Belly Full of Rivers of Living Water

[Aknaton]

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
John 7:38

What does this scripture mean?
Does the Spirit reside in the belly when given?
What is the flow of the Spirit, is it upwards, downwards or perhaps non-directional?
Why multiple rivers and not one river?
Why is the water 'living'?

[Molearner]

Originally Posted by Aknaton

What does this scripture mean?
Why multiple rivers and not one river?
Why is the water 'living'?

Aknaton,

The NIV says it will flow from ‘within’. Belly probably intended to be a reminder of Jonah. 3 days led to the resurrection and the restoration to life. The flow of the Spirit is no directional. See John 3:8….if it was directional theoretically we could position ourselves to better receive it. But it comes by grace…totally up to God. Coming like ‘a thief at night’……unexpected and at any time.

Multiple rivers because each river has a final destination which is specific. We can take this to mean us specifically….no one else is sharing our ‘river’.

Living water=truth=life. Just as physical water brings life on earth….spiritual living water brings eternal life.

[Aknaton]

Originally Posted by Molearner

Aknaton, The NIV says it will flow from ‘within’. Belly probably intended to be a reminder of Jonah. 3 days led to the resurrection and the restoration to life. The flow of the Spirit is no directional.
Multiple rivers because each river has a final destination which is specific.
Living water=truth=life. Just as physical water brings life on earth….spiritual living water brings eternal life.

I do agree the belly is within. But I have read some versions that equate the belly with the heart and I think I'm very uncomfortable with that.
Yeah, the non-directional flow definitely makes sense.
I suspect that the flow of these rivers is toward people we would help who are thirsty for this kind of water (Truth & it's various manifestations)

[Molearner]

Originally Posted by Aknaton

I do agree the belly is within. )

Aknaton,

We should understand this as an analogy. The belly or stomach in the body’s purpose is to help us digest the food that we need for life. The gastric juice which is essential to digestion is made up of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes…..this gastric juice also kills bacteria. This is a rudimentary outline of the function of the ‘belly’.

The analogy is this: We are reminded of the verse….”Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God”. This is ‘our daily bread’…..scripture…either read, written or spoken. We are to take it within and digest it….in other words, understand and interpret it. The intention, just like normal digestion, is to give us life….in this case eternal life. Can we understand the Spirit as being analogous to the acids and enzymes ? Especially in regards to the function of killing ‘bacteria’ ? Just something to consider……if we read it literally instead of symbolically we start thinking the belly is some spiritual organ….

[sky]

Originally Posted by Molearner

if we read it literally instead of symbolically we start thinking the belly is some spiritual organ….

The stomach/belly can be seen as a representation of the ability to digest/process what we take in, physically/spiritually.I personally see it as a Spiritual organ.
The belly/stomach is also related to the reception and digestion of our emotions. Sometimes we can feel the stomach in knots or nauseated when we're emotionally upset. There's more to the stomach/belly that Scientists are only just realising, it's amazing.
Imo .

[Maisy]

Seems like preaching in those days involved very creative poetic colorful language. But the verses say it was the last day of a huge festival so a huge crowd would have been there doing festival things so a speaker had to get their attention. So the fancy dramatic language makes sense to me. One did have to be entertaining to get the crowds attention.

The quote in the first post started here :38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

That's John 7 New International Version for that translation.

But the water metaphors started in the verse before 38 here in 37.

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.

So right there he is using a metaphor of "drinking" his teachings. If you are "thirsty" come to me and "drink" water. Obviously thirsty is a metaphor as well. One could say it's like, if you want, are thirsty for truth and liberation or union or enlightenment or union with God, come to me and listen and I will point the way. Something like that.

Then one who "believes" in him, which would be one listening and receiving the truth, accepting and following the teachings, would have living water flowing within. Come to me and drink, get "spirit" within, living water... but then verse 39 says right out what the metaphor was... 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

The entire passages seem to be saying Jesus is leaving (36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”) and basically saying take in (live it, actualize it be it) what he is teaching, and the light of God, the spirit will fill you. It will, "flow from you"

John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.

If one has discarded what is not them, the false self, the ego, and is then empty of self, self centeredness, etc therefore, following wholly spirit, the true self that is connected to "the father," one can say they do God's will and not their own, as the attributes of "the father" or our true self, the source, spirit would be the source of actions both in words and deed. That is what would flow out or come from you. Not ones self centered ego, but the God within which I would say is our true self.

[sky]

Is our sense of self (Ego) the raw material for our 'unique' version of True Self ?
It's not our Ego that causes the problems it's how we use it, it can be very beneficial. I personally cannot see how we can survive without an ego,
Imo only.

[Redchic12]

Yes I totally agree with Sky.

If we had no sense of self then surely we would not be a human being. Perhaps control of the ego is what is needed.

[Molearner]

Originally Posted by sky

Is our sense of self (Ego) the raw material for our 'unique' version of True Self ?
It's not our Ego that causes the problems it's how we use it, it can be very beneficial. I personally cannot see how we can survive without an ego,
Imo only.

Sky,

If our unique version of true self is separation from God and others then, yes, the ego is absolutely essential. It makes our survival possible in this earthly domain. Ultimately our survival in this world is made possible by the demise of others. If the ego can be very beneficial then one must be able to illustrate it having a strong and direct connection to love.

We should remember that if Jesus had possessed a strong ego He could have easily escaped crucifixion….

[Molearner]

And perhaps the raw material for our True Self is the Spirit……