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NASB | John 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 4:24 "God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." |
Bible Question: What does it mean by worship in truth and spirit. |
Bible Answer: I have often wondered the same thing, as I have read this traditional translation wording. I think a big part of why we have difficulty understanding what this means is that the prepositional phrases "in truth" and "(in) spirit" are marginal English, that is, fluent English speakers to not normally use the words "truth" and "spirit" in such prepositional phrases. So we have difficulty understanding the meaning because the translation is not worded in a standard English way. I have always thought that by "worship in truth" what was probably meant is that we need to be honest (truthful) as we worship. But some exegetes believe that this verse refers to worshipping "according to the truth", that is, worshipping in a way that is in line with God's truth as explained in the Bible. There is even more difficulty trying to figure out what it means to worship "in spirit." A number of different possibilities have been suggested including: 1. Worship by means of the Holy Spirit. Some would contend that this would mean worshipping in a charismatic way, perhaps even speaking in tongues while worshipping. Or, at minimum, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us as we worship. 2. Worship through our human spirits. This is another exegetical possiblity. We should not only worship God with our minds but also with our spirits. Our worship needs to come from the deepest parts of ourselves, from our very spirit. Then our worship can be "spiritual." I don't know if we can be certain of what this verse means. It helps to compare other English Bible versions to see what they suggest this verse means. This verse is a candidate for discussion on my new blog at Internet address: http://englishbibles.blogspot.com. I invite anyone to visit the blog and post questions and comments there. Blessings, in our wonderful Lord, Wayne |