Chapter 50
Jesus Heralds His Gospel
Nobody — not this woman, not a Pharisee like Nicodemus, not even the most loathsome leper — was beyond the reach of His divine love.
The Lesson of the Water: Everyone Who Thirsts May Come
"Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, "Give Me a drink," you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water' " (John 4:10). Suddenly He turned the situation around. At first He was thirsty and she had the water. Now He was speaking to her as if she were the thirsty one and He had the water. Instead of asking for a drink, He declared that she needed a drink from His fountain. The issue was no longer His physical thirst, but her spiritual need. Though she apparently did not understand yet, He was offering living water for her dry soul.
As we have seen, those who hold the view that saving faith is unrelated to obedience or commitment often point to this account as proof that no surrender to divine authority is required. One author goes so far as to say, "The synonyms for 'faith' in the New Testament cannot mean 'commit.' For example, in John 4:14 Jesus said, 'But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.' Later, Jesus said, 'Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life.' (John 6:54). Obviously, these statements suggest 'appropriation,' not commitment."2
Can we concede that the verb "drink" conveys the idea of appropriation apart from commitment? Certainly not. Matthew 20:22 ("Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?") and John 18:11 ("The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?") both use drink in a way that clearly implies full compliance and surrender. Furthermore, to attempt to define faith with a metaphor is unwarranted selectivity. What do we then do with verses such as John 3:36 ("He who does not obey the Son shall not see life"), and Hebrews 3:18 – 19 ("Those who were disobedient . . . were not able to enter because of unbelief"), which clearly equate disobedience with unbelief?
The fact that Jesus offered this woman living water does not in any way minimize the factor of commitment ever present in true faith. The living water He held out to her was the gift of salvation, including all that is inherent in the reality of redemption — freedom from sin, the commitment to follow Jesus, the ability to obey God's law, and the power and desire to live a life that glorifies Him.
2. G. Michael Cocoris, Lordship Salvation — Is It Biblical? (Dallas: Redención Viva, 1983), 12 – 13.