George Hutcheson
John 4:13,14. 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.
1. A great cause of men despising spiritual things is their ignorance of them, and of their excellency and worth; therefore Christ takes so much pains to make this clear.
2. A special means helping to point out the worth of spiritual things is to compare them with earthly things, and to take up what is of super-excellent worth in the first above the second; for thus Christ commends this living water.
3. Whatever pains men take to follow after, or drink up, outward contentment, yet they will find no abiding satisfaction in them and will sooner drink them dry than quench their own thirst; for what is said of this water is true of all things of the same kind.
4. The Lord hath so ordered it that men’s outward necessities should often recur after the use of means, so that they may be humbled and made to depend constantly on providence and to seek better things, yet with the thankful use of what they have. In particular, God has put men to much trouble to uphold a cottage of clay [that is, their body], and has formed it so as to need new supplies constantly, that we may mind our mortality daily. This dispensation of providence points out this: “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again”.
5. Although Christ purchased the water of life, yet it must be His free gift to us, who cannot buy it; and His offer includes a promise of giving it to everyone who will receive it in the due order, without respect of persons; for so much is implied by calling it “the water that I shall give him”. He does not say, I can give, but “I shall give him” – that is, if he will receive My offer, “whosoever” he be.
6. Whoever partakes of the true grace of God, it will so refresh and satisfy him as to quench his thirst after vanity and earthly delights and make them tasteless, and to give him contentment in the lack of all things. So much is implied, in part, in this promise, “Whosoever drinketh of [this] water . . . shall never thirst”.
7. Although those who enjoy the grace of God in part will still need and desire more of it, while they are in this life (1 Pet 2:2,3; Mt 5:6), yet they shall never fall again under a deadly thirst of a total lack of this water, a seed still remaining in them. Their mouth being still at the well, they are rather quenching thirst than thirsty, and when they have gotten their full draught at the end of their race [at death], they are satisfied and never thirst any more; for so much also is included in this promise, He “shall never thirst”.
8. Whosoever receives the true grace of Christ, in any measure, also gets the Spirit of Christ, as the fountain, to make grace enduring in itself and its effects; for “the water . . . shall be in him a well of water”.
9. The Spirit and grace of Christ in believers is not a stream or a pond, that may run dry, but “a well”, and a “springing” well, of inexhaustible fullness, virtue and refreshment. Nor is it a well that may rot and give water a bad taste, but it is a springing well, still fresh; and where the Spirit is entertained, formality will be a stranger. Nor is it only a spring to abide within its banks, but a well of water “springing up”, or leaping up and watering all about it. The Spirit and grace of Christ flow out in all the behaviour of men who receive them, making them fruitful, and they will never leave off their duties. But the more they do, still the more they will undertake, and be active and vigorous in them, as a well boiling up. It flows out also upon others, unto their good and edification, according to the station and calling in which God has placed them.
10. As the truly godly have no last day for their religion but eternity, and their desire is to keep fresh till the end, so where the Spirit of Christ is, He will still be breathing out His virtue and riches from day to day, and letting out more and more to the sinner till eternity will come, when all the banks of incapacity, sin, distance, ignorance, mortality and so on, being broken down, and the windows of heaven being opened, this stream and well becomes an ocean. And grace, smothered here under corruption and infirmity, is able to expand itself in glory; for it shall be “a well of water springing up into everlasting life”.
1These are the “Doctrines”, or lessons, as edited, that Hutcheson (1626-74) draws from this verse, in his Exposition of the Gospel of John.