A False Worshiper Reproved

The Samaritan woman invites Jesus' judgment on the dispute between worship offered in the temple on Mount Gerizim and the temple in Jerusalem. In view of Jesus' incarnation ushering the epoch of the New Covenant he refuses to dispute the comparative claims. He does go on to point out the ignorance of Samaritan worship and to assert that Jewish worship in Jerusalem was informed by truth. Yet, while the grave deficiency of Samaritan worship was ignorance, the appalling deficiency of Jewish worship was its heartless, perfunctory nature. Its externals were orthodox but it was too often void of heart reality. Against the background of these deficiencies Jesus asserts that true worshippers shall worship 'in spirit and truth.' Worship in spirit demands the engagement of the faculties of the inner man. Worship in truth demands worship governed by revealed truth.