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"spiritually". The complete phrase, "in spirit and truth", is cast in the form of a figure of
speech called "hendiadys", the "one-by-means-of-two" figure, for just as in the
expression "grace and truth" considered above, one thing, not two, is intended, so here.
"God is spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him spiritually--yes in a truly
spiritual manner, genuinely, without the intervention of types and shadows."
It is not without a bearing upon the subject that we read in II Kings 17: 26 that the
Samaritans were troubled about the "manner" of the god of the land, as we saw when
dealing with the inception of this people. The method adopted by the King of Assyria led
to a worship of "they knew not what", but the teaching given by the Lord leads to
worship that is acceptable.
Moreover, we observed that the Lord introduced the name of "Father". Though
"God is spirit" and His worship must be spiritual, it is evident that sinful man can never
approached such a God with such a worship. Consequently the Saviour speaks first of
the "Father", and the "fatherhood" of God is intimately associated with the "sonship" of
Christ. Consequently, immediately following the statement concerning true spiritual
worship, the woman speaks of the coming of Messiah, and the Lord makes the blessed
revelation: "I that speak unto thee am He."
This is the Lord's seventh statement (see structure of John 4: 7-27 on page 97), and
is the climax of this section. Both by the series of signs which he selected and in the
intervening sections that link these signs together, John, again and again, leads up to the
one supreme fact that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God".
When setting out the structure (Volume XXII, page 6) of the great section which
includes the eight signs (John 2: - 21: 14) we drew attention to the way in which
"work", ergon, and "believe", pisteuo, were a characteristic of each of the intervening
passages that linked the eight signs together.
In John 2: 13 - 4: 42, the section we have now considered, the Lord introduced this
subject of His "work" when His disciples returned to find Him in conversation with the
Samaritan.
"In the mean while His disciples prayed Him, saying, Master, eat. But He said unto
them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another,
Hath any man brought Him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will
of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work" (John 4: 31-34).
To this and accompanying works, the Lord makes constant appeal throughout the
Gospel, and the eight signs are so many "works" intended to lead to faith in Himself.
While this is the only occasion in this section where "work" is associated with the Lord,
as all know, there are a number of references to "believing". The word pisteuo,
"believing", is used fifteen times in this connection. The significance of the fact that the
Lord abode "two days" at Sychar (John 4: 40) becomes more evident when we consider
the next sign (John 4: 43-54), but for the moment let us not miss the significance of the
closing words of this section.