But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him [ geneesetai (G1096 ) en (G1722 ) autoo (G846 ), rather, 'shall become in him'] a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The contrast here is fundamental and all-comprehensive. "This water" plainly means 'this natural water and all satisfactions of a like earthly and perishable nature.' Coming to us from without, and reaching only the superficial parts of our nature, they are soon spent, and need to be anew supplied as much as if we had never experienced them before, while the deeper wants of our being are not reached by them at all; whereas the "water" that Christ gives-spiritual life-is struck out of the very depths of our being, making the soul not a cistern, for holding water poured into it from without, but a fountain-the word х peegee (G4077)] had been better so rendered, to distinguish it from the word rendered "well" in John 4:11 х frear (G5421)] - springing, gushing, bubbling up and flowing forth from within us, ever fresh, ever living. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ is the secret of this life, with all its enduring energies and satisfactions, as is expressly said (John 7:37-39). "Never thirsting," then, just means that such souls have the supplies at home. It is an internal well, "springing up into everlasting life" - by which words our Lord carries the thoughts up from the eternal freshness and vitality of these waters in us to the great ocean in which they have their confluence. 'There,' says devout Bengel, 'may I arrive!'