Commentary on John 4:23-24
(23) But the hour cometh. —Better, as in John 4:21 , but there cometh an hour. He adds to this thought, what He could not add to the previous one, “and now is.” Local worship was not yet giving way to spiritual; but a band of true worshippers was being gathered, and some were then following Him. The true worshippers. —Her distinction of place was of the accident, but the essence was the nature of the worship. What could any worship be to a God who saw the impurity of the heart, and the contradiction of thought and word? What could she know of the worship of which she speaks? Yes; and the temple at Jerusalem was a house of merchandise, instead of one of prayer; what did priest and Levite, scribe and Pharisee, know of true worship? In spirit and in truth. —The link between human nature and the divine is in the human spirit, which is the shrine of the Holy Spirit ( 1Corinthians 6:19 ). All true approach to God must therefore be in spirit. (Comp....