“Is not this the Christ?”
The full verse · John 4:29 · KJV
, a , all that I : the ?
Asked by
Samaritan Woman: a woman of Samaria who came to draw water at Jacob's well near Sychar (John 4:5-7); she has just left her waterpot to go into the city (John 4:28)
The Scene
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionThe woman wanted the people of her town to come and see Jesus for themselves. She had told Him that when Messiah came, "he will tell us all things" (John 4:25), and Jesus had told her the truth about her own life (John 4:16-18). So she asks whether this could be the Christ. Barnes says, "Though she probably believed it, yet she proposed it modestly, lest she should appear to dictate" in so important a matter. Her question invites them to judge for themselves.
The Response
What Scripture recordsThe men responded: "Then they went out of the city, and came unto him" (John 4:30). "Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman" (John 4:39). They asked Jesus to stay, and He stayed two days, and "many more believed because of his own word" (John 4:40-41). Finally they answered her question themselves: "Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world" (John 4:42).
Historical Context
The world behind the words"Christ" and "Messias" (Messiah) are the same title. John notes this when the woman says, "I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ" (John 4:25). Her hope was that the Messiah "will tell us all things," which is why Jesus telling her "all things that ever I did" pointed her to Him.
The KJV "Is not this the Christ?" sounds like it expects a yes. The ESV renders it more tentatively, "Can this be the Christ?" Both fit Barnes' reading that she believed it but put it modestly. Gill says she spoke of Him as "an uncommon, an extraordinary man, a prophet."
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThis question shows how Jesus spreads His good news through ordinary people. The woman did not give a sermon. She told what He had done for her and asked a question. Her words got people to come, and then Jesus' own words brought them to faith (John 4:39-42).
It also shows something about Jesus Himself. He knew all about her life (John 4:18; see John 2:25), yet His knowledge did not drive her away; it drew her in. Matthew Henry writes that "the knowledge of Christ, into which we are led by conviction of sin, is most likely to be sound and saving." The one who "told me all things that ever I did" is the same one the town confessed as "the Saviour of the world" (John 4:42).
Look Closer
What led the woman to wonder if Jesus was the Christ?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Lord Jesus, You know everything I have ever done and still drew this woman close; how do You want me to tell others what You have done for me?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- The woman's message was simple: "Come, see." What keeps you from telling others what Jesus has done in your life?
- Tell about someone whose honest story helped you come closer to Jesus.
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
You do not need all the answers to point people to Jesus. The woman simply told what He had done and invited others to "come, see." Your own story, honestly told, can do the same.
The goal is not that people believe because of you, but that they meet Him. The Samaritans said, "we have heard him ourselves" (John 4:42). Your part is to bring people near; Jesus does the rest.
This does not mean your words are unimportant. "Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman" (John 4:39). God uses ordinary testimony.
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?”
“Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?”
“What seekest thou? Why talkest thou with her?”