The following passage in John 7 has baffled me for a long time.
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[c] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (vv. 37-39 NIV)
This is a dramatic scene for three reasons:
- Jesus is speaking “in a loud voice” or “crying out.”
- The location is the most important building in Israel—he was “teaching in the temple courts” (v. 28).
- The timing is the final day of a major pilgrimage festival so crowds of people were present. This particular “festival” was the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, a one-week celebration of God’s provision for Israel during their wilderness wandering. In this festive setting Jesus raises his voice, inviting people to come to him and drink.
All of this is straightforward.
The Problem
What is not clear is the following:
- The flow of the passage. How do these three claims fit together?
- Thirsty people going to Jesus to drink.
- “Rivers of living water” flowing from believers.
- The explanation: “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive”?
The second claim doesn’t seem to fit. Jesus begins by claiming to be the thirst quencher. He is the source of the drink. The third claim explains that the drink or “rivers of living water” is the Spirit “whom those who believed in him were later to receive” (v. 39). In both claims believers are recipients. The second claim, however, says that believers are distributors. So we have a statement describing the Spirit coming from believers paired with an explanation describing the Spirit going to believers. How does living water flowing from believers connect with the Spirit being received by believers?
- The theology of the passage. Later in John’s Gospel Jesus says the Father will send the Holy Spirit in his name to his followers (Jn 14:26) and “I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father” (15:26) and “if I go, I will send him to you” (16:7). The source or the giver of the Spirit is not believers; it is the Father and/or Jesus. This is confirmed after Jesus’ resurrection when he breathes on his disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). It is also supported by Old Testament statements, such as Isaiah 44:3:
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
- The Old Testament reference. Scholars have proposed several OT passages as the reference behind the phrase “as Scripture has said,” but none say that rivers of living water flow from believers.
A Solution
Fortunately, the NIV translators indicate another possible reading. Notice the superscript letter at the end of verse 38. The NIV text says:
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[c]
The footnote indicates that a change in punctuation produces this reading:
Let anyone who is thirsty come to me. And let anyone drink who believes in me. As Scripture has said, “Out of him will flow rivers of living water.”
Did you catch the difference?
Instead of “flow from within them” we have “Out of him will flow . . . ” The plural pronoun has become a singular pronoun. Who is the “him”? Jesus has just invited people to come to him and drink so the “him” must be Jesus. Rivers of living water, meaning the Spirit, flow from Jesus. He is the source of the life-giving drink.
The New English Translation (NET) incorporates this reading into its primary text:
37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and 38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)
This solves the flow of the passage and the theology. It also fits with what Jesus has already said in John’s Gospel: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (Jn 4:10).
The source of living water is God. As John says in the last chapter of the Bible: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Rev 22:1).
What about the Old Testament reference?
This remains difficult to pinpoint, but the shift in pronouns opens up more possibilities.
The Rock in the Wilderness
In addition to explicit OT statements saying that God is the source of the Spirit, some believe “as the scripture says” is a reference to the rock in the wilderness that Moses struck. Exodus 17 says,
5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. (vv. 5-6)
How does this show water coming out of Christ? More than a millennium after this event, Paul says, “they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:3-4).
Ezekiel’s Vision of the New Temple
Others point to Ezekiel’s vision in chapter 47, where Ezekiel sees life-giving water flowing from the temple:
The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side. . .
9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. . . 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” (vv. 1-12)
Ezekiel describes an unusual temple with living water flowing out of it.
Joel also mentions a fountain flowing from the temple:
A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house
and will water the valley of acacias. (3:18)
And Zechariah writes:
On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter (14:8).
How does Ezekiel’s vision refer to Jesus?
The Temple in John 2
In John 2 Jesus cleanses the temple, driving all from the temple courts. In response, some asked: “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” (2:18).
Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (v. 19).
Verses 20-21 say, “They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.”
The sign that Jesus has authority to cleanse the temple is his resurrection. But he says it in an unusual way by referring to his body as “this temple” and John explains, “the temple he had spoken of was his body.” Hence, Jesus’ body is the temple and his resurrection shows that it is now indestructible. Just as ancient Jews went to the temple made of stones to meet with God, we now go to Jesus to meet with God.
Strikingly, John is the only author who includes the account of the Roman soldier piercing Jesus’ side: “bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” (19:34). Living water flows from Jesus. Some believe this connects with the graphic nature of the Greek New Testament: out of his “heart” or “belly” or “stomach” will flow rivers of living water (7:38).
Identifying Christ as the temple matches what we find in the book of Revelation. John writes: “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev 21:22). Why would we need to walk into a building to meet with God when the presence of God and the Lamb infuse everything?
Conclusion
All scholars do not agree with this solution for the conundrum in John 7, but the theology is too powerful for me to avoid. Living water, God’s own Spirit, flows from God/Jesus to us. Where should we go to meet with God? Where can we find living water? According to the Old Testament, go to the temple. According to John, go to Jesus.
After graduating from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I served as a high school Bible teacher in Asia. I enjoy traveling, writing, and playing the drums. For a deep dive into church history and the character of God, see my book Surprised by Hell.