John 4:4 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters | Metropolitan Tabernacle

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John 4:4

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Sychar is thought to be about eight miles from Samaria. The modern translations tend to translate this verse in a very matter of fact way, as though there is a mere geographical necessity. In fact the Lord did not have to pass through Samaria. It was certainly the quickest route but it was not the only route. There were three popular routes, two of which did not go through Samaria even though they were a little longer, and which commended themselves to the Scribes and the Pharisees and such like because they did not require, or call for, any contact with the people of Samaria, who were considered beyond the pale to Jewish people. So to translate ‘he must needs go through Samaria’ as ‘he had to pass through Samaria’ is not strictly accurate; it is quite clear that the Gospel of John is telling us more than that.The apostle John is setting up the chapter for us, he is preparing our heart for something, and there are these slightly mysterious words – ‘And he must needs go through Samaria.’ It was part of his plan. We look higher. It was necessary in the mind of Christ that he passes Samaria. He had work to do there. He had people to save there. He had Samaritans to reach there. It was important at such an early stage in his ministry that he went to visit Samaria. And the apostle John prepares us, and opens our mind. So do not let the modern translators reduce it to a mere geographical necessity; it was part of Christ’s divine plan which involved the salvation of these Samaritan people.

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An example of this type of translation is the ESV, the English Standard Version, which says, ‘and he had to go through Samaria.’ The ESV is very largely taken from the defunct RSV, Revised Standard Version, carried out in the late 1940s and into the 1950s. Actually it is a very fine rendering into English though it is done by Americans, but the translators of the RSV were mainly theological liberals, who did not expect much from the Bible, or from the apostle John in John’s Gospel. They were not people with a passion for the Bible. They may have been great linguists, lexicologists, but they were not people with a passion for Scripture. They did not follow its arguments and love it and seek above all to honour it. They translate as academics, and so they frequently miss the argument, and go off track. It is not a brilliant translation even if it is beautifully rendered into English. When you are looking at the ESV, you are really looking at the old RSV, and you are better off, even if you find it old fashioned, with the King James Version, and here is a case in point.

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John 4:4 Commentary and Bible Study