John 4:23
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
2007-06-04 07:01:36 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Christ is telling how through Him, the Holy Spirit will be made available to all mankind and worship will be possible everywhere because the Holy Spirit will rest within the human heart and God will be watching for you there. What Good News!
hope this helps
2007-06-06 19:38:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
you have to go back up and read the verses 20-24 to understand. As we witness here on R&S people often become uncomfortable when the conversation is too close to home, and they try to divert the question with their answers. This woman in this passage was doing the same thing. She didn't immediately understand what Jesus was talking about. But when she realized that Jesus knew all about her private life, she quickly tried to change the subject. In the passage you asked about Jesus was referring to the " attitude " of worship. However, this woman was uneasy and tried to throw out a question that would keep Jesus away from her greatest need, Salvation. The question she used as a smokescreen was verse 20. But Jesus drew her back to a much more important need than location, attitude.
2007-06-04 14:18:08 · answer #2 · answered by HeVn Bd 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Jesus was speaking to a Samaritan woman, thereby breaking two conventions: speaking to a Samaritan and speaking to a woman alone. Since the return from exile, Samaritans had not been welcome in Jewish circles and were not tolerated in the Temple in Jerusalem. Denied access to Jerusalem, Samaritan worship was centred on their temple on Mount Gerizim. This temple was razed to the ground around 100 BCE by the Jews for religious reasons. Then a system of worship was instituted by the Samaritans similar to that of the temple at Jerusalem. It was founded on the Torah, possibly on copies that had been brought by Jewish priests that had left the Jerusalem temple for that on Mount Gerizim. Jesus is telling her that the days of centering worship in one particular locality are about to end (He was aware of the imminent destruction of the Temple) and all believers will be free to worship God wherever they are, but they must do so with all their hearts and minds, for this is the only worship which is acceptable to God. Barriers, whether religious, cultural or of gender were being destroyed. As Paul wrote later: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:27-28).
2007-06-04 14:17:48 · answer #3 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it means God is not looking for these "im so perfect, watch me as i worship God and praiise me for being so holy" types of people. there are alot of people that will say that they worship God for other reasons than that it is what they believe. some do it for the social stature of being called priest or reverend. some do it because they found how to make money off of it. these people are so wrapped up in man made tradition and man made laws of the 'religion' that they miss the whole point of Gods true message that is to have faith and love others and do your best to be a good person and to actually seek a true heartfelt relationship with the creator. for any reasons other than these is not of God but of man. God does not want you to stand on the corner and pray so that everyone can see you and say "hey look at that guy praying, he must be really religious and holy". he wants people that will find some place alone so as not to be disturbed and to actually pray sincerely. it also says in the bible that these people that do it for attention and self praise have already gotten their reward on earth but it is the people that do not seek praise from others for their actions that will be accepted into heaven. in other words to put it more modern and upto date jesus is saying he wants the people that be keepin it real, none of them fakes and phonies.
2007-06-04 14:23:26 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because all Jews went to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship God.
Jesus was saying, the time would come when the particular place where you worship God would not be the important thing ....but rather, WHAT you believe would be the important thing.
2007-06-04 15:05:06 · answer #5 · answered by Uncle Thesis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Jesus was speaking to a Samaritan woman who thought that she should worship God on a mountain in Samaria and not at the temple in Jerusalem. He was telling her that the time has come to worship God in spirit and truth and not on a mountain or in a temple...but in their hearts.
2007-06-04 14:07:54 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Message translation puts it a little clearer:
"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship."
2007-06-04 14:05:15 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
God want's us to worship HIM in spirit and truth. We could not worship without having true FAITH in HIM.
God Bless You
2007-06-04 14:10:28 · answer #8 · answered by Brilliant 1forHIM 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means that people will follow what God wants them to. They will live as God wants them to and worship as God wants them to, not as man sees fit to worship. They will be true to God and Christ.
Oh.. and that some people were already living the way God wanted them to.
2007-06-04 14:04:58 · answer #9 · answered by odd duck 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Jesus was explaining that the future worshippers (Christians) would both be passionate as the samaritans were for God, and know his truth as the Jews did.
2007-06-04 14:09:43 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋