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Commentary on "In Spirit and in Truth"
Day 4: Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - Worshiping What You Know Not
Overview
We are now turning our attention to John 4:1-24 and Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.
Observations
Jesus responds to the Samaritan woman’s concern about where one should worship God by informing her that true worship would no longer be about where we worship. The quarterly lesson makes some good points about true worship but fails to focus on what is bringing about the change Jesus is talking about. Keep in mind that the Gospel of John is well organized. We would do well to back up to chapter three and recall what Jesus told Nicodemus before we consider what he is telling the Samaritan woman.
Jesus answered, “I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8 HCSB)
Obviously, when we compare this with the creation account we see that the breath of life God breathed into Adam was like but not the same as the air we breathe. One is of the flesh and the other is of the spirit and is the life that we have by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When Adam sinned his spirit died at the moment of his sin while the flesh didn’t die until sometime later. Jesus is simply telling Nicodemus that we must have life put back into our spirit in order to join the kingdom of God. This brings us to Calvary and the gospel message of Jesus atonement for our sins.
While it is a true statement the lesson misses the point when it mentions that ‘The forms and traditions and liturgy were all means to an end, and that end was a person surrendered in body and mind to his or her Creator and Redeemer’. True worship has always been about ‘the faith of Abraham’. The real difference is that since Calvary, we worship our Savior Jesus Christ and not the places or things that pointed to him because he has fully atone for all our sins and has brought our dead spirit to life by his promised gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus means when he tells the Samaritan woman that we will now worship in Spirit and truth instead of being focused on where to worship or even how we worship.
Summary
- We need study things in context and return to the previous chapter of John where we are informed that you must be born of the spirit in order to join the kingdom of God. Since the time of Adam’s sin we sinners have been born with a dead spirit that must be brought to life by the promised indwelling of the Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth, John 16:12-15. Clearly, at creation when God breathed the spirit of life into Adam, it was not his body of flesh that came to life because when he sinned he died at that very moment yet his body of flesh didn’t die until sometime later.
- The lesson author is correct in making the point that our worship is not longer about where we worship and even makes some good points about true worship but then totally misses the point by not directing our worship to whom we are to worship, Jesus Christ, the author of our salvation.
- To worship ‘in spirit and in truth’ simply means to worship God by having our spirit brought to life by the Holy Spirit who will also lead us into all truth. This is totally an act of God. Never, even in part, is it ever a work of our own.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised August 22, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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Official Adventist Resources
Standard Edition Study Guide Week 11
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