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| Questions about: Apologetics and Theology |
| D.: (03/20/07) Hi, Jack,
Could you share how do YOU understand what means to worship in spirit and truth?
THANK YOU.
D. |
| Jack: D., the phrase you quote comes from John 4:23, where Jesus is speaking to a woman of Samaria. The whole quote is as follows:
You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we [Jews] worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
This means two things to me: 1) In spirit: this would mean, as one person expressed it, “to worship God not just with words or thoughts or mere emotion but with one’s innermost self, at one’s center, one’s heart. Such worship engages the mind, emotions, and body, but it is centered deeper, in the spirit.” These are my thoughts, but expressed very well. This is the very personal, even subjective dimension of worship. 2) In truth: however, there is an objective dimension. Jesus is speaking to a woman who has grown up worshipping God through a certain tradition. Jesus notes, frankly but kindly, that she has been mistaken. Sincerity is not enough. It is the Jews who up to this point have had God’s true revelation. However, even this revelation is incomplete. He is the Messiah, and “The time is coming” when His followers will worship God through the completed revelation, through Him. Later, He will say to His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me,” (John 14:6). Thus, God seeks people who will come to Him through Jesus, the Truth, and who will worship Him sincerely, with all their being. Jack |
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