A True Worshiper (Jn 4:20-24)

A True Worshiper (Jn 4:20-24)

A true worshiper worships in Spirit and Truth (Jn 4:23). We all know that. We’ve also probably seen this slogan at a Christian camp/retreat/conference some point in our lives. Yet, what does it mean to be a true worshiper? What does Christ mean when He says in the next verse: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (4:24)?

I think the phrase “[to] worship in Spirit and Truth” can oftentimes be mentioned without an adequate explanation, contributing to why the meaning of the verse can remain vague. Hence, this article will provide 4 points explaining what true worship means in light of its contextual passage (Jn 4:20-24)—so that we may all aspire to be worshipers in Spirit and Truth.

1)   True worship is not defined by physical actions of worship

This passage, including most of the Gospels, takes place during a transitional period between the Old and New Covenant. Worship, according to the Old Covenant, was at a distance (Exo 24:1) and mainly through the form of animal sacrifices (1 Kings 12:28-32 etc.). Hence, when the Samaritan woman said: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” (Jn 4:20), she was referring to the act of worship—specifically the act of offering animal sacrifices.

Yet, to her surprise, Christ responds by saying “the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” (4:21) which foreshadows the veil of the temple being torn into two (Matt 27:51), in which believers can directly access and worship God. Christ’s response was indicating that worship was not purely about the act, for the act of worship (animal sacrifices) can only take place through a standard location. Christ then qualifies the statement by saying “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn 4:24). Since God is Spirit—and not a physical being—true worship cannot be defined by a physical act, but in spirit (and truth).

Some Christians confine worship to the act of singing praises, offering tithes, or some sort of outward Christian service. Christ, on the other hand, is implying worship that is inward. This does not imply that physical acts of worship, such as going to church to praise God in music and song, is not worship at all, but that the physical acts by itself do not qualify to true worship. True worship must be more than physical acts.

2)   True worship is not defined by setting

Hence, when true worship is not about physical acts, which can only be performed in certain locations, it is also not about the setting. Based off a similar logic, when Christ said: “the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” (4:21), He is implying that true worship is not confined to, or defined by, a location. It does not matter where we worship for God is Spirit—He is not a physical being. He cannot be confined to be worshiped at a certain location, time, background, or setting. But since He is spirit (4:24), true worshipers must “worship the Father in spirit and truth” (4:23).

Some Christians think worship has to somewhat be confined to a setting that is appropriate for worship—such as the mountain or the Jerusalem temple, as understood by the Samaritan woman, or, in a present context, a church or Christian setting with musical functions. Again, all of this focuses on the outward, but Christ appears to be implying that the act of worship in a certain setting, by itself, fails to be “true worship” in the eyes of the Father. The Father “is seeking such people [worshipers in Spirit and truth] to worship Him,” (4:23) people who do not only worship in a certain setting by reproducing a certain act.

3)   A true worshiper knows God

What then is true worship (or a true worshiper)? Christ begins by saying: “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews” (4:22). “Salvation [being] from the Jews” refers to Himself, the Messiah (4:25-26). Hence, this verse (4:22) makes a contrast between the believers of God who know Whom they are worshiping—God—compared to the Samaritan woman, who doesn’t. In fact, the woman in this discourse plays the role of a false worshiper or a worshiper who doesn’t know what she’s worshiping (until she finds Christ). She limits worship to physical acts, to certain settings, and worse off, she doesn’t know what she’s worshiping. (If you think worship is based on physical acts in certain settings, you might be in a position similar to the Samaritan woman.)

Yet, Christ is saying that, in order to be a true worshiper, one must know God—one must have a personal relationship with God. This is evident from “in truth”. The Gospel of John clearly states that Christ Himself, who is full of truth (1:14) and speaks the truth (8:45-46; 16:7), is the truth (14:6)! Not only so, but so is His Word (17:17); and most importantly, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (14:17; 15:26; 16:13)! Thus, to worship in spirit and truth requires one to know God through the Spirit—who holds the truth.

Christ’s focus in this passage is not to make a distinction between a true or false, better or worse, charismatic or stagnant act of worship—but that all believers who are in the right relationship with God are true worshipers. One who knows and has a relationship with God is a true worshiper.

In fact, this is where the imperative (“must”) comes in. In John 4:24, most translations write: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (ESV, NIV, NRSV, ASV) Yet, the Greek word translated as “must” is δεῖ (dei), which literally means “it is necessary”. Thus, in a more literal sense, this verse indicates that in order to worship (προσκυνεῖν—infinitive)—to present an act of worship—it is necessary for one to firstly have a relationship with God. One must know God in order to worship Him.

4)   A true worshiper loves God

While this passage does not explicitly state that “a worshiper in spirit and truth loves God”, this concept is clearly evoked throughout Johannine writings. John writes that those who know Him keeps His commandments (1 Jn 2:3), and that those who say “I know Him” but do not keep His commandments do not have the truth (2:4). Most importantly, John writes that: “but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected” (2:5), which indicates that the love of God is directly tied to the keeping of Christ’s Word (cf. Jn 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10; 1 Jn 5:3; 2 Jn 1:6). Scripture clearly presents that one who knows God, loves God. In the same way, since a true worshiper knows God, he/she also loves God by keeping His Word in the form of a relationship.

Scripture clearly presents this: one who knows God, loves God, and that one who is in a right relationship with God is a true worshiper—a worshiper who worships in spirit and truth. In fact, this is evident throughout Scripture as those who knew God (Abraham, Moses, David etc.) were always categorized by their love for Him—evident from how they would keep God’s Word and commandments.

Conclusion & Application

In summary, Christ tells us in John 4:20-24 that a true worshiper—a worshiper in Spirit and Truth—lives in a right relationship with God. In Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman, He contrasts a true worshiper and a false worshiper, someone who focuses on the outward acts of worship without truly knowing and loving God.

Please note that the text does not imply that all acts of worship are meaningless. Worship can be an act, such as singing praises in music and song with hands lifted high or the act of offering tithes. Yet, the act of worship by itself is not what God is seeking. This is clear throughout Scripture. 1 Samuel 15:22 writes, “…“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey (God’s Word) is better than sacrifice...” The prophet Samuel was saying that God takes no delight in the acts of worship (OT: burnt offerings; present: songs, music, tithes) when one is not obeying the Lord—the sign of one being in a right relationship with Him! A similar concept is stated in Isaiah 1:11-15: “The multitude of your sacrifices (acts of worship)—what are they to Me?...I have more than enough of burnt offerings… Stop bringing meaningless offerings!.... when you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide My eyes from you” (cf. Amos 5:21-27). Again, this verse shows that God has little regard for our acts of worship when we are not living in the right relationship with Him. Thus, the act of worship is only pleasing to the Lord when the one who worships is in a right relationship with Him.

I pray that we may all guard our ways before we enter the house of God (Eccl 5:1). This is not for the sake of religious piety or outward displays of “righteousness” but so that we may be in communion with God as our heavenly Father—for He seeks worshipers who worship in Spirit and Truth (Jn 4:23) and knows those who love Him (1 Cor 8:3), working things for their good (Rom 8:28).

-Barnabas Kwok
Biblical and Theological Studies Student at BIOLA University

Bad Theology in Worship

Bad Theology in Worship

While many contemporary worship songs are great in terms of the melody and the overall message, some may have slight theological issues. Hence, this article will present 5 popular worship songs that have some theological flaws or errors. HOWEVER, please note that while I’m being technical and picky here, my goal here is not to bash but to inform (but I will, in a sense, bash). Also, just because some of these songs have errors it doesn’t necessarily mean we shouldn’t sing it at church. Ultimately, I don’t think theological issues in worship songs should affect us too much because our theology should not be based on songs but on the Word of God. Let us begin!

#5: “No Longer Slaves” by Bethel

I love this song—especially the chorus as it accurately depicts that, when one becomes a believer, one is no longer a sinner but a saint, a righteous child of God. Yet, being technical in an exegetical manner, the bridge does have an issue.

“You split the sea
So I could walk right through it
My fears were drowned in perfect love…”

Wait, when did God split the sea for me? I don’t seem to remember.

The only account of God splitting the sea is during the Exodus where God delivered His people, the Israelites, from Pharaoh’s pursuit (Exo 14). So, the problem with the first two lines of the bridge is that God did not split the sea for us. God split the sea for the Israelites 3500 years ago. Not for you, not for me. In fact, a similar problem is found when some people quote Exodus 14:14 to encourage others. The verse writes: “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” You see, the “you” in the verse is not you. The “you” are the Israelites. If you are a believer and a child of God who imitates God (Eph 5:1), will God fight for you? Yes (with conditions). But does this verse imply that? No.

So, while the lyricist of this song probably understands this and intended it to be symbolic, this song does teach us a good exegetical lesson—that is, DON’T READ THE BIBLE OUT OF CONTEXT! In fact, if we believe that God really did split the Red Sea for us, that would be “eisegesis”, which is, reading and adding into the Scriptural text.

Nonetheless, great song.

#4: “What a beautiful Name” by Hillsong Live

Similar to No longer Slaves, this is a great song. It has a great melody and the theology is quite deep and mostly spot on. However, there’s this one line that is problematic (or to some, even blasphemous):

“You didn’t want Heaven without us,

So Jesus You brought heaven down.

My sin was great, Your love was greater…”

Oh! So the reason why Christ—who is the Kingdom (Lk 17:21)—came down to save man was because He didn’t want heaven to be without us! How sweet!

Well, as you might be able to tell, the problem with the entire song lies in how the line “You didn’t want Heaven without us” is given as the reason for the First Advent. This line implies that God is needy and He came to save us because He needed our company, in a sense like He’s tired of being home alone.

First, biblically speaking, God doesn’t need us. He has His heavenly host (1 Kings 22:19; Lk 2:13 etc.) and His living creatures (Rev 4:6-11). Most importantly, God Himself (singular) is communal and is Three Persons and lives in perfect harmony. During the First Advent, Christ said: “…yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me,” (Jn 16:32) which was predicting what would happen when all His disciples disbanded from Him. So, Christ is never alone nor does He feel lonely.

Second, Christ came not for His own needs. He came to save (Matt 18:11; Lk 19:10; Jn 3:17; 1 Tim 1:15) and to serve (Matt 20:28; Mk 10:45; Lk 22:27) through taking on the form of a servant (Phil 2:7) and giving Himself as a ransom for all (1 Tim 2:6; Titus 2:14). Christ did not bring heaven down because He didn’t want Heaven without us—that is severely messed up.

Thankfully, I’ve been to a church which changed that line to “You showed mercy upon us, so Jesus You brought heaven down.” Some may say that it doesn’t sound as good, but theologically speaking, that’s truly spot on. I personally don’t sing that line (the original version) in church. If I don't agree with something (especially when its bible/truth-related), I won't sing it.

#3: “Always” by Kristian Stanfill

The problem lies in the first part of the chorus, which goes:

“Oh my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always”

We can approach this issue from a grammatical or theological point of view. Grammatically speaking, why does the first line suddenly change from first-person to third-person? In other words, since the “oh my God”—which is a biblical term, but we’ll get there—is first person, why change the following phrase to third-person “He will not delay”? Instead, it should be, “You will not delay”. Think of it like this: (You’re talking to a friend directly) “Hello my friend! How is he/she doing today?” Doesn’t that sound weird? It should be “how are you doing today?” So, grammatically speaking, there is an error with the voice.

Theologically speaking, things get a bit worse. “Oh my God” is a biblical phrase. It has a Greek and Hebrew equivalent: Eli (pronounced “eh-lee”). Quite a few biblical figures have used this phrase, including: David, Solomon, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, and the Anointed One Jesus Christ. Contrary to how it is commonly used today—in which it is used as an expression of shock, excitement, surprise, or relief (or whatever)—“Oh my God” is always used during an intimate prayer in which the person is directly addressing God. So, to be biblical, we should use “O my God” in such a way too.

Most importantly, however, whenever “O (pause) my God” is used biblically, the speaker does not refer to God with third-person (2 Chronicles 6:40; Ezra 9:6; Nehemiah 13:31; Psalm 3:7, Psalm 25:2; Matthew 27:46 etc.)! Rather, after he (literally all Bible characters who say this phrase are guys) says “O my God”, the speaker addresses God with “You”, which is second-person. Take Ezra 9:6 as an example, which writes: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads…” Do you see it? Ezra does not talk to God with “He”, but “You”. So, the correct way to sing this song is to similarly change the “He” to “You”.

#2: “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury

The problem with this song lies in how God’s love is described as “reckless”. “Reckless” is not popularly known as a positive description. (you can look up its definition on dictionary.com or whatever) Aristotle’s virtue ethics describes “recklessness” as a vice, meaning, not a virtue (by the way, we are called to supplement our faith with virtue—2 Peter 1:5). Most importantly, however, the Bible has the word “reckless” and it is never used to describe anything associated with God. Rather, it is always used to describe something negative. Thus, biblically speaking, “reckless” is always used negatively.

In the ESV, the word “reckless” appears 4 times and “recklessness” appears once. Consider Proverbs 14:16: “One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless.” Do you see how the word “reckless” is used to describe a fool? Is God’s love foolish then? In 2 Timothy, Paul tells his son in the faith (1 Tim 1:2) to avoid people that are reckless, “for among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” (2 Tim 3:3-8) 

So, if the Bible is 100% clear on the meaning of the word “reckless” and “recklessness”, why is it used to describe something associated with God? God’s love should never be described as something that is used to describe a fool. Describing God’s love as reckless is blatantly unbiblical. (then you have the argument of whether all worship songs should be biblical. Well, at least they shouldn’t be unbiblical)

Oh! But if we replace “reckless” with “relentless”, that would be better theologically but it may not sound as good.

**Recent update: Some people have challenged me (and others who hold similar views on this issue) stating that this song is not claiming that God is reckless, but rather our perception of His love poured out onto us. In other words, God's love is "reckless" in our understanding. Again, I am not discrediting the good that this song has done (if someone finds Jesus through this song, Praise the Lord!) or even saying it's a bad song. However, the problem is theological, that (1) God is not separated from His love, as He is love (1 Jn 4:8) and (2) God's love is defined, and that definition is the furtherest thing from being reckless. God and His love is not relative. While love can be a feeling, God's love (agape, in contrast to other forms of love such as: eros, storge, phileo) is objective--similar to how we wouldn't call the "affection" a pedophile has towards one's victim as "love", but lust or a corruption of love. Similarly, God's love cannot be defined as reckless on the same basis.

Also, the parable of the lost sheep is a dig a the Pharisees (Lk 15) and a dig at those who discredit the young ones (Matt 18). FYI, I would love further dialogue on this issue!

#1: Clarity by For All Seasons

This song isn't really that popular, which is a good thing? Anyway, the bridge goes like this:

“If it's not good, You're not finished
If it's not good, You're not finished
If it's not good, You're not finished with it yet”

(and repeat and repeat and repeat)

“If” is a conditional. An “if-clause” is a conditional statement. For example, “(if-clause) if I love God, (main clause) [then] I will be known by God (1 Cor 8:3).” The main clause is always definitive, meaning, if I love God, it is definite that I am known by God.

So, the problem is this. This song is saying that, if something is not good, (it is definitive) then God is not finished with it. But, where do we find that in the Bible? Sure, God may not be finished with something because it (whatever ‘it’ means) is not good, but is that the only reason? No.

Romans 8:28 writes that all things work together for good for those who love God (to love God = to keep His Word—Jn 14:15,21; 15:10; 1 Jn 2:3 etc.) and those who are called according to His purpose! So, just because something isn’t good, it may not have anything to do with whether God is finished with it or not.

The reason why I have such an issue with the bridge is because it entirely places the responsibility, of why something isn’t good, on God. God is sovereign but there’s also our own responsibility and the importance of works. Hey, you know what, if something’s not good, maybe that’s because of you, not God. Don’t blame God for everything. Hey, you also know what, if something’s not good, maybe it has something to do with sin—as sin is always destructive.  

I am not saying that everything in life is meant to be good for those who love God (that would be the prosperity gospel). The book of Ecclesiastes shows that life has various seasons (Eccl 3:1-12) and not all is well. Yet, the conclusion of the book states that, most importantly, life is about fearing God and keeping His commandments, as “this is the whole duty of man.” (12:13) Interestingly, this aligns with Romans 8:28, as it shows the condition for things to be good lies mostly in whether one loves God and walks in His purpose. So, don’t just blame something “that isn’t good” on God, saying “well, He’s not finished with it.” Rather, let us allow the Spirit of conviction (Jn 16:8) to lead and change us so that we may walk in His will at all times, then things will be "for good".

Conclusion:

I hope this article shows you why we shouldn’t base our theology on songs but on the Word of God. Once again, please don’t think that I am against contemporary worship songs or how I think we shouldn’t sing such songs at church. I myself am a worship leader and I thoroughly enjoy spending time in God’s presence through singing and playing worship songs with my guitar.

Ultimately, according to Jn 4:20-24, while worship is meant to corporate (Heb 10:25), true worshipers worship in Spirit and in truth—speaking of a lifestyle that wishes to put God first in all things. Similarly, let us integrate worship in our daily lives and find joy in encountering God whenever and wherever. 

-Barnabas Kwok
Biblical and Theological Studies major at Biola University