The Gospel According to John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 5 of 37 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)
3:26-4:14
[3:26] And they came unto John, and said to him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
[3:27] John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven.
[3:28] Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him.
[3:29] He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is made full.
[3:30] He must increase, but I must decrease.
[3:31] He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
[3:32] What he hath seen and heard, of that he beareth witness; and no man receiveth his witness.
[3:33] He that hath received his witness hath set his seal to this, that God is true.
[3:34] For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for he giveth not the Spirit by measure.
[3:35] The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
[3:36] He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
[4:1] When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
[4:2] (although Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples),
[4:3] he left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.
[4:4] And he must needs pass through Samaria.
[4:5] So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph:
[4:6] and Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
[4:7] There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
[4:8] For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy food.
[4:9] The Samaritan woman therefore saith unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
[4:10] Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
[4:11] The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: whence then hast thou that living water?
[4:12] Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle?
[4:13] Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
[4:14] but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage presents a clear hierarchical flow: the Father gives all things to the Son, the Son speaks the words of God and gives the Spirit without measure, and 'a man can receive nothing except it have been given him from heaven,' establishing a cascading structure from the transcendent source downward.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The woman understands 'living water' as physical water from a well, while Jesus means a spiritual gift—the outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth about the divine gift.
The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.
Jesus is presented as 'he that cometh from above' who has descended to sit by a well, be wearied with journey, and ask a Samaritan woman for a drink—a specific, bounded, corporeal descent of the divine into material existence.
The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
The water Jesus gives becomes 'in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life'—the divine source is established within the individual person, accessible without external mediation.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The Son is explicitly identified as the one who 'speaketh the words of God' and bears witness to what he has 'seen and heard' from the Father, functioning as the mediating divine word between the transcendent Father and the earthly realm.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
The woman's persistent thirst with earthly water ('every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again') embodies the felt condition of exile from the divine source, contrasted with the living water that springs up unto eternal life.