Reflections Of Grace - John 4:21

“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” — John 4:21. 

This week’s article takes up where we left off last week, engaging the prevailing dispensational approach to Biblical interpretation.  My assertion is that, contrary to the “two-peoples of God” thesis of dispensationalism, the Holy Scriptures teach that there is but one people of God, first expressed and initiated as Israel under the Old Covenant, and continuing as the Church under the New Covenant.  In this way Jew and Gentile are united together in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this installment, I want to address why this matters.  Simply put, it matters because our view on these things determines how we understand the whole Bible.  And, how we understand the Bible determines how we believe and proclaim the gospel.

The woman to whom Jesus was speaking in John 4 was a Samaritan.  This makes for a good case study because although the Samaritans viewed themselves as following the true religion of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Jews viewed them as despicable half-breeds who had defected from the faith.  It is a long story as to why, but in short, it is because Samaria used to be part of northern Israel, which rejected God’s Word shortly after the days of King David, was later conquered by Assyria, and was resettled with Jews intermarrying with Assyrians, Babylonians, and others, and mixing pagan religion with the true Jewish religion (cf. 2 Kings 17:24-41).

Back to the woman in John 4, she was engaging Jesus about proper worship.  The Samaritans said Mt. Gerazim in Samaria was the place that God was to be worshiped.  The Jews (and the Old Testament!) said that Mt. Zion in Jerusalem was the place that God was to be worshiped.

Jesus does give her a strong correction regarding the errors of the Samaritans by stating that they are ignorant in their approach to worship, while the Jewish religion in principle worships God as he commands to be worshiped (v. 22). He supports this notion further by pointing out that “salvation is from the Jews.” (Cf. Genesis 12:3)

And yet, he does not instruct her to go to Mt. Zion to worship as the Jews do.  He also doesn’t teach her that a different way of salvation is being made for the Samaritans and Gentiles.  In fact, he even equates Mt. Zion with Mt. Gerazim, stating that they are now both irrelevant to true worship, for true worship now happens “in spirit and in truth.” (v. 23) This was another way of saying that the Old Covenant had been fulfilled, and the New had come.  No longer did the people of God have to approach him through the law and all of the ordinances of the Old Covenant.  Instead, Jesus came to fulfill the law, so that whoever believes in him can approach God through Christ by faith, having the full forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. Amen.