Bible Studies
Worship In Spirit and Truth (Jn. 4:20-24)
Series: Additional StudiesIntroduction:
1. This woman found it amazing that Jesus was talking with a Samaritan. For Jews typically have no dealings with Samaritan’s (4:9). 2. The disciples found it amazing that Jesus was talking with a woman (4:27). 3. But what Jesus said in the verses that we have just read is more amazing than either of these things.a. What is Jesus saying?
b. What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth?
c. What kind of changes is He proposing based on His being the Messiah?
d. What are the implications for this woman? For us?
Discussion:
I. Samaritan religion was kind of a hodgepodge put together when the northern kingdom was overcome by Assyria (2 Kings 17:23b-33).A. The Assyrian’s carried away Israel into exile.
B. They filled the cities of Samaria with people from other places.
1. “They did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them which killed some of them.”
2. They appealed to the king of Assyria saying, “We do not know the custom of the god of the land; so he has sent lions among us.”
3. What happened next gives us the background of the religion of the Samaritans. Read 2 Kings 17:27-33.
4. This gives an explanation as to why Jews had no dealings with Samaritans and some insight into the conversation between the Samaritan woman and Jesus.
C. Although the woman had some insight concerning the coming of the Messiah she recognized a radical difference between the religion of the Samaritans and that of the Jews.
1. When she perceived that Jesus was a prophet she hit Him with a question that focused attention on the difference.
2. “Our fathers,” she said, “worshiped in this mountain (Mount Gerizim), and you people say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”
3. God had placed a blessing on Mount Gerizim in Deut. 11:29. You may recall that Moses divided the 12 tribes, placed 6 on Mount Gerizim and 6 on Mount Ebal (Deut. 27:11ff).
a. Curses for disobedience were pronounced from Mount Ebal.
b. Blessings for obedience were pronounced from Mount Gerizim.
4. The Samaritan’s adopted Mount Gerizim as their place to worship.
II. Jewish religion had a long-standing tradition reaching back to the days of Abraham that validated Jerusalem as the place to worship.A. Mount Moriah (later encompassed by the city of Jerusalem) was the place where Abraham had sacrificed Isaac (Gen. 22).
B. Following the Exodus God had them build the tabernacle according to a pattern revealed through Moses. The temple in Jerusalem was built according to the same pattern.
C. During the days of David and Solomon God had designated Jerusalem as the place for the construction of the temple and thus the place to worship.
1. When Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem God’s validation was put on this place by “the thick cloud” representing His dwelling there (1 Kings 8:12-13).
2. Kings were condemned when they established alternative sites for worshiping God. Jeroboam’s idols in Dan and Bethel are the prime examples (1 Kings 12:25ff).
D. It is clear then why Jesus would say to the woman, “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews” (Jn. 4:22).
1. The difference was that Jewish worship was revealed by God and Samaritan worship was not.
2. Thus there was more to the differences than just the place. The difference in place was merely the most obvious element of contrast and therefore a focal point.
E. The woman however, recognized some overlap.
1. Her perception of “a prophet” dovetails at least somewhat with the Deuteronomic law (Deut. 18:15ff).
a. She perceives a prophet as a spokesperson of God capable of answering difficult questions.
b. But her perception is not perfect or to be logically consistent she should have joined the Jews.
2. A second overlap seems to have been a perception about the Messiah.
a. She recognized the Messiah as coming. (As per the prophets?)
b. She recognized He would “declare all things to us.” In other words, “He will straighten things out.”
III. Jesus’ response to her is with both conviction and mercy (4:21-24).A. It is quite clear that He is identifying her worship as uninformed, ignorant, without the authority of God, wrong. He says it gently, but His conclusion is obvious.
B. On the other hand Jewish worship is informed, with the authority of God, right—for salvation is from the Jews.
C. Conviction and mercy are further evidenced in what He says in verse 23: “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.”
1. This is often interpreted to mean that one must worship according to what God has revealed—TRUTH and do so genuinely (not hypocritically)—IN SPIRIT.
2. Certainly God demands worship according to what He has revealed and to worship with sincerity and genuineness of heart. But this interpretation does not do justice to this text.
3. Jesus is talking about a radical change. To worship according to revelation and to do so in sincerity has always been demanded by God. See Isa. 29:13; cf. Matt. 15:7-9.
4. To worship “in spirit and truth” for Jesus is so radical that it makes the place of worship no longer significant. Whatever Jesus means by worshiping “in spirit and truth” it does away with the centrality of worship in Jerusalem. What is so radical to make this kind of change? And, what other kind of changes might be included in that?
IV. What does it mean to worship “in spirit and truth”?A. One cannot read the opening of John’s gospel without understanding that for Him the coming of Jesus Christ is something absolutely the most radical thing ever.
1. He describes Him as God become flesh and dwelling among us (1:1, 14).
2. He is Creator, Life and Light.
3. Both John and the Samaritan woman know that the Messiah is here to make some radical CHANGES.
B. One of the things that John does in the first chapter is to make a statement about Jesus that catapults Him to superiority over Moses.
1. Jn. 1:17: “The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”
2. That is a powerful contrast for Jews to hear!
3. Notice the language “grace and truth were realized.”
4. If this phrase is equivalent to worship “in spirit and truth” then the statement that Jesus is making in Jn. 4 has to do with the establishment of the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31ff; cf. Heb. 8:8ff) and the worship associated with it. Worship that is not limited to Jerusalem and that earthly temple. Worship that now supersedes Levitical Priests, animal sacrifices, Holy Place and Most Holy place in the temple, and a whole host of other elements associated with Jewish worship, including inclusion of other nations in the kingdom of God—Samaritans, Gentiles, etc.
5. Such an understand fits with the thrust of the Gospel of John—the introduction of the Messiah inaugurates a new beginning.
6. Such an understanding fits the expectation of the woman of Samaria. “When the Messiah comes, He will declare all things to us,” she said.
C. The Book of Hebrews gives us insight into this.
1. It compares the Old Covenant with the New Covenant in a variety of ways.
2. Read Heb. 8:1-6.
a. It refers to the O.T. tabernacle being made according to a pattern.
b. This pattern is a copy and shadow of heavenly things.
c. The earthly tabernacle is contrasted with the true (cf. “worship in spirit and truth”) tabernacle.
d. It appears to me that “worship in spirit and truth” is equivalent to worship associated with the true tabernacle, the one not made with men’s hands, but the heavenly (or spiritual) one. The earthly tabernacle was only a model of the spiritual one. This is why it had to be made “according to the pattern” or it would not correspond to the heavenly.
e. The Book of Hebrews compares the two. The heavenly tabernacle has a better priesthood, a better sacrifice, enacted on better promises and is a better covenant. In other words, it is superior in every way.
1) With Jesus’ coronation to the right hand of God (Heb. 8:1) all of this has now become the reality. There has been a magnificent transition.
2) Animal sacrifices are out. The sacrifice of Christ is in.
3) Levitical priests are out. The priesthood of Christ is in.
4) The Law given through Moses is out. Grace and truth realized through Christ is in.
5) Worship limited to Jerusalem and the earthly tabernacle is out. Worship has now transcended such limitations (cf. Heb. 9:11ff).
f. It is no longer limited to Jews, “but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him” (Acts 10:34).
g. There are a whole host of other transitional elements (cf. Col. 2:16ff).
1) Circumcision is no longer relevant (Gal. 6:15).
2) Jewish dietary regulations are no longer relevant.
3) Special feast days—Tabernacles, Pentecost, etc. No longer relevant. Sabbath day regulations—no longer relevant.
4) All of these are “a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” “Put on the new,” says Paul (Col. 3:1ff).
V. There is something else I want you to give consideration to.A. Under the copy, type, shadow associated with the Old Covenant musical instruments were authorized in the worship of God (cf. 2 Chron. 29:25-28; Psa. 150 and others).
1. There is simply no doubt about it.
2. Everyone agrees that this is the case.
B. Yet everyone agrees that such authorization is noticeably absent under the New Covenant.
1. Some conclude that it will be all right since it was included in the Old Covenant. That though it is not required it is permissible.
2. Perhaps not.
a. What does Scripture say? Eph. 5:18-19: “Singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.”
b. Col. 3:16: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
3. Have the harps, lyres, cymbals, trumpets, etc. been superseded by human hearts? No passage specifically states this. There is no specific prohibition against the harps, lyres, cymbals, trumpets, etc. to be sure.
4. If our reasoning is that it was approved in the Old Covenant and therefore it must be permissible under the New will we also reason, that the lighting of a seven branched lampstand is permissible? A table of showbread? A golden laver? An Ark of the Covenant? A mercy seat? Etc.
5. If these things associated with the Old Covenant of types and shadows (not specifically addressed (or prohibited) in the New Covenant) are superseded in New Covenant is it unfair to conclude that the harps, lyres, cymbals, trumpets, etc. have been superseded (by the heart) as well?
Conclusion:
1. When people ask me, “Why don’t you use instruments in your worship?” This is why I don’t. 2. There are other lines of reasoning and other things to consider: linguistic considerations, historical considerations, and pleas for unity, to name a few. 3. But the major reason why I do not is because I believe the human heart has superseded the instruments authorized under the Old Covenant.
