In a book
produced by the Taizé community (a community of religious brother from Catholic
and Protestant backgrounds), we find the following discussion of John 4:24:
What does it mean to say ‘God is
spirit’?
These somewhat enigmatic words of Jesus are
found in St John’s Gospel, in the story of the Samarian woman. She asks Jesus
where one should worship God. He replies that encountering God is not linked to
a geographical place, and adds, ‘God is spirit, and those who worship him must
worship in spirit and in truth’ (Jn 4.24). By affirming that it is possible to
enter into a relationship with God everywhere, Jesus is faithful to the
tradition of his people Israel. An age-old prayer says to God, ‘Where could I
go to escape your spirit; where could I flee from your face? If I go up to
heaven, you are present; if I lie down in the nether world, there you are’ (Ps.
1397-8). God can come to anyone, wherever they are.
But Jesus also confirms the religious feeling
that God cannot be worshipped just anywhere. We must worship ‘in spirit and in
truth’. This does not mean just ‘spiritually and truly’ but rather designates a
place for worship. This place called ‘spirit
and truth’ is communion in God, a temple ‘not made by human hands’ that Christ
built by his resurrection (Mk 14.58). God who is spirit never ceases to create
his own sanctuary in people’s hearts by strengthening them in love. He turns us
into ‘living stones’ who together build ‘a dwelling-place in the spirit’ (1
Pet. 2.5)
‘What is born of flesh is flesh, what is born
of spirit is spirit’ (Jn 3.6). The difference is radical. God is ‘spirit’; we
are ‘flesh’, in other words powerless to go beyond our limitations as created
beings. When we pray, we may find ourselves in front of an impenetrable wall,
or even a void. We cannot reach God by our own resources. Our entire being is ‘flesh’,
even the mind with which we search for God. God is beyond what our senses can
perceive and our intelligence conceive. Sometimes doubts arise, and even the
meaning of the word God becomes unclear.
God is not identified with any reality of
this world. It cannot be said of God ‘he is here’ or ‘he is there’ (compare Lk
17.21). His presence is as fleeting as a breath: ‘The wind blows where it will;
you hear it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going’ (n
3.8).
The fact that God is spirit does not simply
mean that God is totally other. In the Bible, ‘spirit’ is not a static notion,
but designates something dynamic—an activity energies that transform. That God
is spirit means that he is searching for us constantly. Life radiates from him
and is communicated to us. God transforms us too into spirit according to the
words of Christ, ‘What is born of spirit is spirit’. God is spirit; God I alive,
and in him we too ‘live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17.28). (Seek and You Will Find: Questions on the
Christian Faith and the Bible [London: Continuum, 2005], 8-9)
What is
interesting is that the above discussion of John 4:24 understands that the text
is speaking, not of the ontological make-up of God the Father (e.g., that he is
only a spirit and does not have a
body or some corporeal form), but instead, it is about how one can worship God
in any geographical area (not only Jerusalem or Mount Gezarim).
For an
exegesis of John 4:24 and other texts (e.g., Heb 1:3), see: