'Neither In This Mountain Nor Yet In Jerusalem'

Of all the sections in the fourth gospel account (FGA) Jesus' discourse with the Samaritan woman (Jn 4.7-26) fascinates me the most. It's loaded with material that could keep any teacher at work in any interested group for a good while.

The discourse has 3 stages: first, water (vv7-15); then, her 'husband' (16-19); finally the worship place (20-26).

The gospel's question is, Who is Jesus? The writer focuses on her answers to this question as in each section her understanding becomes greater.

In the 'water' section, Jesus is for her greater even than the patriarch Jacob who gave people the well (noted in the story). In the 'husband' section, Jesus is 'a prophet'. In the third section, the 'worship' one, she suggests indirectly that He is Messiah¹ (Christ).

All of these change sections are important but I think the worship one is very significant. She first decides to pick a theological debate with Him about the correct place to worship (which is a major bone of contention between the Judeans in the south, and the Samaritans). 

However, remember in the FGA, Jesus is the Temple (Jn 2.19-22)! He dismisses both places! Worship has to get beyond physical place to how it's done and to whom it's directed.

No question about to whom it is directed: it's to the Father (Jn 4.21,23). But, how is it to be done? 'God is a² Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth' (Jn 4.24, KJV).

Jesus inaugurates a New Worship Era (Jn 4.23). The new worship required of 'true' worshippers, must³ be 'in spirit and in truth'. We often quote this verse as if its meaning is self-evident but it's clearly not straightforward.

First, it could be understood as a hendiadys⁴, a figure of speech where two things stand for one. If that understanding is assumed then the phrase could be understood as 'true spirit' or 'spiritual truth'. The 'spiritual truth' is that Jesus is, who He said He was, the Messiah.

On the other hand, 'spirit' and 'truth' obviously are dominant words in the FGA. So we could take them singly as they are. 

In this part of the gospel 'spirit' is dominant because of the prominence of the idea, 'God is spirit', but the 'truth' that Jesus has announced to the woman, 'I that speak to you am He (Messiah)' is also in the foreground of their discussion (and in the whole FGA).

So these two possible interpretations emphasise the truth found in the key verse in the FGA 'that Jesus is the Christ' (Jn 20.31).

Worship ought to stand in the spirit-engendered truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, who has come among us to save us from the pleasure, the penalty, the power and the presence of sin. His salvation leads us to the Father who so loved us in giving Jesus for us to bring about the reconciliation of his alienated creation.

If you have some thoughts on John 4, let me know!  

Notes

1. And Jesus confirms that she is correct when he says, 'I that speak unto thee am he' (Jn 4.26).
2. Commentators argue about whether an 'a' should be in front of 'Spirit' or not. The KJV has the article ('a') but most later translations leave it out. We note in passing that God being Spirit means He cannot be confined to a physical temple so Jerusalem's temple and Mt Gerizim are obsolete.
3. Strong word in the original. (The KJV captures this nuance with its 'shall' translation.)
4. That is, a linguistic term whereby one idea is expressed with two words. For example, the 'water and spirit' of John 3.5 is probably better translated as 'spiritual water' referring to baptism. However, it could also be argued that both words could be taken singly as 'water' and 'spirit' (or 'Spirit').