Worship God in Spirit and in truth

"In the period up to Jesus' ministry, it was entirely correct to say that 'salvation is from the Jews' (v. 22). Yet a time is coming and has now come (lit. 'the hour is coming and now is': cf. notes on 2:4; 4:21) when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.' There is an advance on v. 21: not only is the time coming, but it has come. This oxymoron is a powerful way of asserting not only that the period of worship 'in spirit and truth' is about to come and awaits only the dawning of the 'hour', i.e. Jesus' death, resurrection and exaltation, but also that this period of true worship is already proleptically present in the person and ministry of Jesus before the cross". . .​

"The expression the true worshippers does not make a distinction between worshippers after the ministry of Jesus (the true worshippers) and those before the ministry of Jesus (presumably the false worshippers). Both true and false worshipper could be found under the terms of the old covenant, and both can be found appealing to the new covenant as well. Rather, the point is that with the coming of the 'hour' the distinction between true worshippers and all others turns on factors that make the ancient dispute between the conflicting claims of the Jerusalem temple and Mount Gerizim obsolete. Under the eschatological conditions of the dawning hour, the true worshippers cannot be identified by their attachment to a particular shrine, but by their worship of the Father in spirit and truth".​