Worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth

Jesus' revelation to the Samaritan woman (John 4:23-24) is the most complete biblical text on the nature of true worship: "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Worship must be "in spirit"—from the depths of one's being, under the work of the Holy Spirit—and "in truth"—in accordance with the biblical revelation of who God is. The context of these words is striking. Jesus teaches a foreign and despised woman that the place of worship no longer matters—neither Mount Gerizim nor Jerusalem—but that it is the quality of the heart that counts. This is a true revolution: worship is no longer confined to a place or a rite, but resides in the heart that sincerely seeks the Father under the leading of the Spirit. And the text states a startling truth: "the Father seeks" such worshipers (v. 23). God Himself takes the initiative to seek those who will worship Him this way. To worship in spirit is to worship from a heart renewed by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8), with authentic sincerity and in His presence; it is opposed not to outward forms, but to hollow formalism. To worship in truth is to worship God as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures and supremely in Jesus Christ, "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Truth guards worship from idolatry: to worship the true God as He is, and not the god we would prefer Him to be.