NOTES for Joh 4:5-42
What do the Savior's words about worshiping "in spirit and truth" mean? His words are often understood as a kind of return to antiquity, to that ancient time when there was not yet either the Tabernacle or the Temple, when there were many altars, including altars to the One God, and each person chose his own place of worship. They could be understood that way if Jesus had said that there was no difference between "this mountain" and Jerusalem. The mountain in question is Mount Gerizim, where in the Gospel era there were the ruins of a temple once built by the Samaritans.
But He said nothing of the kind. On the contrary, He said quite clearly that "salvation is from the Jews," so no return backward is in view. And if that is so, then all that remains is to move forward. But where?
From the meaning of everything the Savior said during His earthly ministry, it becomes clear: into the Kingdom, of which He Himself said that it had "drawn near." Worship anywhere "in spirit and truth" is possible only in the Kingdom. The Kingdom is entirely permeated by this "spirit," the breath of God that fills it and allows everyone who enters it to share in the fullness of life and in the fullness of communion with God. Here, faithfulness to God and to Christ, what the Synodal translation calls "truth," is truly enough to receive this fullness of communion with God.
But outside the Kingdom everything remains as before: the Temple, the altar, the sacrifices, "salvation is from the Jews." And then each person chooses for himself how he will live from then on: in the old way or in the new.