KJV: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
YLT: God is a Spirit, and those worshipping Him, in spirit and truth it doth behove to worship.'
Darby: God is a spirit; and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.
ASV: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
| Πνεῦμα | Spirit |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular Root: πνεῦμα Sense: a movement of air (a gentle blast. |
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| ὁ | - |
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Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| Θεός | God [is] |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: θεός Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities. |
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| τοὺς | those |
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Parse: Article, Accusative Masculine Plural Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| προσκυνοῦντας | worshiping |
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Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Accusative Masculine Plural Root: προσκυνέω Sense: to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence. |
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| πνεύματι | spirit |
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Parse: Noun, Dative Neuter Singular Root: πνεῦμα Sense: a movement of air (a gentle blast. |
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| ἀληθείᾳ | truth |
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Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular Root: ἀλήθεια Sense: objectively. |
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| δεῖ | it behooves |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: δεῖ Sense: it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper. |
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| προσκυνεῖν | to worship |
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Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Active Root: προσκυνέω Sense: to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence. |
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Greek Commentary for John 4:24
More precisely, “God is Spirit” as “God is Light” (1 John 1:5), “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). In neither case can we read Spirit is God, Light is God, Love is God. The non-corporeality of God is clearly stated and the personality of God also. All this is put in three words for the first time. Must Here is the real necessity (δει dei), not the one used by the woman about the right place of worship (John 4:20). [source]
Or, as Rev., in margins, God is spirit. Spirit is the emphatic word; Spirit is God. The phrase describes the nature, not the personality of God. Compare the expressions, God is light; God is love (1 John 1:5; 1 John 4:8). [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 4:24
Gerizim, at the foot of which lies the well. Here, according to the Samaritan tradition, Abraham sacrificed Isaac, and met Melchisedek. By some convulsion of nature, the central range of mountains running north and south, was cleft open to its base at right angles to its own line of extension, and the deep fissure thus made is the vale of Nablus, as it appears to one coming up the plain of El Mukhna from Jerusalem. The valley is at least eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, and the mountains on either hand tower to an elevation of about one thousand feet more. Mount Ebal is on the north, Gerizim on the south, and the city between. Near the eastern end the vale is not more than sixty rods wide; and there, I suppose, the tribes assembled to hear the “blessings and cursings” read by the Levites (John href="/desk/?q=joh+4:24&sr=1">John 4:24. [source]
Better, received or taken up in glory. Ἁναλαμβάνειν is the formal term to describe the ascension of Christ (see Acts 1:2, Acts 1:22), and the reference is most probably to that event. Comp. lxx, 2 Kings 2:11, of Elijah, and Matthew href="/desk/?q=mt+16:27&sr=1">Matthew 16:27; Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:31; Luke 12:27; 1 Corinthians 15:43; 2 Corinthians 3:7, 2 Corinthians 3:8, 2 Corinthians 3:11.Additional Note on 1 Timothy 3:16Christ's existence before his incarnation was purely spiritual ( ἐν πνεύματι ). He was in the form of God (Philemon 2:6): He was the effulgence of God's glory and the express image of his substance (Hebrews 1:3), and God is spirit (John 4:24). From this condition he came into manifestation in the flesh ( ἐν σαρκί ). He became man and entered into human conditions (Philemon 2:7, Philemon 2:8). Under these human conditions the attributes of his essential spiritual personality were veiled. He did not appear to men what he really was. He was not recognised by them as he who “was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1, John 1:2); as “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15); as one with God (John 10:30; John 14:9); as he who had all power in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18); who was “before all things and by whom all things consist” (Colossians 1:17); who was “the king of the ages” (1 Timothy 1:17). On the contrary, he was regarded as an impostor, a usurper, and a blasphemer. He was hated, persecuted, and finally murdered. He was poor, tempted, and tried, a man of sorrows. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The justification or vindication of what he really was did not therefore come out of the fleshly sphere. He was not justified in the flesh. It came out of the sphere of his spiritual being. Glimpses of this pneumatic life ( ἐν πνεύματι ) flashed out during his life in the flesh. By his exalted and spotless character, by his works of love and power, by his words of authority, in his baptism and transfiguration, he was vindicated as being what he essentially was and what he openly claimed to be. These justifications were revelations, expressions, and witnesses of his original, essential spiritual and divine quality; of the native glory which he had with the Father before the world was. It was the Spirit that publicly indorsed him (John 1:32, John 1:33): the words which he spake were spirit and life (John 6:63): he cast out demons in the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28): his whole earthly manifestation was in demonstration of the Spirit. These various demonstrations decisively justified his claims in the eyes of many. His disciples confessed him as the Christ of God (Luke 9:20) some of the people said “this is the Christ” (John 7:41): others suspected that he was such (John 4:29). Whether or not men acknowledged his claims, they felt the power of his unique personality. They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority (Matthew 7:28, Matthew 7:29). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Then followed the more decisive vindication in his resurrection from the dead. Here the work of the Spirit is distinctly recognised by Paul, Romans 1:4. See also Romans 8:11. In the period between his resurrection and ascension his pneumatic life came into clearer manifestation, and added to the vindication furnished in his life and resurrection. He seemed to live on the border-line between the natural and the spiritual world, and the powers of the spiritual world were continually crossing the line and revealing themselves in him. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- In the apostolic preaching, the appeal to the vindication of Christ by the Spirit is clear and unequivocal. The spiritual nourishment of believers is “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Philemon 1:19): the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Christ” (Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6): Paul identifies Christ personally with the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17); and in Romans 8:9, Romans 8:10, “Spirit of God,” “Spirit of Christ,” and “Christ” are used as convertible terms. The indwelling of the Spirit of Christ is the test and vindication of belonging to Christ (Romans 8:9). Thus, though put to death in the flesh, in the Spirit Christ is vindicated as the Son of God, the Christ of God, the manifestation of God. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- [source]
Contrasted with fathers of the flesh. Their relation to us is limited; his is universal. They are related to us on the fleshly side; he is the creator of our essential life. Our relation to him is on the side of our eternal being. Comp. John 4:23, John 4:24; Zechariah 12:1; Isaiah 57:16. The phrase N.T.oComp. lxx, Numbers 16:22; Numbers 27:16; Revelation 22:6. Clement of Rome styles God the benefactor ( εὐεργέτης ) of spirits, the creator and overseer ( κτίστης, ἐπίσκοπος ) of every spirit, and the Lord ( δεσπότης ) of spirits. Ad Corinth. lix, lxiv. [source]
See on God is light (1 John 1:5), and the truth (1 John 1:6); also God is spirit (John 4:24). Spirit and light are expressions of God's essential nature. Love is the expression of His personality corresponding to His nature. See on love of God (1 John 2:5). Truth and love stand related to each other. Loving is the condition of knowing. [source]
Timeless aorist active indicative of γινωσκω ginōskō has no acquaintance with God, never did get acquainted with him.God is love (ο τεος αγαπη εστιν ho theos agapē estin). Anarthrous predicate, not η αγαπη hē agapē John does not say that love is God, but only that God is love. The two terms are not interchangeable. God is also light (1 John 1:5) and spirit (John 4:24). [source]
Anarthrous predicate, not η αγαπη hē agapē John does not say that love is God, but only that God is love. The two terms are not interchangeable. God is also light (1 John 1:5) and spirit (John 4:24). [source]
A statement of the absolute nature of God. Not a light, nor the light, with reference to created beings, as the light of men, the light of the world, but simply and absolutely God is light, in His very nature. Compare God is spirit, and see on John 4:24: God is love, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16. The expression is not a metaphor. “All that we are accustomed to term light in the domain of the creature, whether with a physical or metaphysical meaning, is only an effluence of that one and only primitive Light which appears in the nature of God” (Ebrard). Light is immaterial, diffusive, pure, and glorious. It is the condition of life. Physically, it represents glory; intellectually, truth; morally, holiness. As immaterial it corresponds to God as spirit; as diffusive, to God as love; as the condition of life, to God as life; as pure and illuminating, to God as holiness and truth. In the Old Testament, light is often the medium of God's visible revelations to men. It was the first manifestation of God in creation. The burning lamp passed between the pieces of the parted victim in God's covenant with Abraham. God went before Israel in a pillar of fire, descended in fire upon Sinai, and appeared in the luminons cloud which rested on the mercy-seat in the most holy place. In classical Greek φῶς lightis used metaphorically for delight, deliverance, victory, and is applied to persons as a term of admiring affection, as we say that one is the light of our life, or the delight of our eyes. So Ulysses, on seeing his son Telemachus, says, “Thou hast come, Telemachus, sweet light ( γλυκερὸν φάος )” (Homer, “Odyssey,” xvi., 23). And Electra, greeting her returning brother, Orestes, “O dearest light ( φίλτατον φῶς )” (Sophocles, “Electra,” 1223). Occasionally, as by Euripides, of the light of truth (“Iphigenia at Tauris,” 1046). No modern writer has developed the idea of God as light with such power and beauty as Dante. His “Paradise” might truthfully be called a study of light. Light is the only visible expression of God. Radiating from Him, it is diffused through the universe as the principle of life. This key-note is struck at the very opening of “the Paradise.”“The glory of Him who moveth everythingDoth penetrate the universe, and shine In one part more and in another less. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Within that heaven which most His light receives-DIVIDER- Was I.”“Paradiso,” i., 1-5. In the final, beatific vision, God Himself is imagined as a luminous point which pours its rays through all the spheres, upon which the spirits gazed, and in which they read the past, the present, and the future.“O grace abundant, by which I presumedTo fix my sight upon the Light Eternal, So that the seeing I consumed therein!-DIVIDER- I saw that in its depth far down is lying-DIVIDER- Bound up with love together in one volume,-DIVIDER- What through the universe in leaves is scattered;-DIVIDER- Substance, and accident, and their operations,-DIVIDER- All interfused together in such wise-DIVIDER- That what I speak of is one simple light.”“Paradiso,” xxxiii., 82-90.“In presence of that light one such becomes, That to withdraw therefrom for other prospect-DIVIDER- It is impossible he e'er consent;-DIVIDER- Because the good, which object of will,-DIVIDER- Is gathered all in this, and out of it-DIVIDER- That is defective which is perfect there.”“Paradiso,” xxxiii., 100-105.“O Light eterne, sole in thyself that dwellest, Sole knowest thyself, and, know unto thyself-DIVIDER- And knowing, lovest and smilest on thyself!“Paradiso xxxiii., 124-126. Light enkindles love.“If in the heat of love I flame upon theeBeyond the measure that on earth is seen, So that the valor of thine eyes I vanquish,-DIVIDER- Marvel thou not thereat; for this proceeds-DIVIDER- From perfect sight, which, as it apprehends,-DIVIDER- To the good apprehended moves its feet. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Well I perceive how is already shining-DIVIDER- Into thine intellect the eternal Light,-DIVIDER- That only seen enkindles always love.”“Paradiso,” v., 1-9 See also “ Paradiso,” cantos xxx., xxxi. [source]