John 7:37 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 7:38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 7:39 (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.)

From whom do the streams flow?

Various answers have been given.

(a) from the one who believes?

According to Bruner, this interpretation has been favoured particularly in the Eastern church:

‘The Eastern rejection of the West’s added filioque clause to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed that now said the Spirit proceeds “from the Father and the Son [filioque],” probably contributed to the East’s wanting the Spirit to come flowing from believers, rather than from the Son, as Brown…has explained.’

Bruner says that this interpretation is favoured by Origen, Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Basil, Chrysostom, ‘and, surprisingly, the two main ancient Western interpreters of John, Jerome and Augustine’, Henry, Surenhus and von Hofmann, Meyer, Abbott, Bernard, Schlatter, Lindars, Barrett, and Ridderbos.  We may add Ryle’s name to this list.

(b) from Jesus?

Bearing in mind the lack of punctuation in the original, a possible translation would be: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me; and let whoever believes in me drink. As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” The ‘streams of living water’ would then flow from Christ, rather than from the believer. This makes excellent sense, especially in the light of the teaching of v39, which relates the gift of the Spirit to the work of Christ.

Because the water of verse 38 flows to and not from the believer, (Jn 7:39) 7:37-38 may be punctuated to read: “If anyone thirsts, let this one come to me; and let whoever believes in me drink. As the Scripture says….” (The original manuscripts had no punctuation.) Verse 38 may thus declare that Jesus fulfills the Scriptures read at the feast, as the foundation stone of a new temple, the source of the water of life (cf. Jn 19:34; Rev 22:1).’ (NTBC)

‘The question arises whether this is a reference to either Christ or the believer. Since the living water is identified with the Spirit, in what sense can it be said that a believer communicates the Spirit? This can hardly be the meaning, and it is best to understand it to mean that Christ communicates the Spirit, a thought underlined by the latter part of v 39.’ (NBC)

According to Bruner, this interpretation is favoured by Justin, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Cyprian, Bauer, Lagrange, Hoskyns, Dodd, Bultmann, Schnackenburg, Brown, Carson, Schnelle, Moloney, Thyen, Wilckens, and Keener.  To this list we may add the names of Beasley-Murray and Lincoln.

(c) from both the believer and from Christ?

Hendriksen offers as the general sense of this passage:

‘Not only do those who drink from the Fountain, Christ, receive lasting satisfaction for themselves – everlasting life, salvation full and free, but in addition, life in a bounteous manner communicates itself to others. The blessed one becomes, by God’s sovereign grace, a channel of abundant blessings to others. The church proclaims the message of salvation to the world, so that the elect from every clime and nation are gathered in.’

Bruner:

‘This “person” is probably both the giving Christ and the receiving Christian, each of whom overflows with resources to the surrounding needy. The Samaritan Woman was promised that if she just “asked,” she would not only receive “living water” from Jesus (4:10) but that she would herself be transformed into “a fountain, gushing up into deep, lasting Life” for Jesus and others (4:14), as she then, in fact, became for her city (4:29–39). In chapter 4 it is both Jesus and the Samaritan Woman who overflow with living water; here in chapter 7 it is again both Jesus and the thirsty drinkers who become rivers of living water. Both are true. Trusters both get and give “overflow.”’

Bruner says that this interpretation is favoured by Luther, Bengel, Westcott, Temple, Hoskyns [but see (b) above], and Barrett, as well as by Bruner himself.

It is also favoured by Ryle.  Concerning the abundance believers find in Christ, he says:

‘They would say, if their evidence could be collected, that when they came to Christ by faith, they found in Him more than they expected. They have tasted peace, and hope, and comfort, since they first believed, which, with all their doubts and fears, they would not exchange for anything in this world. They have found grace according to their need, and strength according to their days. In themselves and their own hearts they have often been disappointed; but they have never been disappointed in Christ.’

And concerning the fountains of blessing that believers are to others, Ryle writes:

‘Some do good while they live, by their tongues; like the Apostles and first preachers of the Gospel. Some do good when they are dying; like Stephen and the penitent thief, and our own martyred Reformers at the stake. Some do good long after they are dead, by their writings; like Baxter and Bunyan and M’Cheyne. But in one way or another, probably, almost all believers will be found to have been fountains of blessings. By word or by deed, by precept or by example, directly or indirectly, they are always leaving their marks on others. They know it not now; but they will find at last that it is true.’

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