Charles Ellicott Commentary John 4:23

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers." — John 4:23 (ASV)

But the hour comes.—It is better, as in John 4:21, but there comes an hour. He adds to this thought, what He could not add to the previous one, and now is. Local worship was not yet giving way to spiritual worship; but a group of true worshippers was being gathered, and some were then following Him.

The true worshippers.—Her distinction of place was incidental, but the essence was the nature of the worship. What could any worship be to a God who saw the impurity of the heart, and the contradiction of thought and word? What could she know of the worship about which she speaks? Yes; and the temple at Jerusalem was a house of merchandise, instead of one of prayer; what did priest and Levite, scribe and Pharisee, know of true worship?

In spirit and in truth.—The link between human nature and the divine is in the human spirit, which is the shrine of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). All true approach to God must therefore be in spirit. (Compare to Romans 1:9, and Ephesians 6:18.) Place, time, words, postures, sounds, and all things from without, are important only insofar as they aid in abstraction from the sensible world, and in elevation of the spirit within.

The moment they distract, they hinder true worship. Ritual cannot be discussed without risk of spiritual loss. The words “in truth,” already expressed in true worshippers and repeated in the following verse, are more than “truly.” Sincerity is not a test of acceptable worship, though it is a requirement. Bigots sincerely think they do God’s service.

Worship which is “in truth” is in harmony with the nature of the God whom we worship. To think of God in hearing His truth, to kindle the soul by hymns of praise, to realize the earlier portions of collects and prayers which express His attributes, are necessary to the truth of the petitions, thanksgivings, and adorations of worship. The model prayer of Christianity brings home to the heart the Fatherhood of God in its first words.

For the Father seeks such to worship Him.—It is better, for such the Father also seeks His worshippers to be. The word “such,” i.e., of this character, is emphatic. The “also” expresses that the worship, on the part of the true worshippers, is in accordance with the divine will: “the Father also (on His part)…” The reader will not fail to note the emphasis in this reply on the word “Father” (John 4:21 and twice in this verse).

This name of God, which we teach children to lisp in their earliest years, came to her, perhaps, now for the first time. He is not Vengeance to be appeased, nor Power to be dreaded, but Love to be received. (Compare to Note on John 3:16.) It is when people learn to think of God as Father that merely local and material worship must cease.

The universal desire and practice of worship is the witness to a universal object of worship. The yearning of the human spirit is that of a child seeking the author of his being. The Father also seeks His child, and sees him when he is a great way off (Luke 15:20).