What Does it Mean to Worship in Spirit & Truth?

What did Jesus mean when he said that true worshippers should “worship the Father in spirit and truth”? (John 4:23-24)

If, like me, you read the NIV version, you might get a little confused because the NIV capitalizes the “s” and makes it Spirit and not spirit as most other versions do.

After some considerable thought, I realized that the NIV and other versions have all, actually got it right!

You see to worship God, we must use our own spirits but unless we are ‘born again” (John 3:3), we cannot worship God the prescribed way and that’s via the Holy Spirit. You see, we need both! As humans, we have a spirit but it’s not until we repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that the Holy Spirit then comes and dwells in our spirits (Acts 2:38).

I couldn’t understand the Bible at all really, until I became a Christian and received the Holy Spirit. Likewise, I cannot truly worship God until I have received the Holy Spirit.

In addition to worshipping the Lord in spirit, we are told that we must worship in truth too.

In the context of the passage in John 4, we see how Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well and the conversation talks about a previous way of worship. You see in the Old Testament, all that was done in the prescribed way of worship was actually just a shadow of the reality that is found in Jesus. All the Old Testament rituals point towards Jesus. To paraphrase St Augustine:

‘In the Old the New is concealed,

in the New the Old is revealed.’

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).

Jesus is The Truth.

Therefore, we can worship the Father through Jesus the Son via the Holy Spirit.

Of course, worship involves sincerity (truth) of heart (spirit) too. So, if you are going to church today; it doesn’t matter whether they’re your favourite hymns or choruses or not; it doesn’t matter about the lighting; the use of PowerPoint or hymn books; it doesn’t matter about organs or guitars – it’s the condition of our hearts that really matter. This will decide if we are really worshipping in spirit and truth!