NOTES for Joh 4:5-42

What do the Savior’s words about worship “in spirit and truth” mean? His words are often understood as a kind of return to antiquity, to the ancient time when there was neither Tabernacle nor Temple, when there were many altars, including altars of the One God, and everyone chose his own place of worship. Perhaps they could be understood this way if Jesus had said that there was no difference between “this mountain,” meaning Mount Gerizim, where in Gospel times there were the ruins of a temple once built by the Samaritans, and Jerusalem. But He said nothing of the kind. On the contrary, He said quite clearly that “salvation is from the Jews,” so there can be no question of returning to the past. If so, it is clear that the only course is to move forward. Where to? The meaning of everything the Savior said during His earthly ministry makes it clear: into the Kingdom of which He Himself said that it had “drawn near.” Worship in any place “in spirit and truth” is possible only in the Kingdom. The whole Kingdom is permeated by this “spirit,” the breath of God that fills it and enables everyone who enters it to share in the fullness of life and the fullness of communion with God. Here, faithfulness to God and Christ, what the Synodal translation calls “truth,” really is enough to gain this fullness of communion with God. Outside the Kingdom, however, everything remains as before: the Temple, the altar, sacrifices, and “salvation from the Jews.” From that point on, everyone chooses for himself how he will live: in the old way or in the new.