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John 4:19-24 – True Worship
John 4:19-24 HCSB “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that You are a prophet. (20) Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, yet you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” (21) Jesus told her, “Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. (22) You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. (23) But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. (24) God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
While Gerizim (the home of the Samaritan temple) was right from the Samaritan’s perspective, Jesus says it was not from knowledge. There is more than one contrast being spoken of in this text. There is the contrast between what was and what now is, and a contrast between where the Jews worshiped and where the Samaritans worshiped. “Worship in spirit and truth” is not an “either-or,” but a “both-and.”
“Truth” can apply to promise versus fulfillment (shadow vs. reality); and “truth” can apply to the Jewish system being “truth” compared to the Samaritan system which was false. That is the “both-and” aspect of this text. It is about truth versus reality and truth versus error.
The temple is prominent within John. Jesus is the true temple compared to the Jewish temple; but the Jewish temple is the true temple compared to false Samaritan temple. How do I make this comparison? Jesus said, (John 4:22 HCSB) “You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.” Truth comes from knowledge. What is not from knowledge is not truth and does not produce salvation.
The true temple of reality comes from the true temple of shadow. Since Jesus could not come from the Samaritans, He could not come from their temple. That makes their temple false. Therefore since salvation is from the Jews, the Samaritan temple and religion is not the shadow or the reality. It is wrong. It is false. It is not in spirit or truth.
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