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On the cross, when the Romans pierced Christ with the spear, the scriptures say that water poured out:

But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. (John 19:34)

The Greek word used is ὕδωρ (hydōr) so it's unlikely that they meant, "fluids" or anything else, it's apparent that it was literally water that came out.

Why did water come out of Christ when he was speared?

ShemSeger
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  • Do you want to know the significance of the water that came out or do you want to know how water could come out from His side? If former, which denomination's perspective are you looking for? – Jayarathina Madharasan Apr 18 '15 at 18:30
  • Maybe you can clarify your question as to what you are asking. Heart failure, lungs filled with fluid (fairly clear) - drained. Greatly aided his recovery as in modern drains after heart operations. That's the medical side of it. But I suspect that you are after the spiritual of 1 John 5: 6 - and that is an interesting question. – gideon marx Apr 18 '15 at 19:07
  • For this question I'm interested in the Physical reasons. I agree asking for the spiritual would be another interesting question. – ShemSeger Apr 18 '15 at 20:01
  • It could be an allusion to Psa. 22:14. –  Apr 18 '15 at 20:32

3 Answers3

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The probable medical reason is pleural efflusion, caused by hypovolemic shock and congestive heart failure.

Hypovolemic shock, also called hemorrhagic shock, is a life-threatening condition that results when you lose more than 20 percent (one-fifth) of your body’s blood or fluid supply.

This would likely have been a result of the flogging prior to the crucifixion.

From gotquestions.org:

Those who were flogged would often go into hypovolemic shock, a term that refers to low blood volume. In other words, the person would have lost so much blood he would go into shock.

...

Prior to death, the sustained rapid heartbeat caused by hypovolemic shock also causes fluid to gather in the sack around the heart and around the lungs. This gathering of fluid in the membrane around the heart is called pericardial effusion, and the fluid gathering around the lungs is called pleural effusion. This explains why, after Jesus died and a Roman soldier thrust a spear through Jesus’ side (probably His right side, piercing both the lungs and the heart), blood and water came from His side just as John recorded in his Gospel (John 19:34).

David Stratton
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  • Hypovolemic shock is a consequence, not a cause of fluid loss. There is only one independent site (Gotquestions.org? - with others quoting it word for word) that claims that massive accumulation of fluid occurs in the sac around the heart and lungs. We ought to check If there is any medical support or if this is an urban myth. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypovolemia :) – Dick Harfield Apr 18 '15 at 21:17
  • I actually found that article not long after asking the question. – ShemSeger Apr 18 '15 at 22:00
  • @DickHarfield - I edited to clarify, and the article that I linked to from webmd certainly backs up the gotquestions.org article. See the section titled "what is heart failure" – David Stratton Apr 18 '15 at 22:04
  • Thanks David. This now gives us a plausible physical explanation for what is described in John 19:34. That's what I was looking for. – Dick Harfield Apr 18 '15 at 23:21
  • Though a Biblical scholar and not a medical professional, Cathleen Shrier states that the cause of the Hypovolemic shock is low oxygenation of the blood caused by respiratory distress and heart failure caused by the mechanics of crucifixion. – James Shewey Apr 19 '15 at 05:16
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In artwork, Jesus is typically depicted as being speared in the right side.

If it had in fact been the left side, an upward thrust of a spear point would have gone through the spleen and stomach.

The spleen is full of blood and bleeds profusely.

His stomach had watered-down wine in it.
Only 5 verses before John reported the incident:

John 19:29 NKJV
Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth.

It all fits together and doesn't require any complicated explanation of possible medical conditions or symbolic meaning.

Ray Butterworth
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Rock of Salvation

While the common metaphorical interpretation to the water are purely opinion based, the attempts to explain the verse with scientific physiological manner is a result of misguided approach that confuses the Midrashic Gospel of John with historical. Ancient Historiographies and history are two very different things. The actual reason behind the verse is John's allusion to the Midrash on the Moses rock of salvation that produced blood and water when Moses hit it with the staff. John's gospel is primarily Midrash, therefore, we see a special emphasis on Jesus being the water of life. It is important to recognise the actual literary and cultural context of the Gospels to determine the intended meaning.

The key passage of the rock is in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20. The midrash is available on Sefaria:

Rabbeinu Bahya, Bamidbar 20:8:8
Water turning into blood was certainly also a manifestation of the attribute of Justice at work....Our sages in the Midrash and the Talmud are on record that originally “the sela dripped blood,” i.e. that when Moses hit the rock it first produced blood instead of water....This may also be the source of Psalms 78,20 speaking of ”here he struck the rock and water flowed.”...The word ויזובו used by the psalmist to describe the flow is one that does not usually describe water flowing but blood flowing ....Psalms 114,8 also suggests that the blood turned into water . Torah Commentary by Rabbi Bachya ben Asher, trans. Eliyahu Munk, 1998.

Otzar Midrashim, Aharon, Midrash on the Death of Aharon 3
Moses and Aaron gathered the people around a different rock, as it says in the Torah "Moses and Aaron gathered the community at the face of the rock."...This time though, blood came out, as it says in the Psalms, "yes, he hit the rock and the waters flowed ."...It's a flow of blood, as we see from the laws of menstruation "when a woman has a discharge of blood ." Moses came and said to God "the rock isn't bringing out water, only blood."...God said to the rock: "why are you only bringing out blood, and not water?" The rock said "Master of the Universe, why did Moses hit me?" God then asked Moses, "why did you hit the rock?"...Therefore God said to Moses, "tell the rock to turn it's blood into water." It is thus written in scripture: "who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flinty rock into a spring ."

Michael16
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