Monday, January 26, 2015
Going about doing my daily editing of J.C. Ryle's Commentary, this time on John 4:7-26, and I stumble upon this:
The Samaritan woman, when awakened to spiritual concern, started questions about the comparative merits of the Samaritan and Jewish modes of worshipping God. Our Lord tells her that true and acceptable worship depends not on the place in which it is offered, but on the state of the worshipper's heart. He declares, "The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this place nor at Jerusalem worship the Father." He adds that "the true worshippers shall worship in spirit and in truth."
The principle contained in these sentences can never be too strongly impressed on professing Christians. We are all naturally inclined to make religion a mere matter of outward forms and ceremonies, and to attach an excessive importance to our own particular manner of worshipping God. We must beware of this spirit, and especially when we first begin to think seriously about our souls. The heart is the principal thing in all our approaches to God. "The Lord looketh on the heart." (1 Sam. 16:7)
Ever since the day I went over to BBTC and felt uncomfortable over things there, it seems like God has been telling me that my focus is wrong. I have been getting reminders almost every other day that my conduct that day wasn't good and that my comments to A was unbecoming. I still regret every thing I had said the other day, and every time I am reminded by God not to judge others, I am humbled by His love and patience for us little ones.
EDIT: I was poring through J.C. Ryle's additional notes at the back regarding this matter, and I think he has explained my deep-seated worries and concerns that I have carried with me for a long time very succinctly.
On John 4:20-23: To see the full drift of this verse, we must carefully remember the state of the Samaritan woman's mind at this moment. I think that she spoke under spiritual anxiety. She was alarmed by having her sins suddenly exposed. She found herself for the first time in the presence of a prophet. She felt for the first time the necessity of religion. But at once the old question between the Jews and Samaritans arose before her mind. How was she to know what was truth? What was she to believe? Her own people said that the Samaritans mode of worshipping God was correct. The Jews said that Jerusalem was the only place where men ought to worship. Between these two conflicting opinions what was she to do?
Our Lord here declares who alone would be considered true worshippers in the coming dispensation of the Gospel. They would not be merely those who worshipped in this place or in that place. They would not be exclusively Jews, or exclusively Gentiles, or exclusively Samaritans. The external part of the worship would be of no value compared to the internal state of the worshippers. They only would be counted true worshippers who worshipped in spirit and in truth.
The words "in spirit and in truth" are variously interpreted, and much has been written about them. I believe the simplest explanation to be this. The word "spirit" must not be taken to mean the Holy Spirit, but the intellectual or mental part of man, in contradistinction to the material or carnal part of man. This distinction is clearly marked in 1 Cor. 7:34: "Holy in body and in spirit."--"Worship in spirit" is heart-worship in contradistinction to all formal, material, carnal worship, consisting only of ceremonies, offerings, sacrifices, and the like. When a Jew offered a formal meat-offering, with his heart far away, it was worship after the flesh. When David offered in prayer a broken and a contrite heart, it was worship in spirit.--"Worship in truth" means worship through the one true priesthood, which were ordained till Christ died on the cross. When the veil was rent, and the way into the holiest made manifest by Christ's death, then, and not till then, men "worshipped in truth." Before Christ they worshipped through types, and shadows, and figures, and emblems. After Christ they worshipped in truth.--Spirit is opposed to "flesh;" truth to "shadow." "Spirit," in short, is heart-service contrasted with lip worship and formal devotion. "Truth" is the full light of the Christian dispensation contrasted with the twilight of the law of Moses.
All God wants is heart-service. To approach Him with a broken and contrite heart, and to love Him with all our heart and all our soul. Everything else is secondary. || posted by Kuan Hui
The Samaritan woman, when awakened to spiritual concern, started questions about the comparative merits of the Samaritan and Jewish modes of worshipping God. Our Lord tells her that true and acceptable worship depends not on the place in which it is offered, but on the state of the worshipper's heart. He declares, "The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this place nor at Jerusalem worship the Father." He adds that "the true worshippers shall worship in spirit and in truth."
The principle contained in these sentences can never be too strongly impressed on professing Christians. We are all naturally inclined to make religion a mere matter of outward forms and ceremonies, and to attach an excessive importance to our own particular manner of worshipping God. We must beware of this spirit, and especially when we first begin to think seriously about our souls. The heart is the principal thing in all our approaches to God. "The Lord looketh on the heart." (1 Sam. 16:7)
Ever since the day I went over to BBTC and felt uncomfortable over things there, it seems like God has been telling me that my focus is wrong. I have been getting reminders almost every other day that my conduct that day wasn't good and that my comments to A was unbecoming. I still regret every thing I had said the other day, and every time I am reminded by God not to judge others, I am humbled by His love and patience for us little ones.
EDIT: I was poring through J.C. Ryle's additional notes at the back regarding this matter, and I think he has explained my deep-seated worries and concerns that I have carried with me for a long time very succinctly.
On John 4:20-23: To see the full drift of this verse, we must carefully remember the state of the Samaritan woman's mind at this moment. I think that she spoke under spiritual anxiety. She was alarmed by having her sins suddenly exposed. She found herself for the first time in the presence of a prophet. She felt for the first time the necessity of religion. But at once the old question between the Jews and Samaritans arose before her mind. How was she to know what was truth? What was she to believe? Her own people said that the Samaritans mode of worshipping God was correct. The Jews said that Jerusalem was the only place where men ought to worship. Between these two conflicting opinions what was she to do?
Our Lord here declares who alone would be considered true worshippers in the coming dispensation of the Gospel. They would not be merely those who worshipped in this place or in that place. They would not be exclusively Jews, or exclusively Gentiles, or exclusively Samaritans. The external part of the worship would be of no value compared to the internal state of the worshippers. They only would be counted true worshippers who worshipped in spirit and in truth.
The words "in spirit and in truth" are variously interpreted, and much has been written about them. I believe the simplest explanation to be this. The word "spirit" must not be taken to mean the Holy Spirit, but the intellectual or mental part of man, in contradistinction to the material or carnal part of man. This distinction is clearly marked in 1 Cor. 7:34: "Holy in body and in spirit."--"Worship in spirit" is heart-worship in contradistinction to all formal, material, carnal worship, consisting only of ceremonies, offerings, sacrifices, and the like. When a Jew offered a formal meat-offering, with his heart far away, it was worship after the flesh. When David offered in prayer a broken and a contrite heart, it was worship in spirit.--"Worship in truth" means worship through the one true priesthood, which were ordained till Christ died on the cross. When the veil was rent, and the way into the holiest made manifest by Christ's death, then, and not till then, men "worshipped in truth." Before Christ they worshipped through types, and shadows, and figures, and emblems. After Christ they worshipped in truth.--Spirit is opposed to "flesh;" truth to "shadow." "Spirit," in short, is heart-service contrasted with lip worship and formal devotion. "Truth" is the full light of the Christian dispensation contrasted with the twilight of the law of Moses.
All God wants is heart-service. To approach Him with a broken and contrite heart, and to love Him with all our heart and all our soul. Everything else is secondary. || posted by Kuan Hui
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