Verse 42
42. We have heard… and know A preparatory faith comes by testimony, the fullness of faith by experience. These Samaritans did wisely; first they heard the truth, and then they tried it in practice. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
The Saviour of the world A sublime title, indicating that Jesus not only showed that Jew, Samaritan, and Gentile would come into one common dispensation of the Spirit, but that all alike could be saved by the Saviour and by the salvation that is from the Jews.
Was this beautiful commencement a failure? Did no future church exist in Samaria? Our Saviour did, indeed, for the same reasons as induced him (see note on Matthew 10:5) to direct his apostles to avoid (not the way, but) the cities of the Samaritans, pass rapidly on to Galilee. But the wayside seed was, perhaps, not lost. We find that the apostles had rare success there; the harvest, perhaps, of this wonderful sowing. Acts 8:5-25. In this town of Sichem arose Justin Martyr, one of the greatest Christian writers of the second century. Samaria became early the seat of an episcopate.
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