John 4:24

Joh_4:24

God is a Spirit, and they that worship Hill must worship Him in spirit and in truth

God is a Spirit

There are two ways of knowing and describing God--Affirmatively, which ascribes to Him whatever is excellent; Negatively, which separates from Him whatever is imperfect.

The first is like a painting, which adds one colour to another to make a lovely picture; the other like a carving, which cuts away what is superfluous. The latter is the easier. When we say that God is infinite, immense, immutable, they are negatives. Spirit, too, is a negation--not a body. We transfer the term to God because spirit is the highest excellence in our nature. It is signified in the Divine Name (Exo_3:14), and expressly declared in text and Heb_12:9.

I. THE DOCTRINE. God is a pure spiritual being. Other-wise

1. He could not be the Creator. Every artificer has his model first in his mind.

2. He could not be One. If He had a body He would be capable of division. Where there is the greatest unity there is the greatest simplicity Deu_6:4).

3. He could not be invisible (1Ti_1:17; Joh_5:37). Sometimes a representation is made to the inward sense (1Ki Isa_6:1), but not of the Essence. Sometimes men are said to see Him face to face (Gen_32:30; Deu_34:10), but only in the sense of fuller manifestation.

4. He could not be infinite (2Ch_2:6). The very heavens have their limits.

5. He could not be independent. What is compounded of parts depends on those parts, and is after them; as the parts of a watch are in time before it. But God is not so (Isa_44:6).

6. He would not be immutable (Mal_3:6).

7. He could not be omnipresent (Deu_4:39; Jer_23:24), since a body can not be in two places at the same time.

8. He could not be the most perfect Being. The most perfect is the most spiritual and simple, as gold among metals is most free from alloy (1Jn_1:5).

II. THE OBJECTION. How can God be a spirit when bodily members are ascribed to Him?

1. This is in condescension to our weakness. We arc not able to conceive a spirit but by some physical attribute.

2. These signify the acts of God as they bear some likeness to ours. His wisdom is called His eye; His efficiency, His hand and arm; by His face, we understand the manifestation of His favour; by His mouth, the revelation of His will; by His heart, the sincerity of His affections, etc.

3. Truly those members which are the instruments of the highest actions are thus employed.

4. These may be figuratively understood with respect to the Incarnation.

5. We must conceive of them, therefore, not according to the letter but the intent. When Christ calls Himself a Vine, Bread, Light, who understands Him literally?

III. THE USE. If God be a pure spiritual Being, then

1. Man is not the image of God according to his external form, but in the spiritual faculties (Eph_4:24; Col_3:10). It is unreasonable to form any image of Him. This was forbidden by Pythagoras, undreamt of by the Romans for 170 years, and deemed wicked by the Germans. God has absolutely prohibited it (Exo_20:5; Deu_5:8-9; Isa_11:13).

(1) We cannot fashion His image. Can we that of our own souls?

(2) To do so would be unworthy of God (Jer_10:8; Jer_10:14; Rom_1:23-25 : Exo_32:31).

(3) Yet is natural to man.

2. Our conceptions must be directed towards God as a pure, perfect spirit, than which nothing can be conceived more perfect, pure, and spiritual. Conceive of Him as excellent without any imperfection; a spirit without parts; great without quantity; perfect without quality; everywhere without place; powerful without members; understanding without ignorance; and when you have risen to the highest, consider Him as infinitely beyond.

3. No corporeal thing can defile Him, no more than the quagmire can tame the sunbeam.

4. He is active and communicative. The more anything approaches the nature of spirit, the more diffusive it is--air, e.g. As a spirit God is

(1) Possessed with all spiritual blessings (Eph_1:3);

(2) Indefatigable in acting. If we be like God, the more spiritual we are, the more active we shall be.

5. He is immortal (1Ti_1:17).

6. We see how to communicate with Him; by our spirits. We can only know and embrace a spirit with our spirits (Psa_51:17; Eph_4:23).

7. He only can be the true satisfaction of our spirits.

8. We must take most care of that wherein we are most like God.

9. We must take heed of those sins which are spiritual (2Co_7:1). (S. Charnock, B. D.)

The spirituality of God

I. GOD IS INVISIBLE. We can only see what has form. It is no imperfection in our vision that it cannot see what it was never made to see. A spirit can only be known by its operations through a material body. God manifests Himself not to sense, but to experience.

II. GOD CANNOT ASSUME A MATERIAL FORM, for it would confine Him, whereas He is everywhere. Whoever imagined the form of God. The most rapt prophet has only seen light unapproachable as His symbol.

III. GOD HAS ASSUMED TERMS BY WHICH HE HAS MANIFESTED HIMSELF.

1. The pillar of cloud.

2. The burning bush.

3. The elements, as at Sinai.

4. A more definite form in Isa_6:1-13.

5. In the fiery furnace as a man.

6. As the angel of the covenant.

IV. GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF IN THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST. The image of the invisible God. (J. T. Duryea, D. D.)

Of God and His natural perfections

I. THERE IS BUT ONE GOD. We are led to this

1. By the light of nature. There can be but one infinite and supreme; it is a contradiction to suppose otherwise. The wiser of the heathen philosophers had their one supreme god.

2. By revelation (Deu_32:39; Isa_43:10; Mar_12:29).

II. THIS GOD IS A SPIRIT.

1. He is incorporeal and invisible (Col_1:15; 1Ti_6:16; Joh_5:37).

2. He lives and acts (Joh_5:26; Psa_36:9).

3. He has understanding and will (Psa_104:24; Eph_1:11; Isa_28:29; Dan_4:35).

III. THIS GOD IS AN INFINITELY PERFECT SPIRIT, and is distinguished in a transcendent manner from other spirits.

1. An infinite Spirit (Isa_40:15-17).

2. A self-sufficient and independent Spirit (Exo_3:14; IsaJob 22:2, 3; Rev_4:11).

3. An eternal Spirit (Psa_90:2; Psa_9:7; Psa_102:27).

4. An unchangeable Spirit (Jam_1:17).

(1) In His being and perfection.

(2) In His glory.

(3)In His blessedness.

(4) In His decrees (Job_23:13; Psa_32:11; Is

46:10, 11).

(5) In His promises (Isa_54:10; Mal_2:6).

5. An omnipresent Spirit (Jer_23:24; Act_17:27-28; Psa_139:7-10).

6. An all-knowing Spirit (Psa_147:5; Heb_4:13; Job_34:21-22). On this ground He challenges the heathen (Isa_41:22-23). All this He knows of Himself without any external medium (Is Psa_94:10).

7. An Almighty Spirit (Psa_33:6; Eph_3:20).

Application

1. How absurd and abominable are all images of God (Jer_10:8, Rom_1:23-25).

2. What awful sentiments should we entertain of Him.

3. What a dreadful enemy and what a comfortable friend He must be.

4. How thankfully should we embrace a gospel revelation which makes Him accessible. (J. Guyse, D. D.)

The nature and worship of God

I. GOD IS A SPIRIT. All the substances with which we are acquainted are resolvable into material and spiritual. Between them there is this essential difference, that no matter, however refined, can be so organized as to be capable of originating a single feeling. Where, therefore, there is a judgment, will, afflictions, there is the subsistence which we call spirit. Of this kind is the spirit of man. But human and angelic spirits are finite; God is infinite. Because God is an infinite Spirit

1. He is present in every place, and therefore His worshippers may in every place find Him. Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?

2. From this property arises the perfection of His knowledge, His omniscience. However matter may be extended, it would possess no consciousness of any object with which it might come in contact. But when we conceive of spiritual presence we conceive of consciousness and knowledge too. Wherever we are present we know. Apply this to God. He is present to mark the risings of desire. Let this admonish the sinner. But it is at the same time most encouraging to the real worshipper, who is conscious of his own sincerity, to know that God searcheth the heart.

3. Hence arises the consideration of His ceaseless activity. We feel conscious of something of this in ourselves. We find no weariness in the operations even of a finite spirit; the power of the soul is now far too mighty for the feebleness of the body. But My Father worketh hitherto, etc. Every faithful worshipper is absolutely sure, not only of the notice of His eye, but of the unwearied operation of His hand.

4. We thence infer the unchangeableness of His nature. An infinite Spirit must, of necessity, be immutable. Even we, imperfect and changeable as we are, yet, in some degree, partake of this property. The body grows and increases in strength, and then it weakens and decays. Not so the spirit; that remains essentially the same. There are two kinds of change of which created spirits are capable, and which strongly mark their natural imperfection: they may change from good to bad; and from good to better. But God fills the whole orb of perfection at once.

II. GOD OUGHT TO BE WORSHIPPED because

1. He ought to be acknowledged; and publicly worshipped, because publicly acknowledged.

2. It is in acts of religious worship that we acquire just views of ourselves. If we do not regularly draw nigh to God, there will spring up within us a principle fatal to our peace and destructive of our salvation. The acts of solemn worship always prevent our thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think.

3. We have no reason to expect the slightest blessing except through the medium of His worship. God will be inquired of by us.

4. The exalted pleasure which the soul receives from religious worship. How amiable are Thy tabernacles, etc.

5. It is one direct means of preparing us for heaven. A great part of the happiness of heaven will consist in worship.

III. WE MUST WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.

1. In truth.

(1) In opposition to the shadowy dispensation of the law.

(2) In a true manner: that is, in the way which He has Himself appointed through the mediation of Christ.

2. In spirit. It is possible to worship Him in truth, and not in spirit. Orthodoxy does not necessarily produce piety. What is implied in this. It is to worship Him

(1) As a known, and not as an unknown, God. The understanding is thus called in.

(2) With a submissive will. Where the will is in rebellion, God cannot be worshipped.

(3) With the affections.

(a) Desire.

(b) Faith or trust.

(c) Gratitude. (R. Watson.)

Christian worship a necessity

When Felix, the youthful martyr of Abitina, having confessed himself a Christian, was asked whether he had attended meetings, he replied, with an explosion of scorn, As if a Christian could live without the Lords ordinance. (Rendall.)

True worship is spontaneous

A little girl went out to pray in the fresh snow. When she came in she said, Mamma, I couldnt help praying when I was out at play. What did you pray, my dear? I prayed the snow.prayer, mamma, that I once learned at the Sunday School: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. What a beautiful prayer! And here is a sweet promise to go with it: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. And what can wash them white, clean from every stain of sin? The Bible answers, They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (R. A. Bertram.)

God is a Spirit

God is a Spirit, as man is a spirit. There is no difference as to what may be termed the popular characters of spirit, between the spirit of man, and God, considered as a Spirit; for God made man in His own image. But there is one great and radical difference. Human and angelic spirits are finite; God, whom we worship, is infinite. (R. Watson.)

Spiritual worship essential

We cannot be truly said to worship God if we want sincerity; a statue upon a tomb, with eyes and hands lifted up, offers as good and as true a service--nay, it is better, it represents all that it can be framed to, but for us to worship without our spirits is a presenting God with a picture, an echo, voice, and nothing else, a complement; a mere lie, a compassing Him about with lies. (S. Charnock.)

What is spiritual worship

Our worship is spiritual when the door of the heart is shut against all intruders, as our Saviour commands in closet-duties. It was not His meaning to command the shutting of the closet door, and leaving the heart door open for every thought that would be apt to haunt us. (S. Charnock.)

Gods spirituality a necessity

If God were an infinite body, He could not fill heaven and earth, but with the exclusion of all creatures. Two bodies cannot be in the same space; they may be near one another, but not in any of the same points together. A body bounded He hath not, for that would destroy His immensity; He could not then fill heaven and earth, because a body cannot be at one and the same time in two different spaces; but God doth not fill heaven at one time, and the earth at another, but both at the same time. Besides, a limited body cannot be said to fill the whole earth, but one particular space in the earth at a time. A body may fill the earth with its virtue, as the sun, but not with its substance. Nothing can be everywhere with a corporeal weight and mass; but God, being infinite, is not tied to any part of the world, but penetrates all, and equally act, by His infinite power in all. (S. Charnock.)

The spirituality of God

The knowledge of God is the foundation of all true religion.

I. GOD IS A SPIRIT. In proportion as we are able to subject objects to the process of analysis and combination, we ascertain their true properties. Hence, the material world is more known than the immaterial.

1. We learn, that the spiritual mode of existence attributed to the Deity is essentially different from any sensible or material mode. When our Lord, therefore, said, that God was a Spirit, He asserted there was an infinite difference in all the essential properties of His nature from matter in any of its possible modifications.

2. The vast superiority of a spiritual over a material or compound nature. Mind is universally esteemed more valuable than matter in its most beautiful forms. But the superiority of spirit is not only apparent over matter, but over a nature compounded of matter and spirit. Once more; this compound nature is inferior to the spiritual, inasmuch as it is necessarily liable to change: it has an inherent tendency to dissolution. Again, spirituality of essence appears to be the condition of infinite perfection. It is that alone in which infinite perfection can inhere. We have already seen that mind is the test of power, wisdom, intelligene; and that none of the moral perfections of Jehovah can be predicated of simple matter. Justice, goodness, love, and compassion, are principles that belong exclusively to spirit. But we cannot infer, from the possession of these moral excellences, that God is simply spirit; for these qualities may attach to a complex nature, as they sometimes do in man. It is the infinity of His perfections that indicates the exclusive character of His essence.

II. DRAW SOME PRACTICAL DEDUCTIONS. The first is suggested by the context. They that worship Him. The construction of the sentence denotes the necessary connection that subsists between acceptable worship, and the nature of the object worshipped. If God is a Spirit, then we must worship Him with our spirits.

2. The spirituality of the Divine essence is the foundation of an intimate union between God and His intelligent creation, and should encourage our approach to Him. It forms a union of nature which could not subsist were He mere matter, and which cannot be with regard to substances that are exclusively material.

3. The spirituality of the Divine nature constitutes God an inexhaustible source of blessedness. We are conversant in the present world with material objects; they are the occasion of a great portion of our pleasures. But we are all conscious that they are an unsatisfying portion. To conclude: What a character of condescension and mercy does our subject give to the gospel of Jesus Christ: that economy of grace which makes God known in the Person of His Son. (S. Summers.)

The nature of acceptable worship

I. LET US OFFER SOME GENERAL REMARKS ON PUBLIC WORSHIP.

1. All places are alike acceptable with God.

2. Public worship should be conducted according to the Word of God.

3. Public worship is the duty and privilege of all believers.

4. Public worship requires due preparation and right feelings in entering upon it.

5. Public worship should be constant and regular.

6. Public worship should be followed by reflection and prayer.

II. THE NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE DIRECTIONS CONTAINED IN THE TEXT. God is a Spirit, etc. That is, He is not a corporeal being, therefore not confined to any locality, etc.

1. God is a Spirit, therefore He requires the worship Of the mind.

2. God is an invisible Spirit, and therefore He must be worshipped in the spirit of faith.

3. God is a great and glorious Spirit, and therefore we must worship Him in the spirit of reverence and fear.

4. God is a holy Spirit, therefore we must worship Him with contrition and prayer.

5. God is a merciful and gracious Spirit, and therefore we should worship Him in the spirit of confidence and hope.

6. God is a Spirit of infinite benevolence and love, and therefore we should worship Him in the spirit of affection and delight.

7. God is an omniscient Spirit, and therefore we must worship Him in sincerity and truth.

Application:

1. Remember your constant unworthiness and need.

2. Christs preciousness and merit.

3. And the Spirits willingness to aid you, if you seek His influences. (Jabez Burns, D. D.)

Christian worship

The spirit of adoration is as old as the records of humanity. Adam heard the voice of God in the garden. Abel offered sacrifice to an unseen power; and the guilty Cain bowed with his gift, though it was not accepted. From the border line of light, where authentic history fails us, we feel our way back towards the birth of man by the ruins of temples and the fragments of solemn tradition. Of early races and nations that have perished, we know, in many instances, nothing more than this--they worshipped. The disposition to worship belongs to the structure of the human soul. Religious ideas are changed by the progress and diffusion of knowledge. Forms and theories of worship are shattered and left behind by the enlargement and march of the intellect. Is it probable that worship itself will be outgrown? Sometimes we hear of fears that it may be so--that the advance of science will yet eradicate the tendency to prayer and homage. The answer is this: Is it likely that the progress of science will degrade human nature and extinguish one of the deepest elements of human nobleness? With the gain of knowledge we instinctively associate the advance of our race. Think, for a moment, of this globe filled with inhabitants, and no spire or dome of praise on it, no pulse or throb of adoration in all its millions! Think of this globe simply in its physical aspect, a crust of fossils and a core of fire, spinning in the bleak immensity, and bearing myriads on myriads of intelligent creatures yearly around the sun, without wonder, without awe, without any cry from brain or heart into the surrounding mystery ! Suppose that the minds of these multitudes shall be cultured far beyond the average of even the most favoured classes now, would you account it an advance of human nature, if all this knowledge was gained at the cost of the sense of a vast, incomprehensible power, within whose sweep the world and all its interests is bound? Worship will cease when wonder dies in the heart of man, and when the sense of the infinite is expunged from his soul. Is the progress of knowledge likely to produce either of these results? How can all the light we can collect and concentrate from finite facts release us from the conception of the infinite, or help us to enclose it within the tiny measure of our thought? And when has science so explained anything as to banish wonder from the mind that appreciates the explanation? Ah! against what folly are we arguing thus? Our knowledge in this universe to dry up the springs of awe, and deliver us from the weakness of adoration? Let the man come forward who is ready to say, under the starry arch of night, I know so much of nature that I blow as a bubble from me the thought of God, and count it childish to entertain the thought of a Sovereign Mind! Did Newton feel like saying that? Would Herschel say that in his observatory? If they had said it, should we think of them as greater men than now? It will not be the progress of knowledge, but the decay of the noble elements in human nature, that will ever banish worship from the world. Indeed the glory of knowledge is in fellowship with the devout sentiment. There are three purposes for which we may study truth--to obtain power over nature, to cultivate and enlarge our minds, and to discern and acknowledge a revelation from a boundless and invisible thought. I say nothing in disparagement of the first two. They are essential to civilization. The last is not inconsistent with devotion to the others. But if men stop with the first two, do they not miss the highest relations of truth? It is to refresh men with this noblest relation of truth and knowledge that churches are built. Worship is the exercise which the Church is to sustain. And all the aspects of truth which will bend the mind of man in humility, and exalt it in adoration, are legitimately within the range of the pulpit, and are, indeed, a portion of its trust. I have said that the glory, of knowledge lies in the acceptance of truth as a manifestation of an Infinite mind. And this is a conception that cannot be outgrown. It is ultimate. We can grow in the acknowledgment of it, in the power and blessedness which acquaintance with it brings; but the wisest man that will ever live will never go beyond it. Civilization depends on the continuance of faith in the personality and holiness of God. It is only through that faith that the consciences of men will be illumined, the will of man curbed, the devotion and sacrifice of heroes in the cause of truth inspired and confirmed. But there is still a higher conception connected with the personality and purity of God--the word Father. God is one, God is holy, God is the Father--the Infinite is love; then the attraction is complete in the heavens for allthe faculties of man, and for all human faculties in every race, in every age, and in all stages of progress and attainment. We owe this final revelation to Jesus Christ. The sense of mystery, the sense of beauty, the will, the conscience, the affections--all are drawn upward to that name with which, through Him, the Infinite has clothed Himself. Adoration of the Father is the distinctively Christian worship. (T. Starr King.)

The nature and worship of God

I. THE NATURE OF GOD.

1. Being a Spirit, He is a living substance; for though all living things be not spirits, every spirit is a living thing. The soul and angels are spirits, therefore live, but not in themselves (Act_17:28). God lives in and of Himself (Joh_5:26; Psa_36:9).

2. He is incorporeal, or without body (Luk_24:39). The Anthropomorphites and Audiarii of old, and so some new heretics, have asserted that God has a body, contrary to Rom_1:23; Is

40:18. Objection: God is said to have

(1) a head (Dan_7:9);

(2) a face (Psa_27:8; Psa_34:6);

(3) eyes (Psa_34:15);

(4) hands (Psa_38:2; Act_4:28);

(5) a mouth (Mat_4:4);

(6) ears (Psa_31:2);

(7) arms (Exo_6:6; Isa_53:1);

(8) fingers (Exo_31:18);

(9) Bowels (Isa_63:15).

Answer: (1) God speaks after the manner of men and to our capacity. We see by the eye: by that, therefore, God signifies to us His omniscience, etc.

3. He cannot be felt, because no body. Objection, Act_17:27. Answer: We cannot feel God Himself, but by His creatures (Rom_1:19-20).

4. He is invisible and cannot be seen (Job_9:11; 1Jn_4:12). No man can see Him (Exo_33:20; 1Ti_6:16). Reason: God has no body, shape, nor colour, and we cannot see our souls. Objection: God appeared to Abraham (Gen_18:1), and to Israel Deu_5:24), and others. Answer: Only by special manifestations of His glory. Objection: We shall see God (1Jn_3:2; 1Co_13:12). Answer: With our soul, not with our bodily eyes.

II. THE WORSHIP HE DESIRES. Not as if no external rites were to be used. Christ Himself lifted up His eyes (Joh_17:1); knelt (Luk_22:41); fell on His face (Mat_26:39); and instituted the sacrament (see also Eph_3:14; Act_21:5). We are to worship in spirit and in truth.

1. Not with the types and shadows of the Old Testament, but according to the truth of them as exhibited in the New (Joh_1:17; Joh_17:17).

2. Not under any bodily shape, because He is a Spirit. The Samaritans worshipped Him under the representation of a dove on Mount Gerizim; hence their worship was called strange worship by the Jews. This was not to worship in truth (Rom_1:23-25). But we are to worship God only am a Spirit, and so truly, not entertaining our gross conceits, or making any picture of Him (Deu_4:14-16).

3. Not only with external, but with internal worship.

(1) By performing all our devotions with our minds (1Co_14:15).

(2) By preferring Him in our judgments before all else (Psa_73:25).

(3) By submitting our wills to His (Luk_22:42).

4. By putting our trust and confidence in Him (Psa_37:3-6).

5. By devoting ourselves wholly to His service and obedient to His commands (1Sa_15:22).

Application:

1. This is the only worship acceptable to Him (Isa_1:11-12).

2. This is agreeable to His nature; He is a spirit and knows the heart Eze_33:31). (Bp. Beveridge.)

Spiritual religion

Our religion is true, deep, high, and broad in proportion as it grasps the fact that God is a Spirit, and as it recognizes that that which gives life and force to natural and historical religion is spirituality.

I. This aspect of the Divine nature CLEARS AWAY MANY PERPLEXITIES AND DIFFICULTIES WHICH GATHER ROUND THE DOCTRINE OF GOD. The same is true regarding man considered as a spirit.

1. The forms of expression borrowed from nature which describe God--rock, fortress, shield, etc.

will mislead us if taken literally.

2. The same is true with regard to the anthropomorphic expressions of the ancient covenant--hands, feet, husband, king, father.

3. And yet again with reference to the metaphysical words of a later time--procession, generation, substance, person. Each of these taken literallyleads us away from the spiritual, essential nature of God. But

4. There are three supreme. Biblical definitions which are all of a spiritual character: God is Spirit, Light, Love. Let us hold fast to these; they express the moral nature of God and the very essence of the Christian faith.

II. This same aspect tells us how GOD WILLS THAT THE WORLD SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO HIM.

1. Not by compulsion.

2. Not by the external decrees of authority.

3. Not by reproaches and curses.

4. Not by mere miracles and signs of outward power, which, although secondary means of persuasion, are not the main instruments.

5. But by the internal evidence of the spirit of Christianity, which was the earliest method.

III. IT IS THROUGH THE INWARD SPIRIT OF THINGS, AND NOT THROUGH THE OUTWARD FORM, THAT GOD IS APPROACHED.

1. It is not the letter of any creed or ordinance, or even of the Bible, but the meaning and inner spirit which vivifies and explains everything. The letter killeth, the Spirit giveth life.

2. The signs and ordinances of religion derive all their force from the directness with which they address our reason, conscience, and affections. The outward form may vary, but if the inward meaning is the same the essential grace is there.

3. God can be worshipped on heath or mountain side or upper room as well as in the most splendid cathedral; but also in the cathedral as well as on the heath, etc. And that is the more spiritual aspect of religion which recognizes the possibility of both; which comprehends the highest manifestations of the human spirit in architecture, music, painting, poetry, and yet steadily subordinates them to the moral purposes of truth, justice, and purity.

4. It is not the sublime and the grand, but the mean, ugly, and barbarous which binds itself to idolatrous usages; not the vast aisles of a venerable abbey, hut the narrow cell; not the awe-inspiring figures wrought by Raphael or Michael Angelo, but the hideous block picture. Luther said, Do not listen to those who open their mouths and call out Spirit, Spirit, Spirit! and then break down all the bridges by which the Spirit can enter. No! Make the best of all the gifts of God. They are all bridges, but only bridges. (Dean Stanley.)

The simplicity of Christs sublime disclosures

Pythagoras taught the maxim to his disciples and scrupulously observed it himself, Never wear the types of the gods upon your rings. That is to say, do not publish your highest and most sacred truths to the ignorant and uninitiated. Jesus Christ acts here, however, on a totally different principle; in the fulness of His heart He makes to this poor sinful woman some of His sublimest revelations. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)

God like the wind

This disclosure doubtless is of infinite depth; but that exquisite saying of Gregory the Greats that Scripture has depths for an elephant to swim in and shallows in which a lamb can wade, is capable of being pushed a little further. Oftentimes the same Scripture is at once a depth for one and a shallow for another, and thus it is here. We shall do little honour to our Lords skill in teaching, His adaptation of His words to the needs of His hearers, if, in seeking high things, we failed to find in these words some simple truth, such as that poor ignorant woman was capable of grasping, and such as at that moment she needed. God is a Spirit; we must not miss, assuredly she did not miss, the significant image on which this word reposes; like the wind therefore, to which He is likened, breathing and blowing where He will, penetrating everywhere, owning no circumscriptions, tied to no place, neither to Mount Zion nor to Mount Gerizim; but rather filling all space with His presence (Psa_139:7; 1Ki_8:27; Isa_66:1), in His essence and, as involved in this very title, free. On this it follows that they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. (Abp. Trench.)

The worship God desires

The best, the purest, the holiest and most pious worship of the gods is to worship them with a heart and tongue always pure, upright, and untainted. (Cicero.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 4:24. God is a Spirit. &c. — “As a further answer to the woman’s question, our Lord delivered a doctrine which may justly be called his own, as it exhibits an idea of God, and of the worship which is due to him, far more sublime than the best things said by the philosophers on that subject.” Christ came to declare God to us, and this he has declared concerning him, that he is a Spirit, and he declared it to this poor Samaritan woman, for the meanest are concerned to know God; and with this design, to rectify her mistakes concerning religious worship, to which nothing could contribute more than the right knowledge of God. 1st, God is a Spirit, for he is an infinite and eternal mind; an intelligent being, yea, the supreme Intelligence, who by one act sees the thoughts of all other intelligences whatever, and so may be worshipped in every place; he is incorporeal, immaterial, invisible, and incorruptible: for it is easier to say what he is not than what he is. If God were not a Spirit, he could not be perfect, nor infinite, nor eternal, nor independent, nor the Father of spirits. Now, 2d, on this spirituality of the divine nature is founded the necessity of the spirituality of divine worship; for the worship of God must partake of his nature: as his nature is spiritual, his worship, to be acceptable, must be so likewise. If we do not worship God, who is a Spirit, in spirit, we neither give him the glory due to his name, and so do not perform a real and proper act of worship, nor can we hope to attain his favour, and acceptance with him, and so we miss the end of worship. The exercise of faith and love, therefore, and of other graces, must constitute the true spiritual worship which we owe to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and which cannot but be acceptable to him, wherever it is offered, in whatever place, and by whatever person.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:24 in spirit and in truth: One Greek preposition governs both words (literally in spirit and truth) and makes them a single concept. True worship occurs as God’s Spirit reveals God’s truth and reality to the worshiper. Jesus Christ is the Truth (14:6; cp. 14:17; 15:26).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 4:24. Πνεῦμα, a Spirit) When God is called a Spirit, we must not merely think of a Being separate from body and place, but also one having spiritual qualities, truth, wisdom, holiness, power, etc. To this nature of God ought to correspond our worship: and to the living God living gifts ought to be offered: Heb 9:14, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, etc., purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Rom 12:1, “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” He holds a profound and striking conversation with an ordinary woman, whom He had scarcely seen. He did not commit to His disciples more lofty truths.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 4:24 . The reason of all this is found in the determining statement πνεῦμα ὁ θεός , God is Spirit. Cf. God is Light; God is Love. The predication involves much; that God is personal, and much else. But primarily it here indicates that God is not corporeal, and therefore needs no temple. Rarely is the fundamental fact of God’s spirituality carried to all its conclusions. Cf. Jas 1:27 ; Rom 12:1 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By the word (Spirit) he meaneth the nature of the Godhead, and not the third person in the Trinity.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 24. God is a Spirit] This is one of the first, the greatest, the most sublime, and necessary truths in the compass of nature! There is a God, the cause of all things - the fountain of all perfection - without parts or dimensions, for he is ETERNAL - filling the heavens and the earth - pervading, governing, and upholding all things: for he is an infinite SPIRIT! This God can be pleased only with that which resembles himself: therefore he must hate sin and sinfulness; and can delight in those only who are made partakers of his own Divine nature. As all creatures were made by him, so all owe him obedience and reverence; but, to be acceptable to this infinite Spirit, the worship must be of a spiritual nature - must spring from the heart, through the influence of the Holy Ghost: and it must be in TRUTH, not only in sincerity, but performed according to that Divine revelation which he has given men of himself. A man worships God in spirit, when, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, he brings all his affections, appetites, and desires to the throne of God; and he worships him in truth, when every purpose and passion of his heart, and when every act of his religious worship, is guided and regulated by the word of God. "The enlightened part of mankind," says Abu'l Fazel, "knows that true righteousness is an upright heart; and believe that God can only be worshipped in holiness of SPIRIT." Ayeen Akbery, vol. iii. p. 254.

"Of all worshippers," says Creeshna, "I respect him as the most devout, who hath faith in me, and who serveth me with a soul possessed of my spirit." Geeta, p. 68.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. God is a Spirit. This is a confirmation drawn from the very nature of God. Since men are flesh, we ought not to wonder, if they take delight in those things which correspond to their own disposition. Hence it arises, that they contrive many things in the worship of God which are full of display, but have no solidity. But they ought first of all to consider that they have to do with God, who can no more agree with the flesh than fire with water. This single consideration, when the inquiry relates to the worship of God, ought to be sufficient for restraining the wantonness of our mind, that God is so far from being like us, that those things which please us most are the objects of his loathing and abhorrence. And if hypocrites are so blinded by their own pride, that they are not afraid to subject God to their opinion, or rather to their unlawful desires, let us know that this modesty does not hold the lowest place in the true worship of God, to regard with suspicion whatever is gratifying according to the flesh. Besides, as we cannot ascend to the height of God, let us remember that we ought to seek from His word the rule by which we are governed. This passage is frequently quoted by the Fathers against the Arians, to prove the Divinity of the Holy Spirit, but it is improper to strain it for such a purpose; for Christ simply declares here that his Father is of a spiritual nature, and, therefore, is not moved by frivolous matters, as men, through the lightness and unsteadiness of their character, are wont to be.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(24) God is a Spirit.—Better, God is spirit. His will has been expressed in the seeking. But His very nature and essence is spirit, and it follows from this that all true worship must be spiritual. The appeal is here made to a doctrine of special prominence in the Samaritan theology. They had altered a number of passages in the Pentateuch, which seemed to them to speak of God in language properly applicable to man, and to ascribe to Him human form and feelings. But to believe in the spiritual essence of God contained its own answer both as to place and mode of worship.

The second “Him” (“they that worship Him”) should be omitted, as the italics show.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. God is spirit, and must be approached in that part of us which is spirit, in the true temple of God, ‘which temple ye are.’ Even to the chosen three Christ imparts no truths more profound than these. He admits this poor schismatic to the very fountain-head of religion.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God is a spirit,.... Or "the Spirit is God"; a divine person, possessed of all divine perfections, as appears from his names, works, and worship ascribed unto him; See Gill on Joh 4:23; though the Arabic and Persic versions, and others, read as we do, "God is a spirit"; that is, God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: for taking the words in this light, not one of the persons is to be understood exclusive of the other; for this description, or definition, agrees with each of them, and they are all the object of worship, and to be worshipped in a true and spiritual manner. God is a spirit, and not a body, or a corporeal substance: the nature and essence of God is like a spirit, simple and uncompounded, not made up of parts; nor is it divisible; nor does it admit of any change and alteration. God, as a spirit, is immaterial, immortal, invisible, and an intelligent, willing, and active being; but differs from other spirits, in that he is not created, but an immense and infinite spirit, and an eternal one, which has neither beginning nor end: he is therefore a spirit by way of eminency, as well as effectively, he being the author and former of all spirits: whatever excellence is in them, must be ascribed to God in the highest manner; and whatever is imperfect in them, must be removed from him:

and they that worship him; worship is due to him on account of his nature and perfections, both internal and external; with both the bodies and souls of men; and both private and public; in the closet, in the family, and in the church of God; as prayer, praise, attendance on the word and ordinances:

must worship him in spirit and in truth; in the true and spiritual manner before described, which is suitable to his nature, and agreeably to his will.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Ver. 24. God is a Spirit] Omnes nominis Iehovae literae sunt spirituales ut denotetur Deum esse spiritum. (Alsted.) Though, to speak properly, God is not a spirit. For, first, spirit signifies breath, which indeed is a body, but because it is the finest body, the most subtle and most invisible, therefore immaterial substances, which we are not able to conceive, are represented unto us under this name. Secondly, God is above all notion, all name. Afri dicunt Deum ignotum Anon, i.e. Heus tu, quis es? One being asked what God is, answered, Si scirem, Deus essem, {a} That which Augustine saith concerning time (the measure of all our motions) may much more be said concerning God, in whose hands are all our times and motions; Si nemo ex me quaerat, scio: si quaerenti explicare velim, nescio. When I am not asked, methinks I know somewhat of him; but let me go about to say what he is, and I find I know nothing at all. Confess. xi. 14.

In spirit and truth] As opposed to formality and hypocrisy.

{a} Plut. lib. de Isid. et Osiride.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God is A spirit - This is the second reason why men should worship him in spirit and in truth. By this is meant that God is without a body; that he is not material or composed of parts; that he is invisible, in every place, pure and holy. This is one of the first truths of religion, and one of the sublimest ever presented to the mind of man. Almost all nations have had some idea of God as gross or material, but the Bible declares that he is a pure spirit. As he is such a spirit, he dwells not in temples made with hands Act 7:48, neither is worshipped with men’s hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, Act 17:25. A pure, a holy, a spiritual worship, therefore, is such as he seeks - the offering of the soul rather than the formal offering of the body - the homage of the heart rather than that of the lips.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

God is not a corporeal being, made up of blood, and flesh, and bones, having senses as bodies have, to be pleased with sensible things; but he is a spiritual Being, the Father of spirits, and requireth a spiritual service proportioned to his being; and therefore those that pay a religious homage to him, must do it with their spirits, and according to the rule that he hath prescribed, in truth and reality. This is now the will of God; and though he required of his people under the law a more ritual, figurative service, yet that is now to cease; and therefore the woman of Samaria need not trouble herself which was the truest worship, that at Mount Gerizim, or at Mount Zion, for both of them were very suddenly to determine, and a new and more substantial spiritual worship was to succeed, to the learning of the way and method of which she was more to attend, and not to spend her thoughts about these things which were of no significance, and tended only to minister questions of no use.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. God is a Spirit—Herein God and incorporeal man agree—that both are mind, personality, or spirit. And being of the same nature, they are able to blend and commune, spirit with spirit, the inferior in worship of the Superior.

In spirit and in truth—No bodily kneelings are sufficient; no ritual, no praying by machinery; nothing suffices unless our soul by strong grasp apprehends God; unless our inmost spirit commune with the divine Spirit.

Father seeketh such—As the spirit of the devout worshipper thirsteth after God, so God’s Spirit thirsteth after, and seeks through all the earth for, the true devout spirit.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A still more explicit and comprehensive reason is given for the previous assertion, based on the essential nature of God himself in the fulness of his eternal Being. God is Spirit (Pneuma o Yeov ; cf. Joh_1:1, Yeogov , the article indicates the subject, and the predicate is here generic, and not an indefinite; therefore we do not render it, "God is a Spirit"). The most comprehensive and far-reaching metaphor or method by which Jesus endeavoured to portray the fundamental essence of the Divine Being is "Spirit," not body, not ulh , not kosmov , but that deep inner verity presented in self-conscious ego; the substantia of which mind may be predicated, and all its states and faculties. The Father is Spirit, the Son is Spirit, and Spirit is the unity of the Father and the Son. St. John has recorded elsewhere that "God is Light," and "God is Love." These three Divine utterances are the sublimest ever formed to express the metaphysical, intellectual, and moral essence of the Deity. They are unfathomably deep, and quite inexhaustible in their suggestions, and yet they are not too profound for even a little child or a poor Samaritaness to grasp for practical purposes. If God be Spirit, then they who worship him, the Spirit, must by the nature of the case, must by the force of a Divine arrangement, worship him, if they worship him at all, in spirit and in truth. The truth which our Lord uttered was not unknown in the Old Testament. From Genesis to Malachi, in the Psalms, in the historical books, in Judges, Samuel, and Kings, the Spirit and the spirituality of God are presupposed; but the Lord has generalized these teachings, cited them from darkness and neglect, combined them in one eternal oracle of Divine truth. The Galilaean Peasant has thus uttered the profoundest truth of ethic and religion one which no sage in East or West had ever surpassed, and towards which the highest minds in all the ages of Christendom have been slowly making approach. Forms, postures, ceremonial, sacraments, liturgies, holy days, and places are not condemned, but they all are inefficacious if this prime condition be not present, and they can all be dispensed with if it be. Only the spirit of man can really touch or commune with the Spirit of spirits, and the history of the new dispensation is the history of a progress from forms to realities, from the sensuous to the spiritual, from the outward to the inward, from the earthly to the heavenly.

The fallacy of holy places.

I THE FALLACY EMPHATICALLY STATED. Up to this point in the conversation the woman has not the slightest idea that religious matters are in question; but immediately on concluding that Jesus is a Prophet, she proceeds to show that she can talk about religion as well as other people. Jesus seeks to fasten her up in a corner where she may be dealt with according to her individual sin and individual need, and so she tries to escape away into a general discussion on an old point of difference that was altogether beside the question that should have had most interest for her. The fallacy of holy places is emphatically illustrated in the experience Jesus had of them. We see that he had experience of two places reckoned specially holy, Gerizim and Jerusalem. Truly the holiness of Gerizim had done little for this Samaritan woman; and the holiness of Jerusalem did little for those priests and Law expounders who, in their fanaticism, put Jesus to death. Here is the paradox of a woman apparently unconcerned about her own misdoing, but very much concerned about the rightful localization of Deity.

II IT IS A FALLACY WHICH PREVAILS WIDELY AND DEEPLY STILL. Jerusalem and. Gerizim are still reckoned holy places, and to them, in the name of Jesus, how many more have been added! Special places, special forms, special symbols, special words, have been slowly exalted unto an honour and an influence they were never meant to obtain. Many who on no account would bow before an image, yet act as if Deity had a special dwelling and special surroundings. We do not make a sufficient distinction between what is necessary to us and what is acceptable to God. Holy buildings, holy forms, may have in them much value; but the value is for us, and not for God. If one can think of God esteeming some spots of earth holler than others, surely they are those where most has been done for the renewal and sanctification of men. We may learn a lesson from the obscurity into which the ark of the covenant fell. How it vanishes away with the departure of Jehovah"s people into the Babylonian captivity!

III A FALLACY WHICH IS ONLY TO BE REMOVED BY A CONTINUAL REMEMBRANCE OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD AND MEN. God is pure Spirit. A thousand things which in themselves serve and gratify human beings because of their correspondence with human nature cannot serve and gratify God. The whole position is placed before us in the question, "Can I eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the blood of goats?" Incense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country, became abominable to Jehovah because the people who offered them did not hearken to his words, and rejected his Law. (Jer_6:20) We who have bodies must to some extent be served even as the beasts are served; but if we got nothing more we should soon be miserable. The higher and peculiar part of our nature has also to be amply served. That which is invisible in us is the most important thing; and that which we value most from others comes from what is invisible in them. How much more, then, when we are dealing with that Being who has in him no mixture of the bodily! We do give human berets something when we give to their bodies; but unless we give God the spiritual we give him nothing at all. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God is a Spirit - Not only remote from the body, and all the properties of it, but likewise full of all spiritual perfections, power, wisdom, love, holiness. And our worship should be suitable to his nature. We should worship him with the truly spiritual worship of faith, love, and holiness, animating all our tempers, thoughts, words, and actions.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

God

Cf. (See Scofield "Joh 1:18")

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God is a Spirit; that is, he hath no body, nor bodily parts; he is not a bare spiritual substance: but a pure and perfect Spirit: and therefore his worshippers must worship him in spirit and in truth; where spirit is opposed to the legal ceremonies, and truth to the Jewish rites, not to hypocritical services: for the old patriarchs did worship God in spirit and in truth. As truth is taken for sincerity, they served him with a sincere conscience, and with a single heart. But our Saviour’s business is to shew, that a worship without legal rites and Jewish ceremonies, is proper to the times of the gospel.

In these words, observe, 1. The nature of God declared; God is a Spirit.

2. The duty of man inferred; therefore they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.

From the whole, note, 1. That God is a pure spiritual being. When bodily parts, hands, and eyes, &c. are ascribed to him, it is only in condescension to our weakness, and to signify those acts in God, which such members do perform in us.

Note, 2. That the worship due from the creature to God is spiritual worship, and ought to be spiritually performed; that is, we must worship him from spiritual principles, sincere love, and filial reverence; for spiritual ends, that we may please him, and promote his glory; and after a spiritual manner, with the whole heart, soul, and mind, and with a fervency of spirit. We must have awful apprehensions of him, suitable to the nature of his being; but above all we must endeavour to resemble him: then is God best worshipped by us, when we are most like to him.

The Jewsish ceremonial worship was abolished, to promote the spirituality of divine worshp; yet must not this be so understood, as if God rejected bodily worship, because he requires spiritual under the gospel: for Jesus Christ, the most spiritual worshipper, worshipped God with his body. Besides, God has created the body as well as the soul; and he will glorify the body as well as the soul: therefore it is our duty to worship and glorify God with our bodies, and with our spirits, which are his.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. God is a Spirit. Rather, “God is Spirit.” This declaration is fundamental. Since he is Spirit, he must receive spiritual worship, and is everywhere present.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

24. God is spirit (not ‘a spirit’), and must be approached in that part of us which is spirit, in the true temple of God, ‘which temple ye are.’ The premise was old (1Ki 8:27); it is the deduction from it which though necessary (δεῖ) is new. Even to the chosen three Christ imparts no truths more profound than these. He admits this poor schismatic to the very fountain-head of religion.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24.] πνεῦμα ὁ θεός was the great Truth of Judaism, whereby the Jews were distinguished from the idolatrous people around them. And the Samaritans held even more strongly than the Jews the pure monotheistic view. Traces of this, remarks Lücke (from Gesenius), i. 599 note, are found in the alterations made by them in their Pentateuch, long before the time of this history. This may perhaps be partly the reason why our Lord, as Bengel remarks, “Discipulis non tradidit sublimiora,” than to this Samaritan woman.

God being pure spirit (perhaps better not ‘a Spirit,’ since it is His Essence, not His Personality, which is here spoken of), cannot dwell in particular spots or temples (see Act 7:48; Act 17:24, Act 17:25); cannot require, nor be pleased with, earthly material offerings nor ceremonies, as such: on the other hand, is only to be approached in that part of our being, which is spirit,—and even there, inasmuch as He is pure and holy, with no by-ends nor hypocritical regards, but in truth and earnestness. But here comes in the deeper sense alluded to above. How is the spirit of man to be brought into communion with God? “In templo vis orare; in te ora. Sed prius esto templum Dei.” (Stier, iv. 137, edn. 2.) And how is this to be? Man cannot make himself the temple of God. So that here comes in the gift of God, with which the discourse began,—the gift of the Holy Spirit, which Christ should give to them that believe on Him: thus we have ‘praying ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ,’ Jud 1:20. So beautifully does the expression ὁ πατήρ here bring with it the new birth by the Spirit,—and for us, the readers of the Gospel, does the discourse of ch. 3 reflect light on this. And so wonderfully do these words form the conclusion to the great subject of these first chapters: ‘God is become one flesh with us, that we might become one Spirit with Him.’

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. πνεῦμα ὁ θεός. The spirituality of God was an essential tenet of Judaism (cf. 1Ki 8:27, Isa 31:3), although all its implications were not recognised. It was a tenet common to Jews and Samaritans, but it is here for the first time put into three words, and its bearing on the nature of worship drawn out. The similar phrases ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστίν, ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν (1Jn 1:5, 1Jn 4:8), show that we must render “God is Spirit,” not “God is a spirit.” It is the Essential Being, rather than the Personality, of God which is in question.

The consequence of this, as regards worship, is repeated from v. 23. For true worship there must be affinity between the Worshipped and the worshipper.

ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθεία. א* has the aberrant reading ἐν πνεύματι ἀληθείας (from 14:17).

For the repetition of the phrase “worship in spirit and in truth” from v. 23, see on 3:16 above. Such refrains or repetitions are a special feature of Johannine style.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God is a Spirit [πνευμα ο θεος] . Or, as Rev., in margins, God is spirit. Spirit is the emphatic word; Spirit is God. The phrase describes the nature, not the personality of God. Compare the expressions, God is light; God is love (1Jo 1:5; 1Jo 4:8).

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.