“Go call your husband”: the rebuke that opens her confession
Jesus says to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus says to her, “You have said well, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband; this you have said truly.”
Through this, it seems to me, the Savior convicts her as caught in adultery, so that once she comes to awareness of her sins she may ask for release and receive cleansing from the living water.
Greek
Λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ὕπαγε φώνησον τὸν ἄνδρα σου καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐνθάδε. ἀπεκρίθη ἡ γυνὴ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Οὐκ ἔχω ἄνδρα. λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Καλῶς εἶπας ὅτι Ἄνδρα οὐκ ἔχω· πέντε γὰρ ἄνδρας ἔσχες, καὶ νῦν ὃν ἔχεις οὐκ ἔστιν σου ἀνήρ· τοῦτο ἀληθὲς εἴρηκας.
δοκεῖ μοι διὰ τούτων ὁ σωτὴρ ἐλέγχειν αὐτὴν ὡς ἐπὶ μοιχείᾳ ἁλισκομένην, ἵνα εἰς συναίσθησιν ἐλθοῦσα τῶν ἡμαρτημένων αἰτήσῃ τὴν ἄφεσιν καὶ δέξηται τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ζῶντος ὕδατος καθαρισμόν.
About this text
Origen’s Commentary on John, Book 13 (later tomoi). Complete on this page: §§1–64.
English follows Preuschen, Origenes Werke IV (GCS 10, 1903). Heine FOTC was not used as wording. This page is Book 13 §§1–64 of the later books (13, 19, 20, 28, 32).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Preuschen, Origenes Werke IV = GCS 10 (1903) (Greek · Book 13 §§1–64)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.