Christ's deafb, then, and not till then, men "worshipped in truth." Before Christ, they worshipped throush types, and shadows, and figures, and emblems. After Christ they wor- shipped in truth. — Spirit is opposed to " flesh ;" truth to *' sha- dow." " Spirit," in short, is heart-service, contrasted with lip worship and formal devotion. " Truth" is the full light of the Christian dispensation contrasted with the twilight of the law cf Moses.
The view I have endeavoured to give is substantially that of Chrysoatom and Euthymius.
Caryl, quoted by Ford, says, "In spirit regards the inward power, in truth the outward form. The first strikes at hypocrisy, the second at idolatry."
[^TJie Father seeTceth such...ivorsMp him.'] This is a remarkable sentence. I believe it to mean that " the hour is come, in which the Father has ordained from eternity that He will gather out of the world a company of true and spiritual worshippers. He is even now seeking out and gathering in such worshippers." — The expression " seeketh" is peculiar. There is something like it in the sentence, '' The Son of man is come to seeh and to save that which is lost." (Luke xix. 10.) It seems to show the exceeding compassion of the Father, and His infinite will- ingness to save souls. He does not/merely wait for men to come to Him. He ''seeks" for them. — It also shows the wide opening of God the Father's mercy under the Grospel. He no longer confines His grace to the Jews. He now seeks and de- sires to gather in everywhere true worshippers out of every ration.
The clause appears to me specially intended to encourage the Samaritan woman. Let her not trouble herself with difficulties about the comparative claims of the Samaritan and Jewish sys- tems. Was she willing to be a spiritual worshipper ? That was the one question which deserved her attention.
Trapp observes, " How should this fire up our hearts to spiri- tual worship ! That God seeks for such worshippers I"
24. — [God is a Spirit.] Our Lord here declares to the Samaritan woman the true nature of God. Let her cease to think that God was such an one as man, and that He couLl not be found, or approached, or addressed, like a mere earthly monarch, except at one particular place. Let her leain to have higher, nobler, and more exalted views of the Being with whom smners have to do. Let her know this day that God was a Spirit.
The declaration before us is one of the most lofty and definite sayings about God's nature which is to be found in the whole
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Bible. That such a declaration should have been made to such a person as the Sainaiitaii woman is awonde;fal instance of Christ's condescension! To define precisely the full nieaninjj of the expression is past man's understanding. The leading idea most probably is, that "God is an immaterial being, that He dwelleth not in temples made with hand.<, and that He is not, like ourselves, therefore, absent from one place when He is present at anothei-." These things are all true, but how little we can realize them 1
Cornelius d Lapide gives an excellent summary of the opinions of heathen philosophers on the nature of God, in his commentary on this verse.
[They... .worship. ...mitst...worship... .spirit.... truth.'] Our Lord draws this broad conclusion from the statement of God's nature which He has just made. If " God is a Spirit" it behoves those who M^ould worship Him acceptably, to worship in spirit and in truth. It is unreasonable to suppose that He can like any wor- ship which does not come from the heart, or can be so Avell pleased with worship which is offered through types and cere- monies, as with worship offered through the true way which He has provided, and is now revealing.
The importance of the great principle laid down in this and the preceding verse, can never be overrated. Any rehgious teaching which tends to depreciate heart-worship, and to turn Christianity into a mere formal service, or which tends to bring back Jewish shadows, ceremonies, and services, and to introduce them into Christian worship, is on the face of these remarkable verses most unscriptural and deserving of reprobation.
Of course we must not admit the idea, that in this and the preceding verse. Jesus meant to pour contempt on the ceremonial law, which God Himself had given. But He plainly teaches that it was an imperfect dispensation, given because of man's igno- rance and infirmity, as we give pictures to children in teaching them. It wa-, in fact, a schoolmaster to Christ. (Gal. iii, 24.) To want men to return to it is as absurd as to bid grown up peo- ple begin learning the alphabet by pictures in an infant school. — On the other hand, as Beza remarks, we must not run mto the extreme of despising all ordinances, sacraments, and outward ceremonies in religion. The?e things have their use and value, however much they may be abused.
25. — [The ivoman saitJi, IJcnow...Messias... Christ,, Sc] This verse is an intt're-ting one. It sIjows the woman at last brought to the very state of mind in which she would be prepared to welcome a revelation of Chiist. She had been told of " living water," and had expressed a desire for it. She had been told her own sin, and had been unable to deny it. She had been told the useless-
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