# John 4:24 "in spirit and in truth"



## Presbyterian Deacon (Apr 6, 2008)

In John 4:24 we read, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." 

How would you explain this concept to a "new" believer? What does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth?


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## A5pointer (Apr 6, 2008)

See D.A. Carson on John


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## Presbyterian Deacon (Apr 6, 2008)

A5pointer said:


> See D.A. Carson on John



Thanks, but I'm more interested in seeing how PB members understand, and would explain this phrase to a new Christian. Perhaps some insights or illustrations that would be helpful in discussing this verse...that sort of thing.


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## panta dokimazete (Apr 6, 2008)

My

In spirit (with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might) and truth (limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture)

from here


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## panta dokimazete (Apr 6, 2008)

Also:



> VI. Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now, under the Gospel, either tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed: but God is to be worshipped everywhere, in spirit and truth; as, in private families daily, and in secret, each one by himself; so, more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly or wilfully to be neglected, or forsaken, when God, by His Word or providence, calls thereunto.


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## Poimen (Apr 6, 2008)

If you can follow my sermons notes on this passage, they may hold some profit for you:

-though it was God’s will to be worshipped at Jerusalem for a time, the time is coming when true worshippers will desire to serve the Father in “spirit and in truth”
-for Christ having come and inaugurated the new and final age (covenant) by His death and resurrection, the church would enfold all who believed in His name for the forgiveness of sins
-the abrogation (end) of ceremonies marks us different than God’s people in the OT: this is entirely consistent with the NT focus on the mystery being revealed in the coming of the Messiah – far from saying that the Israelites never worshipped God properly, or in truth, this worship was only meant to be for a time until the full revelation of the gospel was brought forth (more? Turn to Hebrews: fulfillment)

-thus we are no longer restricted to a place of worship but only to the style or manner
-so Christ says “God is a spirit (spirit) and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit in truth” 

-the first thing we may note is that true worship is according to God’s character Spirit: worship is defined by His being, His attributes not by our will or desire
-when we worship God we ought to see His immutability, omniscience, omnipresence, infinity, independence
-when we worship God we ought to see His grace, mercy, love, justice and wrath
-instead of making services appeal to our sinful hearts or to the demands of the world we ought to show and praise God: in our music, in our words our attitudes, everything
-if our services are half-hearted, irreverent or utterly without life then this is the god we worship, but then he is not the true God of the scriptures

-this point is supported by what our Lord tells us concerning the necessity of this type of worship: “must” anyone who truly worships God desires to do it as He pleases; and if they don’t then they ought to examine themselves whether they are in the faith, as Paul says
-and yet on the other hand, it does little good if we rant and rave about the fact that we must worship God according to His Word if we don’t examine His word and see what He would have us do

-practically, what does it mean to worship in spirit and truth?

1) Trinitarian: Father, Son and Holy Spirit
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
John 16:13 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” 
-we cannot worship the Father without the Son, or the Father and the Son without the Spirit (as the Pharisees)
-many of the people to whom Christ addressed throughout His ministry would have thought that these men were true worshippers and yet they were white-washed tombs
-in a very real sense they did not know God because they did not believe in His Son nor receive His Spirit: salvation from God is our motivation!

2) secondly we must be very careful not to make worshipping in Spirit an invention of our imagination: not as we feel, as before, but in spirit and truth
-they go together: John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”


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## Presbyterian Deacon (Apr 7, 2008)

Presbyterian Deacon said:


> In John 4:24 we read, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
> 
> How would you explain this concept to a "new" believer? What does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth?







Thank you JD and Poimen. Anyone else?

I am especially interested in thoughts about what is meant here by "spirit." Is it the human spirit, the Holy Spirit, or some combination of the two?

It is interesting that Jesus says, the Father seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and truth, but doesn't explain what He means by that. How would the woman he was talking to have understood it? 

Today, we can tie it into other portions of scripture. "What is truth?" "Sanctify them through thy word, thy word is truth," and so forth. We can look at how it is explained in the confessions and catechisms, but I guess my question at this point is this:

Was there some understanding of what Jesus meant that was common to His day (ie--no need to explain what He meant to the woman) that we have lost sight of?

Any thoghts?


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## ColdSilverMoon (Apr 7, 2008)

Presbyterian Deacon said:


> In John 4:24 we read, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
> 
> How would you explain this concept to a "new" believer? What does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth?



Worship with authenticity and accuracy.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Apr 7, 2008)

I believe the sense is, because God is a spirit, we are to worship him, not vainly or carnally, but with our spirits, that is, inwardly and not merely externally with lip service, by the help of the Holy Spirit, according to the rule that he has given us, even his word, which is truth (John 17.17).

George Swinnock, "The Christian Man's Calling" in _Works_, Vol. 1, p. 34:



> "God is a spirit, and he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth," John 4:24. In truth, that is, scripturally; opposite to the inventions of men's heads: in spirit, that is, sincerely; opposite to the dissimulation of men's hearts.



Archibald Hall, _Gospel Worship_, p. 22:



> In a word, whatever constitutes real, vital, powerful, and practical godliness, is characteristic of believers and their worship, under each dispensation: and therefore as "the worshipping of God in the spirit," [John 4:24] must denote something not confined to the Jewish saints, as such; it must have a reference to the system of gospel-institutions, appointed by Christ after his resurrection, which does not exclude bodily worship, but only figurative carnal ordinances.



John L. Girardeau, _Instrumental Music in Public Worship_, pp. 109-110:



> In his conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, our Savior enounced the great principle of the spirituality of worship: "God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." [John 4:24] While he acknowledged that the Jews, in contradistinction to the Samaritans, paid intelligent worship to God, for the reason that it involved the knowledge of salvation—a salvation to be accomplished by One who, according to the flesh, would spring from the Jewish stock, and while he virtually admitted that they had complied with divine direction in conducting a ceremonial and typical worship with its seat at Jerusalem, he added the significant words: "Believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father ... The hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." [John 4:21-23] In these words, which adumbrated the genius of gospel-worship, our blessed Lord clearly taught two things: first, that the ceremonial, typical, ritualistic worship of the Jewish temple was designed to be temporary, and that the hour was swiftly approaching when it would be entirely abolished; secondly, that even that stated worship which had been devoid of a ceremonial, typical and ritualistic character, would, under the influences to be exerted upon the people of God in the dispensation about to be inaugurated, become more spiritual than ever.



George Hutcheson, _An Exposition of John's Gospel_, pp. 64-65:



> As for these two properties of worship -- "in spirit and in truth," they must be taken in opposition to the properties of the former worship, and so they come to one in substance, that instead of external ceremonies, which are called carnal, Hebrews, vii. 16; ix. 10; and shadows, Heb. x. 1; the Lord would have a spiritual worship, and the truth of what was represented by these shadows, as Rom. xii. 1; Heb. xiii. 15, 16.
> ...
> 5. It is not sufficient to make an approven worshipper that they do not multiply rites and ceremonies, but their worship must be chiefly inward, flowing from grace engaging the heart in God's service, and from the breathing and influence of the Spirit; not resting on an external form of lawful worship, or any bodily exercise about it. So much also are we taught from this, that worship must be "spirit," or spiritual, for the manner of performance as well as for its nature in itself.
> 
> ...



Fisher's Catechism:



> Q. 4.16. What may we learn from God's being a spirit?
> 
> A. To worship him in spirit and in truth, John 4:24.
> 
> ...



See also, Stephen Charnock, _Existence and Attributes of God_, Vol. 1, "Discourse 4 -- On Spiritual Worship (John 4.24).


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## MW (Apr 7, 2008)

Besides applying the words to the matter (what) and the manner (how) of worship, Hugh Binning also speaks of an aspect which is rarely touched on, but I consider to be the principal lesson which Christ was teaching the woman of Samaria. For distinction sake I call it the *measure* of worship.



> But more particularly, the worship must have the stamp of God's spiritual nature, and be conformed to it in some measure, else it cannot please him. There must be a conformity between God and souls. This is the great end of the gospel, to repair that image of God which was once upon man, and make him like God again. Now, it is this way that Jesus Christ repairs this image, and brings about the conformity with God, by the soul's worshipping of God suitable to his nature, which, as it grows more and more suitable to God's nature, it is the more and more like God, and happy in that likeness. Now, "God is a Spirit, therefore," saith Christ, you "must worship him in spirit and in truth." The worship then of saints must be of a spiritual nature, that it may be like the immortal divine Spirit. It is such worshippers the Father seeks. He seeks souls to make them like himself and this likeness and conformity to God is the very foundation of the soul's happiness, and eternal refreshment. This is a point of great consequence, and I fear not laid to heart.


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## Iconoclast (Apr 8, 2008)

Presbyterian Deacon said:


> Presbyterian Deacon said:
> 
> 
> > In John 4:24 we read, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
> ...



Clearly Jn 4:24 has several portions of the Nt. that speak to it's fulfillment.

Isa.64 :


> 1Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
> 
> 2As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
> 
> ...


 quoted by Paul in 1 Cor2:7-16


> 4And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
> 
> 5That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
> 
> ...


This knowledge is Spirit given .We are translated into the Kingdom of The Son.
Jn3-


> 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
> 
> 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
> 
> ...



Peter spoke of this 1Pet1


> 9Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
> 
> 10Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
> 
> ...



and again-


> 22Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
> 
> 23Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.


I could also cut and paste virtually all of Isa. 40-66,[although it is difficult to read such a long post] but look at all the promises of the law going forth to the gentiles,The Servant raising up His people,both Jew and Gentile.All the promises made to Zion and Jerusalem coming to pass as the Nt temple is built with living stones. Just read the second half of Isa. or at least 61-66.
Look at the descriptions of the worshippers being trees of righteousness,priests of the Lord,
All of the promises of these chapters can only be fulfilled in the realm of the Spirit, with only those who are Spirit baptized, in saving union with Christ.
No more, No less.


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## Dieter Schneider (Apr 9, 2008)

To add more ... 

1. Context: Encounter with the Samaritan woman (there is true and false worship; cf. will worship, entertainment; formalism; superstition, etc.)
2. Initiative: The Father does the seeking (4:23b.)
3. The Messianic Cross: v.23 makes reference to 'the hour'; a Johannine reference to the Cross! of the Messiah (vv.25f.) who Himself is the truth. The very idea, of course, is repudiated by the natural man, however religious he may be, see 1.Cor.1f. .
4. 'Must' - means necessary. 

In essence, true worship is Christ- / Cross-centered rather than man-centered. I fear that is the missing element, and it is just possible to imagine a Christ-less Church, see Rev.3:20.

And here is a good audio sermon by Eric Alexander.


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