John 4:23

. “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such does the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is Spirit, and they who worship him must worship in spirit and truth”.'

Jesus reply was that the essence of the matter was not to be found in holy places, but in the inner heart. He pointed out that God does not have a physical form limiting Him to one place, for He is Spirit. Solomon had in fact recognised this principle long before (1 Kings 8:27. See also Malachi 1:11), as indeed had some of the Psalmists. And this was something all had to learn, both Samaritan and Jew. This fact that God is Spirit, and therefore non-spatial and outside space as we know it, is important to remember. That is why He is accessible everywhere, and why we cannot even begin to understand His Being, apart from revelation. He is simply not definable in earthly terms.

And that is why those who would worship Him must worship Him “in Spirit and in truth”, looking to Him as the Father. This idea of ‘spirit and truth' is amplified throughout the Gospel and especially in John 14-17. What Jesus had come to bring was far too large to be limited to holy places and religious ceremonies, it was something that would transform the heart and bring a new relationship with God wherever men were, and it centred on truth.

‘In spirit and in truth.' ‘In spirit' emphasised the non-physical nature of the worship and its positive vitality. It was to be worship from the inner heart, as moved by the Spirit, made directly towards God, and irrespective of place. The danger with formal worship was that it could become cold and of little meaning. True worship had to be alive. What mattered was that such worship came from the heart. ‘In truth', however, stressed that such worship must also be in accordance with revealed truth. His words were not just a recipe enabling men to do what they liked and have free rein in their thoughts. That could only lead to error. There was a certain body of truth which had to be remembered and taken into account. God must be worshipped as He was revealed to be in the Scriptures and in the teaching and life of Jesus. The Greek construction makes the one idea run into the other. We might say, ‘in Spiritual truth'.

The description of God as ‘Spirit' connects up with John's general teaching about the Spirit in his Gospel. The Spirit is the life-giver and revealer of truth, thus those who come to God truly will receive life and enter into the truth, and this will raise their hearts in spiritual worship.

The use of the capital letter for Spirit in the phrase ‘in Spirit and in truth' is surely justified in the light of the Gospel as a whole, although we must recognise that both meanings are contained here. The Spirit awakens man's spirit. The work of the Spirit in bringing men into this relationship with God had already been established (John 3:1). While the woman may not have recognised this, the writer did. Now it was the Spirit's work that would make this new way of worship possible.

Of course through the ages there had always been men and women who worshipped God in spirit, as the Psalms make clear. But worship connected with particular holy places, using formal ceremonies and physical sacrifices and other paraphernalia, could and had replaced the real thing for the majority. The danger with formality is that it becomes a formality. The work of the Spirit would now release men from this.

The ideas of ‘spirit' and ‘truth' bear a superficial comparison with the teaching of the Dead Sea scrolls. They too emphasised spirit and truth. This was therefore terminology current at the time in Palestine. But to them ‘truth' was what they themselves believed and taught, and the ‘spirit' was not seen as divine. There is no real correlation in meaning with here.

‘The hour is coming, and now is'. Stressing that the new work of the Spirit had now begun in the presence of Jesus.

‘True worshippers'. Here there is the deliberate distinction between those who worship God externally and those who worship Him from the heart in truth (compare Isaiah 1:10).

‘Such does the Father seek.' God does not desire outward worship and paraphernalia, except in so far as they are helpful in producing inner worship. He wants no sycophancy and bootlicking. He seeks worship from the heart in accordance with the truth and obedience which will demonstrate the genuineness of the worshipper. He could well have quoted here Isaiah 1:10. There the paraphernalia was rejected, and the heart that is right towards God and man is demanded. God desires fellowship and relationship with man. He does not seek slaves but sons. While it is right that we should look on ourselves as His slaves, as well as His sons, it is the latter that is prominent in God's eyes.