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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - John 4:23 - 4:23
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
And now is (kai nun estin). See this same phrase in Joh 5:25. This item could not be added in Joh 4:21 for local worship was not abolished, but spiritual independence of place was called for at once. So contrast Joh 5:25, Joh 5:28; Joh 16:25, Joh 16:32.
The true worshippers (hoi alēthinoi proskunētai). See Joh 1:9 for alēthinos (genuine). Proskunētēs is a late word from proskuneō, to bow the knee, to worship, occurs here only in N.T., but is found in one pre-Christian inscription (Deissmann, Light, etc., p. 101) and in one of the 3rd century a.d. (Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary).
In spirit and truth (en pneumati kai alētheiāi). This is what matters, not where, but how (in reality, in the spirit of man, the highest part of man, and so in truth). All this is according to the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:5) who is the Spirit of truth (Joh 16:13). Here Jesus has said the final word on worship, one needed today.
Seeketh (zētei). The Father has revealed himself in the Son who is the truth (Joh 14:6, Joh 14:9). It does matter whether we have a true conception of God whom we worship.
To be his worshippers (tous proskunountas auton). Rather, “seeks such as those who worship him” (predicate accusative articular participle in apposition with toioutous (such). John pictures the Father as seeking worshippers, a doctrine running all through the Gospel (Joh 3:16; Joh 6:44; Joh 15:16; 1Jo 4:10).