IT SHALL BE TO HIM A WELL OF WATER: A WORD STUDY OF WATER IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Water is an element of life and, as such, assumes a Biblical significance that is cosmic, material, ceremonial and symbolic.

In the Old Testament, God uses water to annihilate mankind, water as rain replenishes the earth, priests use water to wash themselves, and prophets celebrate water as a symbol of spiritual renewal.

All of these senses of the word “ὕδωρ" (water) can also be found at play in the New Testament.

Water AS Providence.

God both creates and beckons the deep.

In Luke 8:25 the disciples marvel that Jesus commands even “τοῖς άνεμοις…και τῶ ὕδατι” (the winds and the water).

Peter looks back to the act of creation and explains that the earth was formed “έξ ὕδατος” (out of water) and “δι᾽ ύδατος" (through water) by the Word of God in 2 Peter 3:5.

In Revelation 14:7, an angel commands with a loud voice to “worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and πηγὰς υδάτων (springs of water)”.

Water as Blessing

The Mediterranean is a dry climate and water as drink and irrigation is a vital resource.

In Matthew 10:42 Jesus commends that a “ποτήριον ψυχροῦ” (a cup of cold water) be given to “these little ones”. This is a very rare use of a substantival adjective, in this case ψυχρός, ά, όν (cold), to stand for a type of water, in this case cold water.

In Luke 22:10 the disciples are told to enter the city to meet a man carrying a “κεράμιον ὕδατος” (a jar of water).

In John 4:7 a woman of Samaria comes to the well to “ἀντλῆσαι ὕδωρ” (draw water) and a little earlier on in that same gospel the master of wedding feast famously tasted the “ὕδωρ οἶνον γεγενημένον” (the water become wine).

Technical Interlude

῾Υδωρ, τό is a somewhat complicated third declension neutral noun with a stem ending in ρ when there is no case ending; the ρ is replaced by a τ whenever a case ending is used.

It declines as per below:

Water as Purification

Water is used ceremoniously in the New Testament, typically as a form of ritual purification. This is most graphically evident in the ceremony of baptism, but also occurs in smaller domestic settings, usually in and around meals.

After being baptised by John in Matthew 3:16, Jesus immediately “ἀνέβη ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος” (went up from the water).

In John 1:31, John the Baptist again states that he came baptising “ἐν ὕδατι” (in water) and in Acts 8:38 Philip and the eunuch both went down “εἰς ὕδωρ" (into the water) to be baptised.

An example of a more homespun purification ritual by water is found in John 13:5 when Jesus pours “ὕδωρ εἰς τὸν νιπτῆρα” (water into the basin) to wash the feet of the disciples.

Water as Sanctification

Finally, water as a symbol in the New Testament is used by John to refer to the working of the Holy Spirit within a person; in John 7:38 Jesus quotes Scripture: “out of his heart (more literally: belly) will flow ὕδατος ζῶντος" (living water). John then goes on to say “ Now he said this about the Spirit”.

The author of 1 John is also fond of the pairing “water and blood” in reference to the second person of the trinity.

Cognate Terms

The word ὕδωρ, ατος, τὸ occurs seventy six times in the New Testament and really has no important cognates.

The word ὑετος, οῦ, ο occurs five times and means “rain” and the adjective άνυδρος, ον prefixes the privative αν to mean “waterless, dry” and occurs four times in the New Testament.