A study of John 4:35-38
"Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.""
John 4:35-38 ESV
Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:
-Four Months: "τετράμηνός"; "τετράμηνος", "tetramēnos"; adjective - of four months, lasting four months.
-Harvest: "θερισμός", "therismos"; masculine noun - equivalent to the act of reaping.
-Look (Behold): "ἰδού", "idou"; particle - a call to pay close attention to something.
-Lift Up: "ἐπάρατε"; "ἐπαίρω", "epairō"; verb - to look up.
-See (Look On): "θεάσασθε", "θεάομαι", "theaomai"; verb - to behold, look upon, view attentively, contemplate.
-Fields: "χώρας"; "χώρα", "chōra"; feminine noun - land which is plowed or cultivated.
-White: "λευκαί"; "λευκός", "leukos"; adjective - spoken of the whitening color of ripening grain.
-Reaps (v.36): "θερίζων"; "θερίζω", "therizō"; verb - to harvest.
-Reaps (v.37): "θερίζων"; "θερίζω", "therizō"; verb - in proverbial expressions about sowing and reaping: John 4:37: where the meaning is 'you hereafter, in winning over a far greater number of the Samaritans to the kingdom of God, will enjoy the fruits of the work which I have now commenced among them'.
-Is Receiving: "λαμβάνει"; "λαμβάνω", "lambanō"; verb - to receive what is given; to gain, get, obtain.
-Is Gathering: "συνάγει"; "συνάγω", "synagō"; verb - to gather together, to gather.
-Eternal: "αἰώνιον"; "αἰώνιος", "aiōnios"; adjective - without end, never to cease, everlasting.
-Life: "ζωὴν"; "ζωή", "zōē"; feminine noun - life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last forever.
-Sows: "σπείρων"; "σπείρω", "speirō"; verb - to sow, scatter seed; in proverbial sayings: to scatter the seeds of instruction, i.e. to impart instruction.
-May Rejoice: "χαίρῃ"; "χαίρω", "chairō"; verb - to rejoice, be glad.
-Logos: "λόγος", "logos"; masculine noun - what is declared, a thought, declaration; in John 4:37: a proverb.
-Labor: "κόπον"; "κόπος", "kopos"; masculine noun - intense labor united with trouble; of toil in teaching.
-Labored: "κεκοπιάκατε"; "κοπιάω", "kopiaō"; verb - in Biblical Greek alone: to labor with wearisome effort, to toil.
Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):
After having told His disciples that doing the Father's will is far more satisfying than physical food, Jesus says there is plenty more to do. He says the fields are ready for harvest now and the sowers and reapers involved in this harvest will rejoice together. The work to which they had been called did not begin with them, but they, like us, are called to fulfill their part in doing God's will.
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