word with her, and Jesus spoke to her.

For a Jew, this was an amazing story. But before us is the Son of God, tired and thirsty; before us is the most sinless of people, sympathetically listening to the sad story of a woman; before us is Jesus, destroying national barriers and barriers of Jewish customs. Here is the beginning of the universality of the Gospel, here He is God, so loving the world, not in theory, but in deed.

John 4:10-15 living water

Jesus said to her in response: if you knew the gift of God, and whoever says to you: Give Me a drink, then you yourself would ask Him, and He would give you living water.

The woman says to him: sir! You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where do you get living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, and his children, and his livestock? Jesus answered her and said, “Everyone water drinker this, he will thirst again;

And whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water springing up into eternal life.

The woman says to him: sir! give me this water so that I don't get thirsty and don't come here to draw.

It should be noted that this conversation with the Samaritan woman follows the same model as the conversation with Nicodemus. Jesus says something, His statement is misunderstood, Jesus repeats His thought in an even more metaphorical form, the woman still does not understand Him and then Jesus forces his interlocutor to reveal the truth and see it. This is how Jesus always taught, and this method was extremely effective, for, as someone said: “There are truths that a person cannot to accept; he must himself open them".

The woman, like Nicodemus, took the words of Jesus literally, when she should have taken them in a spiritual sense. Jesus spoke about alive water. In spoken language alive was water for the Jew flowing water, i.e. river water, as opposed to pond water. As we have already seen, this well was not a spring, water was collected in it, seeping out from the ground. In the understanding of the Jew, living, running water has always been better. And so the woman says: “You offer me pure river water, where will You get it?”

Then she speaks of "our father Jacob." The Jews, of course, would stubbornly deny that Jacob was the father of the Samaritans, but the Samaritans, among other things, claimed that they were descended from Joseph, the son of Jacob, through Ephraim and Manasseh. The woman is essentially saying to Jesus, “This is blasphemy. Jacob, our ancestor, when he came here, had to dig this well in order to have water for his family and for his livestock. Perhaps You claim that you will get fresh running river water? But then You claim that You are stronger and wiser than Jacob, and no one has the right to do so.”

Travelers used to carry a kind of leather bucket with them to draw water from wells along the way. There is no doubt that the disciples of Jesus had such a bucket, and they took this bucket with them to the city. Seeing that Jesus did not have such a leather bucket with him, the woman again said with feeling: “What are you talking about the water that you can give me when you don’t even have a bucket with which to draw water.” G. B. Tristan begins his book Oriental Customs in Bible Lands with an incident from his own life. He was sitting at the well near the inn, which is mentioned in the parable of the Good Samaritan. “An Arab woman came down from the hill to get water. She straightened her waterskin, a kind of goat-skin sack, unwound the rope, and tied it to a small leather pail she had brought with her. With the help of this bucket, she slowly filled the waterskin, tied the neck, took it on her shoulders, and the bucket in her hand, and began to climb the mountain.

I remembered the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well when I saw a sweaty and tired Arab climbing a steep path from Jericho, who turned to the well, knelt beside it and looked down wistfully. But he had nothing to draw, and the well was deep. He licked off with his tongue those drops of moisture that the woman who came in front of him splashed and went on. This is what the Samaritan woman was thinking when she said that Jesus had nothing to draw from the deep well.

But the Jews used the word water also in another sense. They often talked about what the soul experiences thirsty to God and to quench this thirst living water. Jesus did not use words that were bound to be misunderstood; the words He used were to be understood by every spiritually intuitive person. In Revelation, this promise sounds like this: “To the thirsty one I will give freely from the fountain of living water.” (Rev. 21:6).

The Lamb will lead them to living springs of water." (Rev. 7:17). In the prophet Isaiah, the promise to the chosen people is: “And in joy you will draw water from the fountains of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:3). And the psalmist spoke of his soul, which aspired to God, like a deer to streams of water. (Ps. 41:2). God promised: “I will pour water on the thirsty and streams on the dry” (Isaiah 44:3). He urged those who were thirsty to go to the waters and drink (Isaiah 55:1). God laments that the Israelites left His fountain of living water and hewed their cisterns broken (Jer. 2:13). The prophet Ezekiel also had a vision of a life-giving stream (Ezekiel 47:1-12). The prophet Zechariah saw that in the new world to come, a fountain would be opened to wash away sin and uncleanness (Zech. 13:1). And on that day living waters will flow from Jerusalem (Zech. 14:8).

Sometimes the rabbis identified living water with the wisdom of the law; sometimes even with the Holy Spirit of God. The whole figurative religious language of the Jews was full of this idea of ​​the thirst of the soul, which can only be quenched by living water, which is the gift of God. The woman took Jesus' statement literally. She was blinded because she didn't want to see.

But Jesus did something even more amazing when he offered the woman living water that would quench her thirst forever. And again, the woman took it literally, although, in essence, Jesus simply declared that He was the Messiah. The prophets in their visions of the coming age, the age of God, promised: "Let us not endure hunger and thirst" (Isaiah 49:10). These thirst-quenching springs were with God and He alone. "You have the source of life" (Ps. 35,-10). The river of life must flow from the very throne of God (Rev. 22:1). It is the Lord the source of living water (Jer. 17:13). In the year of the Messiah, “the ghost of the waters will turn into a lake, and the thirsty earth into a well of waters” (Isaiah 35:7). Speaking of water, which quenches thirst forever, Jesus directly stated that He is the Anointed of God and He brought a new age.

And again the woman did not understand, and perhaps this time she spoke a little mockingly, as if joking at a slightly touched person: “Give me this water,” she said, “so that I don’t have thirst and don’t come here to draw every day.” . She spoke somewhat contemptuously of things that did not pass away.

Underlying this whole conversation is a fundamental truth: there is a longing in the human heart for something that only Jesus Christ can satisfy. In one of his novels, the American writer Sinclair Lewis writes about a respected business man who once got into a conversation with his beloved. She tells him: “On the outside, we look completely different, but on the inside we are the same. We are both terribly unhappy for some reason, and we don't know why." Every person is oppressed by a vague unsatisfied desire: discontent, lack of something, some kind of dissatisfaction.

In Captain Sorel and His Son, Warwick Deeping records a conversation between Sorel and his son. The boy talks about life. In his view, life is groping for a path in a bewitching fog. For a moment, the fog clears, you see the moon or a girl's face, it seems to you that you want the moon or this face, then the fog thickens again and you are again looking for something by touch, without even knowing exactly what. The English Romantic poet William Wurdsworth says in his ode "A Hint of Immortality":

"These stubborn questions of the Meaning of the world around us Falling on us, disappearing, Empty forebodings of creation

Moving in the worlds of the unconscious."

Aurelius Augustine speaks of "our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee." Part of human problems is due to the fact that a person cannot find happiness in what his human nature gives him.

No one is spared the longing for eternity that God has placed in our souls. This thirst can only be quenched by Jesus Christ.

John 4:16-21 Realization of truth

Jesus says to her: go, call your husband and come here.

The woman said in response: I have no husband. Jesus says to her: You said the truth that you have no husband;

For you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; it's fair what you said.

The woman says to Him Lord! I see that you are a prophet;

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; but you say that the place where worship is to be is in Jerusalem.

Jesus says to her: Believe Me, the time is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

We have already seen how the Samaritan woman mockingly asked Jesus to give her living water so that she would not want to drink anymore and would not have to go to the well every day for water. But Jesus suddenly and sharply brought her to her senses. “Go,” He said, “Call your husband and come hither.” The woman froze as if she were seized by a sudden pain; she jumped back as if she had been hit by something, she turned pale, as if she had suddenly seen a ghost: yes, it was so, because she suddenly saw herself. She was suddenly forced to look at herself and saw the licentiousness, immorality and failure of her life. There are two revelations in Christianity - the revelation of God and our own revelation. A man does not see himself until he sees himself in the presence of Christ, and then he is horrified at the sight of himself. Another way to put it is that Christianity comes with the awareness of sin. It all starts with a sudden realization that you can’t live like this anymore. We wake up ourselves and the need for God wakes up in us.

As for the five husbands, some theologians believed that this was not a real case, but an allegory. We have seen that after the native population of Samaria was driven into slavery in Assyria, people from five other places were brought to Samaria, and these five peoples brought their five gods with them. (2 Kings 17:29). Some theologians believed that the woman symbolizes Samaria, and the five husbands are the five gods that the peoples with whom the Samaritans intermarried professed. The sixth husband symbolizes, in their opinion, the true God, Whom the Samaritans worship not truly, but out of their ignorance, and therefore did not enter into marriage with Him at all. Perhaps there is a reminder of this unbelief of the Samaritans towards God in the story, but the story is too vivid to be an allegory; it is too much like life.

Someone said that prophecy is criticism based on faith. The prophet points out shortcomings to a person or a nation, but he does not lead them to despair, but points out the path to healing, correction and a righteous life. Jesus began by revealing to this woman her sinful life, and then told her about a true reverence for God, through which our souls can meet Him.

The woman's question seems strange to us. She, apparently confused, says: “Our fathers worshiped on this Mount Gerizim, and you say that the place where worship should be is in Jerusalem. What should I do?" The Samaritans changed history to suit them. They taught that Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Gerizim; they taught that it was here that Abraham saw Melchizedek; they taught that it was on Mount Gerizim that the first altars and sacrifices were made when the people entered the promised land, when in reality it was on Mount Ebal (Deut. 27:4). They made unauthorized changes to the texts and to history in order to glorify Mount Gerizim. The Samaritan woman was raised to regard Mount Gerizim as the holiest place in the world and to despise Jerusalem. And to herself she thought this: “I am a sinner before God, I must bring Him a sin offering in order to restore with Him a good relationship; but where can I go and make a sacrifice?” In her view, as indeed in the view of all her contemporaries, the only panacea for sin was sacrifice. And she faced only one problem: where to bring this sacrifice? Now she no longer argues about the difference between worship in the temple on Mount Gerizim and in the Temple on Mount Zion. She only wants to know one thing: "Where can I find God?"

To this Jesus replies that the era of man-made human rivalry is coming to an end and that the time is coming when man will find God everywhere. Even the prophet Zephaniah saw that God "will be worshiped - each from his place" (Zoph. 2:11). And again: “in every place they will bring incense to my name, a pure sacrifice” (Mal. 1:11). Jesus answered the woman that in order to find God, you do not need to go anywhere specially - neither to Mount Gerizim, nor to Mount Zion. She does not need to sacrifice in any particular place: true worship of God will find Him everywhere.

John 4:22-26 Genuine worship of God

You do not know what you bow to, but we know what we bow to, for salvation is from the Jews,

But the time will come, and it has already come, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for such worshipers the Father seeks for Himself.

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.

The woman tells Him I know that the Messiah will come, that is, Christ, when He comes, He will announce everything to us

Jesus tells her it's me who's talking to you

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the old rivalry would soon come to an end and disputes over the advantages of Mount Gerizim or Mount Zion would become completely irrelevant and anyone who truly seeks God will find Him everywhere. For all that, Jesus emphasized that the Jews occupy absolutely special place in the plan and revelation of God.

The Samaritans worship God in ignorance, He said. This meant that the Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, and rejected all other books. They denied the greatness of the books of the prophets and the supreme piety of the psalms. Basically, their religion was small and limited because they had a small and limited Bible. They refused knowledge that was open to them and that they could master. The Jewish rabbis always accused the Samaritans of purely superstitious worship. true God. They said that the worship and worship of the Samaritans was not based on love and knowledge, but on ignorance and fear. As we have seen, the foreigners resettled in Samaria brought their gods with them. (2 Kings 17:29). We also know that a priest came and lived at Bethel and taught them how to honor the Lord (2 Kings 17, -28). But, most likely, these emigrants simply added Jehovah to the host of their gods, because they were superstitiously afraid to neglect him: after all, He was the God of the land in which they now lived, and this could bring trouble.

Three points can be noted in the false worship of God.

1. False worship is worship of a selective nature: chooses what he wants to know about God and discards the rest. The Samaritans took just as much from the Scriptures as they needed and did not pay any attention to the rest. One of the most dangerous things in the world is a one-sided religion. It is easy for a man to accept parts of the truth of God that are convenient for him and adhere to them, while the rest are not taken into account at all. We see how some thinkers, church leaders and politicians justify apartheid and racial segregation, referring to certain sections of Scripture, while quietly forgetting those parts of Scripture that forbid it.

One priest of a large city organized a collection of signatures in defense of a man sentenced for some kind of crime. He believed that in this case Christian mercy must be shown. The telephone rang and a woman's voice said on the receiver: "I am surprised that you, a priest, put your signature under this petition for pardon." "Why does this surprise you?" he asked. "I assume you know your Bible?" “I suppose so too.” "Then," said the voice, "don't you know what the Bible says, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?" This woman took from the Bible what suited her, but “forgotten” the great teaching of Jesus about mercy.

Although no one can comprehend the whole truth, we should strive to do so, and not snatch the passages from the Bible that suit us at the moment.

2. False worship is ignorant worship in worship. In worship to God, the whole person should draw near. He has a mind and he must use it. Faith can start with an emotional impulse, but at some point we have to think through this emotional impulse. E. F. Scott said that religion is not the result of thinking, and yet most religious errors are solely the result of mental laziness. Already in itself a sin not to think things through to the end. And faith is firm only when a person can not only say what he believes, but also why he believes. Faith is hope, hope, behind which there is awareness and confidence. (1 Pet. 3:15).

3. False worship is superstitious worship. Such worship is not the result of need or sincere desire, but the result of fear, the desire to avoid danger. Many are terribly frightened if a black cat crosses their path; many gladly raise a horseshoe in anticipation of good luck; many people are scared to death by number 13. They may not believe in prejudice, but they think that there might still be something in it, and they don’t want to “try fate”. The religion of many people is based on a vague fear that something might happen if they disregard God. But faith is based not on fear, but on love for God and gratitude for what God has done for us. A good part of religion is a kind of superstitious ritual designed to avert the possible wrath of the gods, from whom everything can be expected.

Jesus explains what true worship is. God, He says, is Spirit. A person immediately understands this, for him everything is illuminated with a bright light: God has nothing to do with material things and therefore the worship of idols is not only inappropriate, but an insult to the very nature of God. If God is Spirit, He is not associated with any places, and therefore to confine worship and worship to Jerusalem, or any other place, is to set limits on Him who by His nature is infinite. If God is a Spirit, then gifts to God must also be gifts of the Spirit. Animal sacrifices and everything man-made becomes completely inappropriate. Only the gifts of the spirit — love, fidelity, obedience — are pleasing to God.

Spirit is the highest in man; this part of a person remains even when his physical part disappears. This part of a person sees dreams and visions, dreams are born in it, which, due to the weakness and imperfection of the body, can never be fulfilled. It is the spirit of man that is the source of his highest thoughts and aspirations, ideals and desires.

Genuine worship is that in which a person achieves friendship and intimacy with God through his spirit. True worship is not visiting certain places or passing through certain rituals and ceremonies or offering certain gifts. True worship is when the spirit, the immortal and invisible part of a person, speaks and meets with God, the Immortal and Invisible.

The passage ends with a grandiose statement. A breathtaking vision opened before the woman; it was something miraculous and beyond her comprehension. She could only say: "When the Messiah, that is, Christ, comes, he will proclaim everything to us." Jesus said to her, "It is I who am talking to you." Jesus seemed to say: “This is not a dream about the truth, this is there is truth itself."

John 4:27-30 Secret accomplices

At this time, His disciples came and were surprised that He was talking to a woman; but not one of them said, “What do you require?” or: “What are you talking about with her?”

Then the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city, and said to the people:

Go see the Man Who told me all the things I did: Isn't He the Christ? They left the city and went to Him.

No wonder the disciples were astonished and embarrassed when they returned from the foraging in the city of Sychar and saw Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman. We have already considered the attitude of the Jews towards women. The rabbis had a rule: "Don't talk to a woman in the street, not even to your own wife." The rabbis so despised women and considered them so incapable of learning any real doctrine that they said, "It is better to burn the words of the law than to give them to a woman." They even had a proverb: "Whenever talking to a woman, a man harms himself, departs from the law, and, ultimately, inherits hell." In the eyes of the rabbis, Jesus could hardly have done anything more amazing and unusual than talking to this woman. And here Jesus is breaking down barriers.

We note an interesting point that can only characterize those who deeply delve into what is happening. No matter how dumbfounded the disciples were, it never occurred to them to ask the woman what she needed or Jesus why He was talking to her. They began to understand Him, and they already understood that no matter how strange His actions seemed to them, questions should not be asked. A man takes a big step in his discipleship when he realizes, “It is not for me to ask questions about the actions and demands of Jesus. My prejudices and my habits are no match for them.”

Meanwhile, the woman was walking without her water carrier back to the village. The fact that she left her water pot shows that she was in a great hurry to tell people about her unusual experience and that she thought she would definitely go back. Her behavior tells us much about the Christian experience.

1. Her experience began with her being forced to look at herself and see herself as she really was. The same thing happened to Peter when, after catching a lot of fish, he suddenly realized something about the greatness of Jesus; he could only say, “Get out of me, Lord! because I am a sinful person" (Luke 5:8). Our Christian experience can often begin with an attack of self-loathing. A person usually looks at himself last of all, but Christ begins precisely by making a person see himself - that is, to do what he refused all his life.

2. The Samaritan woman was amazed and surprised by Christ's ability to see the essence, His intimate knowledge of the human heart in general. In particular, the psalmist also felt reverence at this thought: “You understand my thoughts from afar… There is not yet a word in my tongue—You, Lord, already know it completely.” (Ps. 139:2-4). One little girl, having listened to a sermon by a famous preacher, asked her mother: “Mom, how does he know what is happening at our house?” No veil or disguise can save Jesus from the gaze of Jesus: He can see into the depths of the human heart. But He sees there not only bad things. He sees in the heart of every person and a dormant hero. He, as a surgeon, sees not only a diseased organ, but also the health that a person will gain after a malignant tumor is removed.

4. This desire to tell others about her discovery suppressed the feeling of shame in the Samaritan woman. She was undoubtedly a pariah, an outcast, a talk of the town; the very fact that she took water from this remote well shows how she avoided her neighbors and how they avoided her. And now she was running to tell them of her discovery. A person sometimes has a misfortune or illness that he does not want to talk about and which he hides, but when he solves his misfortune, or is cured of his illness, he is so glad and grateful that he tells everyone about it. A person can hide his sins for a long time, but, having discovered Jesus Christ as the Savior, he first of all wants to say to people: “Look what I was and what I am now - this is what Christ did with me.”

John 4:31-34 The best food

Meanwhile the disciples asked Him, saying: Rabbi! eat.

But He told them, I have food that you don't know.

Wherefore the disciples said among themselves, Who brought him food?

Jesus tells them. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.

And this conversation is built on a typical model for the fourth gospel. Jesus says something that His interlocutors misunderstand. He speaks words filled with spiritual meaning, and He is taken literally. After that, he unfolds the meaning of what was said before the interlocutors until it becomes accessible and understandable. The same was true when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about being born again and to the Samaritan woman about water.

By this time the disciples had returned with food and invited Jesus to eat. He was very tired and exhausted when they left, and now they were puzzled that He didn't seem to want to eat anything they brought. It is interesting to see how an important matter makes a person forget his physical needs. The Negro liberation fighter Wilberforce was a small, inconspicuous, sickly creature. When he went up to the podium to address the English House of Commons, many smiled at first, seeing this strange little figure, but, feeling the fire and strength coming from him, they began to fill all the benches. They said: "A small gudgeon will turn into a whale." His ideas, his tasks, the flame of truth and the strength of his spirit triumphed over his physical weakness. The founder of the Church of Scotland, John Knox, already old and decrepit, delivered sermons: he had to be lifted in his arms and supported over the church pulpit, but when he began a sermon, his voice regained its former strength and sounded like a battle trumpet; it seemed that "he would smash the pulpit to pieces and jump out of it." His message, which he carried to the people, filled him with supernatural power.

Jesus answered the disciples that He had food that they knew nothing about. In their simplicity, the disciples asked if anyone had brought Him something to eat? Then Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."

The great theme of the life of Jesus is the submission of His life to the will of God. The originality and uniqueness of His life lies in the fact that only He was and will be absolutely obedient to the will of God. It can truly be said that in all the world only Jesus never did anything according to His will, but everything only according to the will of God.

He is the Messenger of God. The fourth gospel tells again and again that Jesus was sent God. This word is rendered in the original Greek in two words: apostleine, used seventeen times, and pempein, used twenty-seven times. In other words, the fourth gospel no less than forty-four times tells us or shows us Jesus saying that he was sent by God.

When Jesus came into this world, He spoke again and again about the work He had been commissioned to do. AT John. 5.36 Jesus talks about the works the Father gave Him to do. AT John. 17.4 Jesus says that He completed the work that God gave Him to do. When Jesus spoke about having the power to lay down His life and having the power to take it again, He said, “This commandment I have received from my Father.” (John 10:18). He keeps talking like here, oh the will of God.“I came down from heaven,” He says, “not to do My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.” (John 6:38)."I always do what pleases Him" (John 8:29). AT John.

14,23 Jesus declares from His personal experience and by His example that there is only one proof of love, and that is keeping the word of the one one loves.

This obedience of Jesus was not such that it flared up and died out. Not like ours. It was the very essence, core and driving force His life. He really wants us to be like Him.

1. Doing the will of God is the only way to peace. We cannot have peace and quiet when we are at odds with the King of the universe.

2. Doing the will of God is the only way to happiness. We will never find happiness if we set our human ignorance against the wisdom of God.

3. Doing the will of God is the only way to gain strength. When we go our own way, we can only rely on our own strength, and therefore ruin is inevitable for us. When we walk the path of God, we walk in His strength, and therefore, victory is guaranteed to us.

John 4:35-38 Sower, reaper and reapers

Don't you say that four more months and the harvest will come? But I say to you: lift up your eyes and look at the fields, how they have turned white and ripened for the harvest.

He who reaps receives a reward and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that both he who sows and he who reaps will rejoice together;

For in this case the saying is true: "one sows, and the other reaps."

I sent you to reap what you did not labor for; others labored, but you entered into their labor.

The incident in Samaria gave Jesus reason to say that it was time to harvest for God. When He says, “Four more months, and the harvest will come,” one should not think that He is referring to the actual season in Samaria, for then the incident at the well should have happened in January, when there is no exhausting heat and lack of water. Then there would be no need to go to the well for water: it would be a rainy season and there would be a lot of water everywhere.

It's just Jesus giving a proverb. The Jews divided the agricultural year into six parts, each with two months - sowing, winter, spring, harvest, summer, and the heat season. Jesus said, "You have a saying that once you have sown seeds, you have to wait at least four months before you can hope to start reaping." And looked around. Sychar is located in the center of an area known even today for its fertility. In rocky mountainous Palestine, little suitable for Agriculture earth. Almost nowhere else in Palestine can one look around and see the swaying fields of golden bread. Jesus looked around and looked around. “Look,” He said, “the fields, how they have turned white and ripe for harvest. They need to grow for four months, but in Samaria the harvest is ready for harvest right now.”

In this case, Jesus meant the opposite of nature, the grace of God. Usually people sow and wait, but in Samaria everything happened with such divine surprise: the word was sown and the harvest was immediately ready. In connection with the white fields and the ready harvest, a very interesting proposal was made by the English writer Morton. He himself once sat at Jacob's well and saw how people left the village and began to climb the hill. They walked in small groups. They were wearing white clothes and these white clothes stood out against the background of the fields and the sky. Maybe just when Jesus was saying this, people began to flock to Him in response to the story and call of the Samaritan woman. Maybe just as they were walking through the fields in their white robes, Jesus said, “Look at these fields! Take a look at them now! They are white and ready for harvest!” The white-clad crowd was the harvest He wanted to gather for God.

Jesus shows His disciples that the incredible thing happened: the sower and the reaper could celebrate and rejoice at the same time. Something happened that no one could have expected: for the Jew, the sowing was a difficult and sad time, it was possible to rejoice only during the harvest. “Those who sow with tears will reap with joy. With weeping, he who bears the seeds will return with joy, bearing his sheaves. (Ps. 125:5.6).

But there is something else underneath. The Jews dreamed of a golden age, of the coming age, of the age of God, when the world would become God's world, when sin and sorrow would be done away with, and God would reign over everything. The prophet Amos has this picture: “Behold, the days will come, says the Lord, when the plowman will find another reaper, and the trampler of grapes will find a sower” (Amos 9:13).“And the threshing of bread will reach your harvesting of grapes, the harvesting of grapes will reach the sowing” (Lev. 26:5). The Jews dreamed of this golden age, when sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting would follow each other in direct succession. The fertility of the earth will be such that it will no longer be necessary to wait.

This shows that Jesus definitely indicates that with His coming the golden age begins; the time of God is coming when the word is spoken, the seed is sown, and the harvest is already ripe.

But there was one more thing, and Jesus pointed it out: “There is another proverb,” He said, “and it also has its own truth – one sows, and the other reaps the fruit.” And He sets out two meanings of this proverb. a) He tells the disciples that they will reap the harvest they have not worked on. He means by this that this He will sow a seed, and first of all on the Cross, there will be a seed of the love and power of God, and that the time will come when His disciples will go out into the world to reap the harvest that He has sown by His life and death.

b) He tells the disciples that the time will come when they will sow, and others will reap the harvest. There will be a time when Christian church will send his evangelists, itinerant preachers into the world. They will never see the harvest: some of them will die as martyrs, but the blood of the martyrs will be the seed of the Church. He seems to be saying to them: “Someday you will work and you will not see the fruits of your labors; you will sow and you will leave the scene before the harvest is taken away. But never be afraid! Don't be discouraged! The sowing is not in vain; seeds are not wasted! Others will see the harvest that you will not be able to see.”

Thus, two things are noted in this passage.

1. One side it is an indication of possibility. The harvest is coming to be reaped for God. There are times in history when people are especially interested and especially receptive towards God. What a tragedy it would be if at such a time the Church of Christ would be unable to reap the harvest of the Lord!

2. On the other hand, this indication of the requirements for people. Many are destined to sow, but not destined to harvest. Many preachers achieve success not because of their strength and their virtues, but because another preacher lived before them, who had a greater influence on subsequent generations than on his own. Many are destined to work and not see the fruits of their labors. One day I was taken to a manor famous for its rhododendrons. The owner was very fond of his plantation and knew the names of all varieties. He showed me seedlings that were supposed to bloom in twenty-five years. He himself was seventy-five years old and he obviously did not expect to see their beauty, but someone the other can see it. Not one word or any work for the sake of Christ is wasted. If we cannot see the fruits of our work, others will. Christians should never despair.

John 4:39-42 Savior and Peace

And many Samaritans from that city believed in Him at the word of the woman who testified that He had told her all that she had done.

And therefore, when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there for two days.

And a greater number believed at His word,

And that woman was no longer told by your words, we believe, for they themselves heard and knew that He is truly the Savior of the world, Christ

The example of the events in Samaria shows how the good news is spreading. Three stages in the spread of the faith among the Samaritans can be noted.

1. Acquaintance. The woman introduced the Samaritans to Jesus. It is clear here that God cares for us.

Paul said, "How can you hear without a preacher?" (Rom. 10:14). The Word of God must be passed from person to person. God cannot convey His message to those who have never heard it if there is no one else who can convey it.

He has no hands but ours

To do His work today;

He has no legs but ours,

To lead people in His way,

To tell people how He died;

He has no other help than ours,

To bring them to His side.

We have a great responsibility and at the same time we have been given the greatest privilege - to bring people to Christ. This acquaintance can take place only through a person who introduces us to Him.

This acquaintance is based on the power of personal testimony. The Samaritan woman called, "Come, see what He has done to me and for me." She introduced her neighbors not to theory, but to a miraculous and all-changing power. The Church will spread until the kingdoms of the earth become the Kingdoms of the Lord, and all people - men and women - having felt the power and authority of Christ on themselves, will pass on their feelings and their experience to others.

2. This acquaintance develops into a close acquaintance and best knowledge. When the Samaritans became acquainted with Jesus, they began to seek fellowship with Him; they asked Him to stay with them to get to know Him better. A person must be introduced to Christ, but he himself must live in His presence. A person cannot worry about another; people can lead us into friendship with Christ, but we ourselves must seek and maintain this friendship.

3. This is followed by insights and total surrender. The Samaritans saw in Christ the Savior of the world. It is unlikely that they themselves would put it that way. Many years later, when John wrote the Gospel, he expressed it in his own words, which convey his many years of thoughts about Jesus Christ. This grandiose title we meet only in the Gospel of John and in 1 John. 4.14. To John, this title of Jesus Christ seemed especially important.

But he didn't invent it. AT Old Testament God is often referred to as the God of Salvation, the Savior, the saving God. This title was also held by many Greek gods. In the era when John wrote the Gospel, the title Savior of the World was given to the Roman emperor. The Evangelist John seems to be saying: "Everything you dreamed about came true in Jesus."

We must remember this title well. Jesus is not prophet, who came into the world with a message from God; not subtle psychologist, possessed the supernatural ability to read people's minds. In fellowship with the Samaritan woman, He showed this ability, but not only this. Jesus not only example, sample. Jesus came into the world not only to show people how they should live. And a great example can even be hard and frustrating if we don't have the strength to follow it.

Jesus really Savior. He freed people from the terrible and hopeless state they were in. He broke the chains that bound them to the past and gave them the strength to face the future. The Samaritan woman is indeed a great example of His saving power. The city she lived in stigmatized her and she would gradually come to terms with the fact that a decent lifestyle was not for her. But Jesus came and saved her; He gave her the ability to break with the past and opened up a new future for her. Only one name can properly describe Jesus, He is the Savior of the World.

John 4:43-45 Irrefutable Argument

And after two days He went out from there and went to Galilee; For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

When He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, seeing all that He did in Jerusalem on the feast, for they went to the feast.

All three synoptic gospels include Jesus saying that "no prophet is accepted in his own country" (Mark 6:4; Matt. 13:57; Luke 4:24). It was a saying with the meaning "familiarity breeds contempt" and it is given here in a very unexpected place. In other Gospels, it is given in the place where it is said that Jesus was turned away by his fellow villagers in Nazareth, and John brings her in connection with the fact that Jesus was accepted.

Maybe John is citing the thoughts of Jesus. We have already seen that Jesus left Judea for Galilee to escape the friction that his rise in popularity brought with it, although the conflict had not yet taken place. (John 4:1-4). It may well be that this amazing success in Samaria surprised Jesus Himself, in His words about the harvest sounds astonishment. It is possible that Jesus went to Galilee hoping to find rest and rest there, not hoping that the people of His own country would listen to Him. But it is quite possible that the same thing happened in Galilee as in Samaria, and His teaching received a great response. We can either explain this statement in this way, or we must say that it fell into the wrong place.

Be that as it may, this passage and the passage that preceded it give us undeniable evidence of Christ. The Samaritans did not believe in Jesus by hearsay; they themselves heard words from Him that they had never heard before. And the Galileans believed in Him, not because someone told them about Jesus, but because they themselves saw His works in Jerusalem, which they had never seen before. His words and His deeds were irrefutable arguments.

And this is one of the greatest truths Christian life. In favor of Christianity there is only one irrefutable argument - the personal experience of the Christian life. Sometimes you have to prove a lot to people in order to shake the intellectual fortresses and towers they have erected. But it is most useful to give only one convincing argument: “I know what Jesus is like and what He can do. I can only advise you to try turning to Him yourself and you will see what happens.”

And here again we have a huge personal responsibility: no one will even think of repeating our experience if our behavior is not proof of its value. It makes little sense to tell people that Jesus will bring them joy, peace, and strength when our lives are gloomy, full of worries and failures. People will be convinced of the need to try to repeat our experience only if they see that it brought us an excellent result.

John 4:46-54 Faith of the courtier

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where he turned the water into wine. There was a certain courtier in Capernaum whose son was ill.

When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he came to Him and asked Him to come and heal his son, who was about to die.

Jesus said to him, You will not believe unless you see signs and wonders.

The courtier says to Him: Lord! come before my son dies. Jesus says to him: go, your son is healthy. He believed the word that Jesus told him and went. His servants met him on the road and said: Your son is well.

He asked them: at what time did he feel better? They told him: yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.

From this the father knew that this was the hour in which Jesus said to him: Your son is well. And he himself and all his house believed.

This second miracle was performed by Jesus when he returned from Judea to Galilee.

Many commentators believe that this is just another version of the story of the cure of the centurion's servant, given in Mat. 8.5-13 and Onion. 7:1-10. This may be true, but there are differences in it that allow us to consider this story as completely independent. Some aspects of the behavior of a courtier can serve as an example for everyone.

1. This courtier came to the carpenter. In the original Greek for the word courtier used basilicos, which can mean that it was a petty or subordinate king; but this word also designates royal dignitaries, and he must have occupied a high position in the court of King Herod. Jesus was just a village carpenter from Nazareth. Moreover, Jesus was at that time in Cana, and this courtier lived in Capernaum more than thirty kilometers away. That is why it is explained that the way back took so long.

It is difficult to imagine this scene - the courtier is in a hurry for more than thirty kilometers to ask for the mercy of the village carpenter. First of all, this courtier had to suppress all pride in himself. He was in dire need, and neither convention nor custom stopped him from turning to Christ with his need. His actions would obviously spark conversations, but he didn't care what people would say, as long as he got what he needed. And we, when we need the help of Christ, must be humble enough to forget our pride and pay no attention to people's conversations.

2. This the courtier was not easily discouraged. Jesus met him with a seemingly not very pleasant statement that people are ready to believe only after seeing signs and wonders. It is possible that Jesus addressed these words not so much to the courtier himself, but to the crowd that must have gathered on the occasion of such an unusual occurrence. They must have been standing there with their mouths open, waiting for what would happen next. But Jesus generally had a habit of finding out how seriously a person took Him and his request. We see this in the example of the Canaanite woman. (Matt. 15:22-28). If a person turned away resentfully and irritably, if he were too proud to listen to a rebuke, if he immediately retreated, Jesus would know that he did not truly believe. Only a person who seriously believes can count on the help of Christ.

3. This courtier had Vera. It may have been difficult for him to turn around and go home with only a verbal assurance that his son would live. Now people know about telepathy and thought transmission at a distance and can say that this miracle was performed at a distance. But not so to the courtier. It was not easy for him to believe. And yet, his faith was enough to turn around and walk those thirty kilometers with nothing but the verbal assurance of Jesus for consolation.

The essence of faith is that we must believe that everything Jesus said is true. How often we are overwhelmed by the unclear, but desire so that the promises and promises of Jesus would be true. But the only way to truly enter into these promises is to believe in them with the strength of a drowning man. What Jesus said should not be seen as something that "maybe to be true, but how about that "must be true."

4. This courtier obeyed. He was not one of those who, having received what they need from Jesus, leave, forgetting about everything. And the courtier himself and all his household believed. It must have been difficult for him, because the idea of ​​Jesus as the Anointed of God went against all his previous ideas. It was also not easy at the court of King Herod to openly admit his faith in Jesus: he probably had to endure ridicule and mockery, and some probably thought that he was a little crazy.

But this courtier looked the facts in the face and accepted them as they were: he saw what Jesus could do, he himself felt and experienced it, and he had only to obey and believe. It all began with a feeling of hopeless need, that need was met, and that feeling of need turned into irresistible love: this is the true way of the Christian life.

Most scholars of the New Testament believe that at this point the arrangement of the chapters in the fourth Gospel is violated. They believe that chapter 6 must precede a chapter 5 and here's why chapter 4 ends with the sojourn of Jesus in Galilee. Start chapter 7 makes one think that Jesus had just come to Galilee after the enmity he had met in Jerusalem. It becomes difficult to trace the passages from Galilee to Jerusalem and back. Chapter 4 (4.54) ends with the words: "This second miracle was performed by Jesus when he returned from Judea to Galilee" (John 4:54), a chapter 6 begins with the words: “After this, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of ​​Galilee, in the vicinity of Tiberias,” which can be considered as a normal continuation chapter 4.

AT chapter 5 Jesus' visit to Jerusalem on the occasion of the feast is shown, where He clashed with the Jewish authorities. It says: “And the Jews began to persecute Jesus, and sought to kill him (5.16). Chapter 7 begins with the words: “After this, Jesus walked around Galilee, because he did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews were looking to kill Him” (7,1). We are not changing the established order here, but we must remember that events unfold more simply and more naturally if we consider chapter 6 before chapter 5.

1 John 4:16

And we have come to know the love that God has for us, and we have believed [into her]. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Bible. dilapidated and New testaments. Synodal translation. bible encyclopedia. . arch. Nicephorus. 1891 .

See what "First John 4:16" is in other dictionaries:

The first epistle of John, the full title is "The First Catholic Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian" is a book of the New Testament. The Epistle of James, Jude, the two epistles of Peter and the three Johns are called conciliar epistles, since they, unlike the epistles ... ... Wikipedia

“What we have seen and heard we proclaim.” God is light; walk in the light; if we confess our sins, He is just, He will forgive...

About what was from the beginning, what we heard, what we saw with our eyes, what we looked at and [what] our hands touched, about the Word of life, Luke 1:2 Luke 24:39 John 1:1, John 1 :fourteen … Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.

If we say that we have not sinned, then we present Him as a lie, and His word is not in us ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.

For life has come, and we have seen, and testify, and proclaim to you this eternal life which was with the Father and appeared to us, John 1:1, John 1:4 ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.

Of what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you, that you also may have fellowship with us: but our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. John 15:10 1 Corinthians 1:9 ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.

And we write this to you so that your joy may be complete... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.

And this is the message that we have heard from Him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. John 8:12 ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.

If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we are lying and not walking in truth; 2 Cor. 6:14 Eph. 5:11 ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 Pet. 1:19 Heb. 9:14 Rev. 1:5 ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 Kings 8:46 Prov. 20:9 Ecc. 7:20 ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.

Books

• Complete collection of works of John Chrysostom. Book 1 (volume 7-9), book 2 (volume 10-12), John Chrysostom. The set includes volumes 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12…
• The first conciliar epistle of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, N. Sagard. Reprint edition using print-on-demand technology from the original of 1903. Reproduced in the original author's spelling of the edition of 1903 (Poltava publishing house).…

But if [John] truly says that God is love, then it is necessary that the devil be hatred. So, just as one who loves has God, so one who has hatred nourishes the devil in himself.

Ascetic word: prologue.

Shmch. Dionysius the Areopagite

and we have come to know the love which God has for us, and have believed in it. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him

Why, after all, do theologians sometimes prefer to call Him [God] Love Desire [έρωτα] and Love [άγάπην], and sometimes Desired and Beloved [έραστόν και άγαπητόν]? Because He is the cause of one, so to speak, the producer and begetter, while He is the other.

About the names of God.

Shmch. Cyprian of Carthage

and we have come to know the love which God has for us, and have believed in it. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him

Those who do not want to be united in spirit in the Church of God cannot be with God.

On the Unity of the Catholic Church.

Rev. John Cassian

and we have come to know the love which God has for us, and have believed in it. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him

The virtue of love is so exalted that the blessed apostle John calls it not only a gift of God, but also God, saying: God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Interviews.

Rev. Maxim the Confessor

and we have come to know the love which God has for us, and have believed in it. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him

Many have said a lot about love, but you will find it among some of the disciples of Christ, if you look; for they alone had true love as the teacher of love, of which it is said: if the imam is a prophecy, and we know all the secrets, and the whole mind, but I do not love the imam: there is no use for me(1 Cor. 13:2-3) . He who has acquired love has acquired God Himself; for God is love.

Chapters on love.

Rev. Justin (Popovich)

and we know and believe the love that God has for us. There is a God of Luba, and abide in love, abides in God, and God abides in him

We have come to know the love of God through Christ the Savior. Before that, we did not know unfalse, true and true love. Only with the Savior have we learned that righteous love consists in saving people from sin, death, and the devil. Before Christ, there were legends and stories about the love of God. But in reality, through Him (Christ) true love entered our human world for the first time. We have known true love and believed in it. After all, who else could we believe, miserable slaves of death, sin and the devil, if not the One who freed us from the tripartite, all-destroying and all-killing power of sin, death and the devil? The Savior showed us that God is Love, and only through love and in love He abides in a person and saves him from death, sin and the devil, and thus gives him the strength to live in love, according to the commandments of God. Before the advent of the God-man Christ and the salvation that He brought into the world, it was impossible to point out and prove that God is Love. Now everyone can explore and prove this truth with their personal experience, their personal life. God abides in man in love and saves him in love. Likewise, a person in love abides in God and is saved in love.

The holy evangelist John presents here the greatest and most accurate gospel of the New Testament: God is Love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Commentary on the First Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian.

Blzh. Augustine

and we have come to know the love which God has for us, and have believed in it. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him

The Holy Spirit, whatever He may be, is something common to the Father and the Son, and this common thing itself is consubstantial and co-eternal. And if you want it to be called friendship, let it be called that, but it is more appropriate to call it love. And it is also the essence, for God is the essence, and God is love.

When our consideration came to love, which in the Holy Scriptures is called God, then the Trinity began to appear little by little, namely the Trinity of the Loving, the Beloved and Love.

About the Trinity.

Blzh. Theophylact of Bulgaria

and we have come to know the love which God has for us, and have believed in it. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him

Ishodad of Merv

and we have come to know the love which God has for us, and have believed in it. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him

We've never seen Scripture say that about God. We will give the word its due and proper meaning. For [John] calls God love, so that we may seek Him Who is love, and from Whom came the word of the commandment of love.

Commentary on the book

Section comment

The language, style and thought of the epistle are so close to the fourth gospel that it is difficult to doubt that they belong to the same author. Tradition, which can be traced back to the 2nd century, definitely considers him an and ev. John the Evangelist (see introduction to John). The earliest quotation from 1 Jn is from 115 (St. Polycarp, Philippians 7). Papias, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and other writers of the 2nd-3rd centuries refer to it as a work of St. John. The expressions in 1 John 2:7 show that 1 John was composed many years after the gospel events. The most likely date for the message is the 90s of the 1st century. It was written in Ephesus, where the apostle John spent last years his life (Eusebius, Church. History, III, 31; V, 24; Irenaeus. Against heresies, II, 22, 5; III, 1, 1). According to a number of interpreters, all three John's epistles appeared somewhat earlier than the IV Gospel.

In 1 Ying there are points of contact with Essene (Qumran) literature (a sharp opposition of two worlds: light and darkness, truth and falsehood, God and the “world”, the call to “test the spirits”, “walk in truth”). This may be because the apostle's first mentor was John the Baptist, who is believed to have been associated with the Essenes (see Luke 1:80). There is a certain similarity between 1 Jn and the letters of St. Peter and Jude. All of them were written during the years of spiritual crisis in order to warn the Church against the influence of schismatics and false teachers who introduced ideas alien to Christianity. Who these sectarians and heretics were is unknown. Most likely, we are talking about the predecessors of Gnosticism (which appeared at the end of the 1st century). Some of them believed that the flesh of Christ and in general His human nature were illusory (Docetism). Others tried to tear the Church away from its historical roots, from the unique event of the Incarnation, to turn the Gospel into an abstract and contemplative-mystical doctrine. From their point of view, Christ was not a God-man, but only a prophet, upon whom the Spirit of God descended at the moment of baptism. The sectarians ignored the moral precepts of the Gospel, believing that it is enough for a person to “know God” through self-deepening. One of these heretics was Cerinthus, a preacher from Asia Minor, against whom, according to tradition, Saint John fought. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, III; 3; II, 7; Eusebius, Church History, III, 28; Epiphanius, Against Heresies, 28, 6).

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15-16 The inseparable connection between the confession of faith in Christ and love for neighbors, about which the apostle already spoke ( 3:23 ), is now affirmed with special force, since our very communion with God is brought into causal dependence on the confession of the divinity of Jesus Christ and His saving work (v. 15), and, of course, works of love accompanying faith are necessarily assumed (cf. Art. 12). Art. 16 summarizes the content of the previous verses with Art. 7-8, and the main point of the whole speech of the apostle is repeated: “God is love” (cf. Art. eight). Summing up what has been said about the essence and origin of Christian love, the apostle at the same time gives here a point of support for further revealing the true essence of love.

The first epistle of St. the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian does not have the name of the writer either in the title or in the text, only in the first verses of the epistle the writer indirectly makes himself known as a witness and eyewitness to the events of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ ( 1:1-3 ). Nevertheless, the idea of ​​the origin of the epistle from the pen of the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian is a firm conviction of the Church. Blessed Theophylact after St. Athanasius the Great("Synopsis") says: " The same John who wrote the gospel also wrote this epistle in order to strengthen those who had already believed in the Lord. And both in the Gospel and in the present epistle, first of all, he theologizes about the Word, shows that it is always in God, and teaches that the Father is light, so that we also know from here that the Word is, as it were, a reflection of Him.". All Christian antiquity unanimously recognized this epistle as the writing of the apostle and evangelist John: according to Eusebius, “ from the epistles of John, besides the Gospel, both modern and ancient Christians recognize, without any dispute, his first epistle» ( church history III, 24). Already St. Polycarp of Smyrna, an apostolic man, a disciple of the apostle John (Sent to Philp, ch. VII) cites one place (1 John 4:3 ) from the first epistle of St. John. Such an old man Papias Hieropile, according to Eusebius ( church history III, 39), used the first epistle of John, as well as the first epistle of St. Peter. And St. Irenaeus of Lyon, according to Eusebius ( church history V, 8), in his essay Against Heresies, he cites many testimonies from the first epistle of St. John (it is in book III, 15, 5 that he cites 1 John 2:18-22, and in III, 15, 8 - 1 John 4:1-3; 5:1 ). The testimony of these three ancient men, adjoining in time directly to the apostolic age, is especially important, confirming the original faith of the Church in the canonical dignity of the epistle.

From the 2nd century, undoubtedly, acquaintance with the message of St. John - St. Justin Martyr (Conversation with Tryphon, Ch. CXXIII, sn. 1 John 3:1), the author of " Epistles to Diognet"(Chapter II, sn. 1 John 4:9-10). By the end of the 2nd century, or the first half of the 3rd century, there are important and authoritative evidence of the generally recognized canonical merit of the first epistle of John - the so-called. Muratorian canon, Syriac translation of the New Testament sacred books Peshito and Old Latin translation. Similar evidence of the authenticity and canonicity of the epistle is found in Clement of Alexandria(Stromates. II, sn. 1 John 5:16), in Tertullian (Adv. Prax. p. 15 - 1 John 1:1), Origen (Eusebius. church history VI, 24), Dionysius of Alexandria(by Eusebius, church history VII, 25); And all the inner signs of the message, all character traits its content, tone and presentation convincingly testify to the belonging of the epistle to the same great apostle of love and sublime Christian contemplation, by whom the fourth gospel was also written. And in the epistle, as in the Gospel, he ranks himself among the witnesses of the Word, and the entire content of the epistle is imbued with a living memory of the example given by the Savior to Christians with all His earthly life ( 2:6 ; 3:3,5,7 ; 4:17 ), about His word and commandments ( 1:5 ; 3:23 ; 4:21 ), about the events at His baptism and death on the cross ( 5:6 ). The same spirit of love and, at the same time, fiery zeal for the glory of God and the purity of reverence for God, the same depth and strength of feeling, the same image and character of presentation and exposition as in the Gospel, breathes in the epistle. This inner closeness and kinship between the content of the epistle and the Gospel of St. John were well noticed and appreciated in the sense of proof of authenticity even in antiquity, for example, St. Dionysius of Alexandria in the 3rd century “The gospel (of John) and the epistle,” he says, “are in agreement with each other and begin the same way; the first says: in the beginning was, the Word; the last: hedgehog was first; it says: and the Word became flesh, and dwelt in us, and beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Father ( John 1:14), the same in this, with only a slight change: hedgehog, hedgehog our eyes, hedgehog and our hands touch, about the Word of the animal, and the belly appeared ( 1 John 1:1-2). John is true to himself and does not deviate from his goal; he reveals everything in the same periods and in the same words. Let us briefly present some of them. An attentive reader in each of the books mentioned will often come across the words: life, light, the passage of darkness, will incessantly see: truth, grace, joy, the flesh and blood of the Lord, judgment, the remission of sins, God's love for us, the commandment of our mutual love, and about the fact that we must keep all the commandments, also the condemnation of the world, the devil, the Antichrist, the promise of the Holy Spirit, the sonship of God, in everything the faith required in us, everywhere the Father and the Son. In general, with continuous attention to the distinctive, one involuntarily presents the same image of the Gospel and the epistle ”(Eusebius. church history VII, 25).

If, however, some Western biblical scholars of modern times in the false teachers denounced by the first epistle of John saw the Gnostics of the second century and, on this basis, denied the authenticity of the epistle, its belonging to the first century and St. Apostle of Love, it is, of course, true that the Gnostic teachings received their complete and fully developed form only in the 2nd century, but the seeds and beginnings of Gnostic errors arose in the Apostolic age. " And just as the error that the writer of the epistle refutes is different from the Gnostic and docetic heresy of the second century, so is the method of polemic: not against the particular teachings and personalities of heretics, as is typical for later polemics, does the writer direct the epistle; but against the universal and fundamental propositions, against the emerging anti-Christianity, he puts forward the universal and fundamental propositions of Christianity"(Prof. N. I. Sagarda).

As for the time of writing the epistle, there is no positive historical evidence, just as the epistle itself does not contain direct indications of the time of its origin. Still, in the content of the epistle there are indirect data, according to which the origin of the epistle should be attributed to the late time of the life of the apostle or to the last years of the apostolic age. In his message, Rev. John makes the subject of his concern not the foundation and initial dispensation of church Christian communities, but only a reminder and affirmation in that eternal Christian truth, which they have long heard, known and have as a grace-filled "anointing" ( 2:20,27 ). Apparently, by the time the epistle was written, the Christian communities of Asia Minor, to which the epistle was primarily directed, had long ago received a church organization, and in them, next to the dying members of the first generation, there were also those who had already been born and raised in Christianity ( 2:13-14 ). In favor of the late origin of the epistle, the internal growth of the Church reflected in it, apparently, goes far beyond the activities of St. Paul. Jewish disputes that fill the entire history of the Acts of the Apostles and all the epistles of St. Paul, did not find any reflection in the epistle: there is not even a hint of any struggle between the defenders of the Law and the Gospel, of a debate about circumcision, etc. Judaism and paganism do not appear as independent, hostile to Christianity, values; they rather united in a common hostility to him, forming the God-hostile principle of the "world" (κόσμος, cosmos). On the other hand, in the depths of the Christian community itself, there are new enemies-false teachers who perverted the main dogma of Christianity - the Incarnation - and quite clearly revealed their complete opposition to the teaching and life of the true Church of Christ, although they came out of its depths ( 2:19 ). Such a profound change in the nature of doctrinal subjects and disputes, and in general in the state of the Church, requires for its explanation almost whole decades from the activity of St. Paul before writing the epistle. In view of the already noted close relationship between the epistle and the fourth Gospel, the epistle is usually considered either as a letter of recommendation to the Gospel - a kind of prolegomena to the Gospel, or as the second, so to speak, practical or polemical part of the Gospel. In both cases, the closeness of the epistle to the Gospel is obvious in terms of the time of writing. Church tradition rather agrees with the writing of both Holy Scriptures St. the apostle to the time after his return from exile from the island of Patmos, in the reign of Domitian. Thus, the end of the first Christian century, the years 97-99, can be considered the chronological date of the origin of the first epistle of St. app. John. And since the apostle John spent all his last years in Asia Minor, more specifically in the city of Ephesus, this city can be considered the place where the epistle was written. The immediate impulse to write an epistle addressed to the Christians of Asia Minor, closely known to St. the apostle of love for his many years of sojourn among them and their leadership after the death of the apostles Peter and Paul, was the desire of the apostle. John to warn Christians against false teachers (see, for example,).

About the first epistle of St. the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian in Russian can be read: 1) from Mr. F. Yakovlev. Apostles. An Essay on the Life and Teachings of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian in the Gospel, the Three Epistles, and the Apocalypse. Issue. II. Moscow, 1860; 2) at the arch. A. Polotebnova. Cathedral Epistles of the Apostle of Love. I, II, III. In Slavonic and Russian, with a preface and explanatory notes. Moscow, 1875; 3) in the articles of G. I. Uspensky: “ The question of the stay of St. Apostle John the Theologian in Asia Minor". Christ. read. 1879, I, 3, 279; and " The activity of St. Apostle John the Theologian in Asia Minor". There. II, 245; 4) at the reverend. Bishop Michael. Smart apostle. Kyiv, 1905, II ch., p. 305. There are also two special monographs: a) prof. arch. D. I. Bogdashevsky. False teachers denounced in the first epistle of St. John. Kyiv, 1890; and b) prof. N. I. Sagarda. First Cathedral Message Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. Isagogical-exegetical study. Poltava, 1903.