In Spirit and in Truth

Jesus said that true new testament worshipers of God “must worship him in spirit and in truth”(Jn. 4:24). The entire point of Jesus saying ‘in spirit,’ is that there is no ceremonial or symbolic worship or service unto God under the new covenant, neither can there be. The ‘in truth’ part simply means in holiness, meaning not holding to sin. The flip side of that coin is to worship God in pretense, which God’s people have been reproved for since the beginning (Gen. 4:1-7; Isa. 1:10-17; Mat. 15:1-9; I Cor. 5:1-8). There was always carnally based, symbolic worship to God before the law with altars and animal sacrifices, and during the law dispensation with a multitude of naturally based symbolic ordinances. The spiritual fulfillment of the law was not revealed until God raised up a man named Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles, who had never been under the law (Rom. 1:9; Rom. 10:4; Gal. 3:3; Philip. 3:3). The Jews were led to faith in Christ by the law, but God wanted the Gentile believers to have the direct route of faith in what he sent his Son to accomplish (Gal. 3:24). God manifested this reality at the house of Cornelius in Acts 10, when he sent Peter to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles for the first time. No one had received the holy Ghost except Jews and Samaritans, which Samaritans were somewhat of a Jew mix, and were circumcised. But when JESUS baptized Cornelius and his household with his Spirit before Peter had any chance to baptize them, or convert them to the law in any way; the Jews who were present with Peter were absolutely astonished (Acts 10:44-46). Still God did not reveal what this was all about at that time. But it’s certain that what he was openly showing was the worship of God in spirit, without any inclusion of natural ordinances. God had not made a mistake by overwriting and superseding Peter’s instructions to the Jews in Acts 2:38.

Of course we know that Peter went on and baptized these Gentiles in water, but only because he did not know why he shouldn’t, even as he stated (Acts 10:47,48). Even Paul baptized in water for a time, but it is evidenced by the scriptures that he ceased doing so at some point (I Cor. 1:17; Eph. 4:5). Water baptism was an ordinance of the law, and Jesus clearly stated that it was (Mat. 3:13-15; Mat. 5:17). What the body of Christ has come to recognize as ‘communion’ also was actually a part of the passover, which was an ordinance of the law (Mat. 26:17-28). Holding to these ordinances has heavily contributed to the body of Christ moving in the opposite direction of the Spirit of God. The only place that the Spirit will lead us is continually to Jesus, which means more of the Spirit (II Cor. 3:17). The scripture clearly states that “if we are led of the Spirit, we are not under the law" (Gal. 5:18). The Spirit of God has never led anyone into keeping natural ordinances, especially in regard to Gentile believers. The ordinances of the law led to faith in Jesus, not vice versa. John the Baptist made it clear that Jesus was going to bring the baptism of power that would fulfill John’s symbolic baptism (Mk. 1:6-8). A short study of the word communion shows clearly that the word is referring to a spiritual oneness, or fellowship, which is also manifested by the scriptures (I Cor. 10:15-17; II Cor. 13:14). Friend, the only thing we can add to being a new creature in Christ, is more of a new creature. If we add natural ordinances to this spiritual experience, it will only take away from the experience. This is in fact the issue that Paul dealt with more than anything, though in his time it was more about circumcision and the Jewish feast days and such. Nevertheless it’s still the same issue. We just can’t worship God under both covenants at the same time. They do not and can not mix (Mk. 2:22,23). Amen.