To Be Or Not To Be

Worship In Spirit & Truth

Recently, one of the most quoted phrases of scripture by people teaching on the topic of worship has been "worship in spirit and in truth". Like many phrases and words that are popular, the definitions and meanings become blurred or misused. To clarify the meaning and intent of the scripture we must return to the Biblical text and review the context of the quote.

Worshiping in spirit and truth is a reference from Jesus discussion with the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. Jesus used this phrase as part of a response to a question asked of him by the woman. Specifically, she said this:

"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is in Jerusalem." (John 4:19-20)

Her statement reflected two points that she was inquiring about:

What is the location of the place of worship? In other words- where do we worship?
Should she listen to her "fathers" or to "you Jews"? In other words, is God revealing Himself through a specific people, religion and understanding? Another way of asking it was "who do we worship"; the God of the Samaritans or the God of the Jews? Can we worship any God, or must it be the God of the Jews?

Jesus answers the first question by saying:

"Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." (John 4:21)

Jesus is clarifying that the place of worship is not going to be determined by a specific location. It must be based on something else.

He handles the second issue of who do we worship very clearly:

"You Samaritans worship what you do not know, we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews." (John 4:22)

Jesus is clearly saying that it matters who we worship, and what understanding we have of the One we worship. Specifically, it is clear that the Jewish heritage and understanding of God was how truth and salvation was to come, and the only proper concept of the person of God to which we should correctly ascribe worship. In short, proper theology is essential to proper worship.

Jesus then summates his short teaching on worship by restating the two points using the phrase "spirit and truth", as follows:

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." (John 4:23)

Here Jesus makes the transition from just people who have a tradition of worship, to those He calls "true worshipers". In those people, Jesus states, will come a kind of worship is of the "spirit". The nature of spiritual things is that they are unseen, and that they are not necessarily what is reflected in the physical realm. As such, worship that is in the "spirit" is worship that happens regardless of the physical location, but instead reflects the unseen things: the condition of the heart ("true worshipers"); the brokenness before God; the relationship of the worshiper to God ("worship the Father"). We already saw that Jesus debunked the notion of an earthly location being essential for real worship. Here we see that He now directs us to worship the omni-present Spirit on His terms, not ours- in His realm (of spirit, heart, will, and soul), and not ours (of mountains, buildings, ceremonies and traditions). So we must worship in "spirit".

Jesus is also reiterating his importance (as already stated) on worshiping the "right" God- the God of the Jews. Truth is not relative, nor can wrong theology lead you (no matter how well intentioned the person) to the correct understanding of God to whom you can appropriately worship. So we must worship in "truth".

Jesus final sentence on the topic synthesizes it for the woman (and us), answering her questions and restating the essentials:

"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24)

Ultimately, this says that we must worship God as a spiritual being (not just in a physical location), by considering spiritual things (the heart, our relationship with Him). It also says that we must worship Him in truth (the God of the Jews), as we consider that our understanding and theology is crucial to proper worship.

That, in my opinion, is what the Bible is referring to by worshiping in spirit and in truth.

May God bless you as you “worship in spirit and truth”.