Living Water
The Gospel of John is often said to be liturgical. All the primary events it describes take place on feasts…
It is also the Gospel of John, more than any other Gospel, which lays the theological foundation for the liturgical life of the New Testament Church, which is defined by two chief sacraments: Baptism and the Eucharist.
Jesus Christ - His Life and Teaching, Vol. 5: The Lamb of God, by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev
Jesus’s baptism by John; Jesus distributed His body and blood. All four gospels attest to these, but it is in John (as well as Paul’s epistles) where we find a detailed theological conceptualization of each of these sacraments.
Water is one of the primary biblical symbols.
We see this in the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis: “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” This link between water and the Spirit of God is a key point that unfolds in John’s gospel.
After dividing light from darkness on the first day, God divided the waters on the second. According to Tertullian, the waters were “in some way the regulating powers by which the disposition of the world thenceforward was constituted by God.”
Water is also seen with two capacities, for example in the flood: it brings death and destruction, but then is the means for a renewed and reborn life. In the face of destruction, eight souls were saved by water, as noted in the first letter of Peter. Then this, from Paul:
1 Corinthians 10: 1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
One can see the work of water here, and, as an aside, the elements of the Eucharist.
There are several episodes recorded in John about water and its effects. First involves Nicodemus – a ruler of the Jews, a Pharisee, and a teacher. He was also wealthy. He did not understand what Jesus meant by a man being born again.
John 3: 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
The water and Spirit together, just as in the opening verses of Genesis. This is the answer to what it means to be born again, or born from above – it is this water and Spirit that provide regeneration. In Leviticus, we also see the cleansing power of water:
Leviticus 22: 6 the person who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat the holy offerings unless he washes his body with water.
In His further response to Nicodemus, Jesus moves from the necessity of being born of water and the Spirit, to belief in the Son of God:
John 3: 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
It is interesting (and, no, I don’t offer a single passage as any sort of proof-text, shutting down all discussion): baptism comes first, belief comes second – at least how Jesus presents it here. Then there is also this:
Acts 2: 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Repent and be baptized, thereafter you shall receive the gift of the Spirit. John Chrysostom would teach that it is impossible for one not born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom of heaven. The early Church believed, according to Alfeyev, that the “birth from above” happened in baptism – but not that this was a magic act. To be effective, baptism had to be followed by faith and works.
Next comes Jesus’s conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. This passage is the only example in the four gospels of an event taking place outside of Galilee or Judea. As we know, the Jews would have no dealings with Samaritan.
John 4: 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
What Jesus said here about living water was as inexplicable to this woman as were Jesus’s words to Nicodemus about being born of water and the Spirit. Early commentators would be of the opinion that living water should be understood to mean the grace of the Holy Spirit a grace directly linked with baptism. This idea is further developed later in John:
John 7: 37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
John Chrysostom writes of the power of Jesus’s words on the Samaritan woman. According to her ability, she did what the apostles did when called. But in the case of Andrew and Philip, calling one or two, she aroused an entire city.
Conclusion
The image of water enables the evangelist to expound many key topics in Jesus’ teaching, forging them into a logical chain.
Faith, baptism, and grace. Here we see why I don’t take any one passage as proof-text. Unlike what I gathered from one or two texts above, Alfeyev places these in an order that any good Baptist would accept (well, maybe grace first – but always baptism last). In any case, John develops this theological understanding to a far greater degree than any other gospel writer.
John 1: 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
From this time on, God’s “own” are not Israel after the flesh, but those who are known by faith, election and grace.