God is spirit, and those who worship him ought to worship in spirit and truth.
Apostle John
![](https://luminaryquotes.com/wp-content/themes/luminary/images/down_arrow.png)
In Spirit and Truth
Theme: Understanding
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand, while we understand what we worship, since salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Indeed, it is just such worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and those who worship him ought to worship in spirit and truth.”
John the Apostle, born around 6 AD and living until approximately 100 AD, held a singular place among the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Referred to as Ἰωάννης in the New Testament, he was often recognized as the youngest of the group. Born to Zebedee and either Salome or Joanna, John grew up in a family familiar with the rigors of life, as his father was a fisherman. His upbringing was shared with his brother James, who would also become one of the Twelve Apostles, illustrating that the call to divine love often runs deep in the soil of family connections.
John's spiritual narrative is deeply woven into the Christian tradition through the Book of John in the New Testament. Unlike the other Gospels, which often focus on external events and actions, John's Gospel dives into the deep waters of spiritual insight, capturing the essence of Jesus' teachings on love, unity, and divine-human relationship. This is the Gospel that gives us the intimate conversations between Jesus and his followers, as well as monumental statements about love such as John 3:16. His account exudes a nuanced understanding of Jesus' message, inviting us to consider not just the surface of the events but the underlying currents of love and interconnectedness that tie them all together.
Yet, John's influence extends beyond the Gospel attributed to him. Tradition tells us that he lived a long life, outlasting all the other Apostles, and spent his later years in Ephesus. During this period, he is believed to have penned the three epistles of John and the Book of Revelation, writings that continue to inspire and challenge believers to this day. In these texts, John remains consistent in his focus on love as the central axis of human and divine interaction. His life and works stand as a testament to the enduring power of love to sustain, to enlighten, and to bring us into communion with the divine mystery.
The Gospel of John
Wilson, Andrew, editor. World Scripture II. Universal Peace Federation, 2011, p. 727 [John 4.24-25].
![](https://luminaryprofiles.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/240_F_289383267_r0gOJlRXtCr6JybVqVGHM1UuB7qHdbHK-2-e1693034495430.jpg)
Apostle John
Theme: Understanding
Resources
Copyright © 2017 – 2024 LuminaryQuotes.com About Us
John 4.24-25
This was the site of Jacob’s well. Jesus, tired from his journey, rested there at the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” The quote above is from their conversation.
Commentary by St. Thomas Aquinas
Then he shows that the third type of worship is appropriate from the very nature of God, saying, God is spirit. As is said in Sirach (13:19), “Every animal loves its like”; and so God loves us insofar as we are like him. But we are not like him by our body, because he is incorporeal, but in what is spiritual in us, for God is spirit: “Be renewed in the spirit,” of your mind (Eph 4:23). In saying, God is spirit, he means that God is incorporeal: “A spirit does not have flesh and bones” (Lk 24:39); and also that he is a life-giver, because our entire life is from God, as its creative source. God is also truth: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (below 14:6). Therefore, we should worship him in spirit and in truth. And so Jesus says: I who speak to you am he, i.e., I am the Christ: “Wisdom goes to meet those who desire her, so she may first reveal herself to them” (Wis 6:14), and below (14:21): “I will love him, and reveal myself to him.”
–James A. Weisheipl, O.P. [Commentary On The Gospel of St. John, St. Thomas Aquinas, Part I: Chapters 1-7].