George Hutcheson
John 4:22. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
1. No good intentions, no zeal or pretence whatsoever, can justify anything in God’s worship which does not have sure warrant from the Word, and is not gone about in the knowledge and faith of it.
So much is included in this reproof of the Samaritans and commendation of the Jews: “Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we worship”. To transgress this rule and to take anything devised by men, into God’s worship, so far makes the true God an idol as to imagine Him to be one that will accept such false worship.
These are the “Doctrines”, or lessons, as edited, that Hutcheson (1626-74) draws from these verses, in his Exposition of the Gospel of John.
2. Christ, as He took on the form of a servant, is content to rank Himself with the true Church as a member, to teach all to esteem such a society highly: “We (He says) know what we worship”.
3. Not only is worship devised by men not warrantable, but it is not the way to heaven, seeing there can be no salvation but in God’s instituted way; and the case of those who follow devised worship is so much more dangerous if they also lack the doctrine of salvation in matters of faith and life.
Both these are included in this reason, “for salvation is of the Jews;” that salvation was to be found in that Church, their way of worship being appointed and approved by God, and the saving doctrine and oracles of God concerning faith, worship and way of life being also committed to them and among them.
4. It was the special privilege of the Jews, and a testimony that God approved of them as His Church, that the Saviour of sinners was to come of them, and the doctrine of salvation, pointing Him out, was to sound from among them in all the earth.
So much also does this reasoning imply, as has been explained.