John 4:23-24

“ But the hour cometh and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for also the Father seeketh such worshipers. 24. God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. ”

But: in contrast with the period of Israelitish prerogative now ended. The words, and now is, added here, serve to arouse more strongly the already-awakened attention of the woman. It is as if the first breath of the new era were just passing across this soul. Perhaps Jesus sees in the distance His disciples returning, the representatives of this nation of new worshipers which in a few moments will be recruited by the first-fruits of the Samaritan people. He brings out the two characteristics of the future worship: spirituality and truth. Spirit denotes here the highest organ of the human soul, by means of which it has communion with the divine world. It is the seat of contemplation, the place of the soul's meeting with God, the sanctuary where the true worship is celebrated; Romans 1:9: “ God, whom I serve in my spirit ” (ἐν τῷ πνεύματί μου); Ephesians 6:18: praying in the spirit (ἐν πνεύματι). This spirit, in man, the πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπινον, remains a mere potentiality, so long as it is not penetrated by the Divine Spirit. But when this union is accomplished, it becomes capable of realizing the true worship of which Jesus speaks. This first feature marks the intensity of the new worship. The second, truth, is the corollary of the first. The worship rendered in the inner sanctuary of the spirit is the only true worship, because it alone is conformed to the nature of God, its object: “ God is spirit. ” The idea of sincerity does not fill out the meaning of the word truth; for a Jewish or Samaritan prayer might evidently be sincere. The truth of the worship is its inward character, in opposition to every demonstration without spiritual reality. Though these words exclude all subjection of Christian worship to the limitations of place or time, it is nevertheless true that by virtue of its very freedom, this worship can spontaneously accept conditions of time and place. But, as Mme. Guyon says, the external adoration is then “only a springing forth of the adoration of the Spirit” (quoted by Astie). The two defining words: in spirit and in truth are formal; the concrete character of the new worship is expressed by the word: the Father. The worship of which Jesus is speaking is the converse of a son with his father. We know from what source Jesus drew this definition of spiritual and true worship. “ Abba (Father) ” such was the constant expression of His inmost feeling. By adding that the Father, at this very moment, is seeking such worshipers, Jesus gives the woman an intimation that He is Himself the one sent by the Father to form this new people and that He invites her to become one of them.

The 24th verse justifies, from the essential nature of God, what He has just said of the spiritual and true nature of the worship now demanded by God Himself. Jesus does not give the maxim “ God is spirit ” as a new revelation. It is like an axiom from which He starts, a premise admitted by His interlocutor herself. The Old Testament taught, indeed, the spirituality of God in all its sublimity (1 Kings 8:27), and the Samaritans certainly held it, like the Jews (see Gesenius, de Samarit. theol. p. 12, and Lucke). What is new in this saying is not the truth affirmed, but the consequence which Jesus draws from it with reference to the worship which was to come. He calls forth from it the idea of the people of the children of God offering throughout the whole world constant adoration; comp. Malachi 1:11. Thus to a guilty woman, perhaps an adulteress, Jesus reveals truths which He had probably never unfolded to His own disciples. The reading of the Sinaitic MS. ἐν πνεύματι ἀληθείας, in the spirit of truth, is derived from John 14:17; John 15:26, etc., and arises from the false application of the word πνεῦμα to the Holy Spirit.