In John 4:25, the Samaritan woman said to Jesus “I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ ….” Why did she use both the Hebrew and Greek words for our Lord’s title?
Let us read about the Lord Jesus in John 4:5-11 in order to get the context, “He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink.’ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 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’” (NASB).
Why did the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans? In 721 B.C. the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. Many Israelites were taken captive to Assyria, but some stayed in the land and intermarried with Assyrians. Their offspring were half Jewish, half Gentile, and came to be known as Samaritans. The Samaritans believed that Mount Gerizim should be the location of the temple and center of worship. The Samaritans viewed the Jerusalem temple and Levitical priesthood as wrong. The Jews viewed the Samaritans’ religion as heresy. Therefore, Jews and Samaritans mostly avoided each other during Jesus’ time.
As we read in John 4:4, Jesus left Judea in southern Israel and “had to pass through Samaria” on His way to Galilee in northern Israel. I would suggest that Jesus needed to pass through Samaria for more than one reason. Yes, Samaria was between Judea and Galilee, but the rest of the chapter showed another reason why Jesus needed to pass through Samaria. There was a woman in Samaria who was sincerely searching for truth. What love our Savior showed this woman as He dealt with her precious soul and convinced her that He was the Christ!
Although we are not specifically told why the Samaritan woman used both the Hebrew and Greek words for our Lord’s title, I do have a suggestion. She may have used both the Hebrew word “Messiah” and the Greek word “Christ” for the sake of clarity as she spoke from her heart about a vitally important issue. We are not told what language Jesus and the Samaritan woman spoke to each other as they conversed. It is possible that they spoke to each other in Hebrew or Aramaic. The Greek language was widely used in Roman-controlled Israel when the Lord Jesus was on earth.
The entirety of John 4:25 states, “The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.’” It appears that she wanted to be certain that her beliefs were clearly communicated. Jesus responds with equal clarity. We read in John 4:26, “Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He’” (NASB). What a wonderful, crystal-clear revelation of His glorious person! In verses 17 and 18, the Lord had shared details about the woman’s life that she had not told him. This resulted in the woman’s actions and words in verses 28 and 29, “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
Then we have the wonderful result of the Lord’s faithful testimony. We read in John 4:39-43, “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with them: and He abode there two days. And many more believed because of His own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” Dear reader, have you heard Him yourself in His precious Word, the Bible? is He your Savior? If not, trust Him today! (DJ) (678.1)