New English Translation
John 4:24
24God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:24 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
- New International Version (NIV)God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
- New King James Version (NKJV)God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Context of John 4:24
22You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23But a time is coming – and now is here – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); “whenever he comes, he will tell us everything.” 26Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”
Read all of John 4John 4:24 word by word
πνεῦμα ὁ θεός, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for John 4:24
- 2 Corinthians 3:17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom.
- 1 Timothy 1:17Now to the eternal king, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.
- 1 Samuel 16:7But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t be impressed by his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
- Psalms 50:13Do I eat the flesh of bulls? Do I drink the blood of goats?
- Psalms 51:17The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit – O God, a humble and repentant heart you will not reject.
- Psalms 66:18If I had harbored sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
- Isaiah 57:15For this is what the high and exalted one says, the one who rules forever, whose name is holy: “I dwell in an exalted and holy place, but also with the discouraged and humiliated, in order to cheer up the humiliated and to encourage the discouraged.
- Matthew 15:8‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me,
- 2 Corinthians 1:12For our reason for confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives and sincerity which are from God – not by human wisdom but by the grace of God – we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more toward you.
Commentaries on John 4:24
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 24God is a Spirit - This is one of the first, the greatest, the most sublime, and necessary truths in the compass of nature! There is a God, the cause of all things - the fountain of all perfection - without parts or dimensions, for he is Eternal - filling the heavens and the earth - pervading, governing, and upholding all things: for he is an infinite Spirit! This God can be pleased only with that which resembles himself: therefore he must hate sin and…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 24God is A spirit - This is the second reason why men should worship him in spirit and in truth. By this is meant that God is without a body; that he is not material or composed of parts; that he is invisible, in every place, pure and holy. This is one of the first truths of religion, and one of the sublimest ever presented to the mind of man. Almost all nations have had some idea of God as gross or material, but the Bible declares that he is a pure spirit…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-26Verses 4-26 There was great hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews. Christ's road from Judea to Galilee lay through Samaria. We should not go into places of temptation but when we needs must; and then must not dwell in them, but hasten through them. We have here our Lord Jesus under the common fatigue of travellers. Thus we see that he was truly a man. Toil came in with sin; therefore Christ, having made himself a curse for us, submitted to it. Also…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 24in spirit and in truth: In Greek, one preposition (a connecting word) is used for both words. This shows that spirit and truth form one united idea. True worship happens when God’s Spirit makes God’s truth known to a person. Worship is not only about a place or a ceremony. It is about responding to God with the help of his Spirit and according to what is true about him. Jesus himself is the Truth (14:6). The Spirit is also called the Spirit of truth…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 21-2421-24. Woman, &c.--Here are three weighty pieces of information: (1) The point raised will very soon cease to be of any moment, for a total change of dispensation is about to come over the Church. (2) The Samaritans are wrong, not only as to the place, but the whole grounds and nature of their worship, while in all these respects the truth lies with the Jews. (3) As God is a Spirit, so He both invites and demands a spiritual worship, and already all is in…Read the comment
Topics related to John 4:24
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on John 4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Catena Aurea
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- John Lightfoot Commentary
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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