John 4:24
The context
The Samaritan woman has raised the question of the mountain where worship is proper. Jesus answers that the hour is coming when neither mountain will be the location, and that the Father seeks worshipers. Verse 24 gives the reason: God is spirit, and those who worship must do so in spirit and truth.
What it establishes
It establishes that worship is not tied to a place, and that the character of God is the ground for the kind of worship he seeks. The saying relocates the question from geography to the worshiper's condition, and it is addressed to a specific dispute about Gerizim and Jerusalem.
What it does not establish
It does not establish that God is an impersonal force. The verse says God is spirit, and the same Gospel speaks of him as Father and as one who seeks. Nor does it define what worship in spirit and truth involves.
Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.
Cited in these answers
Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.


