Chrysostom, Samaritans and God

John 4:21-22

Jesus says unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship ye know not what; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

1. Everywhere, beloved, we have need of faith, faith the mother of blessings, the medicine of salvation; and without this it is impossible to possess any one of the great doctrines. Without this, men are like to those who attempt to cross the open sea without a ship, who for a little way hold out by swimming, using both hands and feet, but when they have advanced farther, are quickly swamped by the waves: in like manner they who use their own reasonings, before they have learned anything, suffer shipwreck; as also Paul says, Who concerning faith have made shipwreck. 1 Timothy 1:19 That this be not our case, let us hold fast the sacred anchor by which Christ brings over the Samaritan woman now. For when she had said, How say ye that Jerusalem is the place in which men ought to worship? Christ replied, Believe Me, woman, that the hour comes, when you shall neither in Jerusalem, nor yet in this mountain, worship the Father. An exceedingly great doctrine He revealed to her, and one which He did not mention either to Nicodemus or Nathanael. She was eager to prove her own privileges more honorable than those of the Jews; and this she subtly argued from the Fathers, but Christ met not this question. For it was for the time distracting to speak on the matter, and to show why the Fathers worshipped in the mountain, and why the Jews at Jerusalem. Wherefore on this point He was silent, and having taken away from both places priority in dignity, rouses her soul by showing that neither Jews nor Samaritans possessed anything great in comparison with that which was to be given; and then He introduces the difference. Yet even thus He declared that the Jews were more honorable, not preferring place to place, but giving them the precedence because of their intention. As though He had said, About the ‘place’ of worship you have no need henceforth to dispute, but in the ‘manner’ the Jews have an advantage over you Samaritans, for ‘ye,’ He says, ‘worship ye know not what; we know what we worship.’

How then did the Samaritans know not what they worshipped? Because they thought that God was local and partial; so at least they served Him, and so they sent to the Persians, and reported that the God of this place is angry with us 2 Kings 26, in this respect forming no higher opinion of Him than of their idols. Wherefore they continued to serve both Him and devils, joining things which ought not to be joined. The Jews, on the contrary, were free from this supposition, at least the greater part of them, and knew that He was God of the world. Therefore He says, You worship ye know not what; we know what we worship. Do not wonder that He numbers Himself among Jews, for He speaks to the woman’s opinion of Him as though He were a Jewish Prophet, and therefore He puts, we worship. For that He is of the objects of worship is clear to every one, because to worship belongs to the creature, but to be worshipped to the Lord of the creature. But for a time He speaks as a Jew; and the expression we in this place means we Jews. Having then exalted what was Jewish, He next makes Himself credible, and persuades the woman to give the greater heed to His words, by rendering His discourse above suspicion, and showing that He does not exalt what belongs to them by reason of relationship to those of His own tribe. For it is clear, that one who had made these declarations concerning the place on which the Jews most prided themselves, and thought that they were superior to all, and who had taken away their high claims, would not after this speak to get favor of any, but with truth and prophetic power. When therefore He had for a while removed her from such reasonings, saying, Woman, believe Me, and what follows, then He adds, for salvation is of the Jews. What He says is of this kind: neither, that blessings to the world came from them, (for to know God and condemn idols had its beginning from them, and with you the very act of worship, although ye do it not rightly, yet received its origin from them,) or else, He speaks of His own Coming. Or rather, one would not be wrong in calling both these things salvation which He said was of the Jews; which Paul implied when he said, Of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all. Romans 9:5 Do you see how He commends the old Covenant, and shows that it is the root of blessings, and that He is throughout not opposed to the Law, since He makes the groundwork of all good things to come from the Jews?

John 4:23

But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father.

We, O woman, He says, excel you in the manner of our worship, but even this shall henceforth have an end. Not the places only, but even the manner of serving God shall be changed. And this change is at your very doors. ‘For the hour comes, and now is.’

2. For since what the Prophets said they said long before the event, to show that here it is not so, He says, And now is. Think not, He says, that this is a prophecy of such a kind as shall be accomplished after a long time, the fulfillment is already at hand and at your very doors, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. In saying true, He excludes Jews as well as Samaritans; for although the Jews be better than the Samaritans, yet are they far inferior to those that shall come, as inferior as is the type to the reality. But He speaks of the Church, that she is the true worship, and such as is meet for God.

For the Father seeks such to worship Him.

If then He in times past sought such as these, He allowed to those others their way of worship, not willingly, but from condescension, and for this reason, that He might bring them in also. Who then are the true worshipers? Those who confine not their service by place, and who serve God in spirit; as Paul says, Whom I serve in my spirit in the Gospel of His Son: and again, I beseech you that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable unto God, your reasonable service. Romans 1:9 and 12:1

John 4:24

God is a Spirit

But when He says this, He declares nothing else than His incorporeal Nature. Now the service of that which is incorporeal must needs be of the same character, and must be offered by that in us which is incorporeal, to wit, the soul, and purity of mind. Wherefore He says, they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth. For because both Samaritans and Jews were careless about the soul, but took great pains about the body, cleansing it in various ways, it is not, He says, by purity of body, but by that which is incorporeal in us, namely the mind, that the incorporeal One is served. Sacrifice then not sheep and calves, but dedicate yourself to the Lord; make yourself a holocaust, this is to offer a living sacrifice. You must worship in truth  ; as former things were types, such as circumcision, and whole burnt offerings, and victims, and incense, they now no longer exist, but all is truth. For a man must now circumcise not his flesh, but his evil thoughts, and crucify himself, and remove and slay his unreasonable desires…