God is a Spirit

John 4:24 says God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Context: Jesus was talking to the woman at Jacobs' Well in Samaria after He deliberately went through Samaria (John 4:4). The Jews looked down on Samaritans as 'half breed liberal compromisers'. Today, Baptists have the same attitudes of other Christian religions. The Samaritans were far more wrong in their religion and worship than the Jews were, but the Jews weren't right. Other Christian religions of today are far more wrong in their religion and worship than Baptists are, but that doesn't make Baptists right.

Jesus said worship him in spirit and in truth twice in this context. That makes it established by God (Genesis 41:32) and the basis for doctrine that applies to all of God's people.

Our Verse uses the word must. This means that if and how we worship God is NOT optional.

We do it God's way or suffer the consequences. God gave each of us a brain and gave us His Word. God's Word has much to say about the consequences to those that God regards as fools and talks about the punishment they receive. While I do not provide those details here, people definitely want to avoid those consequences.
Further, God's Word also tells us about the punishment for sin done through ignorance (Leviticus 4:2, 13, 22, 27; 5:15, 18; Numbers 15:24-29; Acts 3:17; 17:30; Ephesians 4:18; 1Peter 1:14; 2:15). Basically, we still have to pay for a sin done through ignorance , but God expects us to learn better. If we refuse then God brings a greater condemnation upon us.
Bottom line: NO excuse is accepted. Must means people will suffer the consequence for disobedience. The only difference is in how much they suffer and that is based upon how much knowledge that God made available to them, not upon how much they accepted.

To properly understand the Biblical meaning of this phrase we must understand the Biblical meaning of three critical words: worship, spirit and truth. There is a Word Study on each of these words which provides details for each word. Only the high-level part of the Biblical definitions will be included in this document (below).

In the context of this story, this Samaritan woman was asking Jesus which religious group had correct religious form of worship. Jesus had told her about her sin and she had responded with I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Like most religious people do when God confronts them with their sin, she tried to deflect the discussion into a non-personal religious discussion. She was also (indirectly) claiming to not be 'that bad of a sinner' by claiming to be religious. Jesus answered her question by (essentially) saying that that both forms of religious were wrong. As we can see from the summary below, all true worship is personal and part of a personal relationship with God. That's why the first point in the definition of worship is that 'Worship is a personal act that often requires personal sacrifice'. Personal sacrifice is part of any truly personal relationship. Yet, in a truly loving personal relationship, the relationship gives so much joy that it doesn't seem like a sacrifice.

Moving on we see that point 3(in the definition of worship) says 'People who don't belong to God don't understand true worship of God'. We also see the requirement of being saved in the definition of spirit and in the definition of truth. If people don't belong to God, they can't have a personal relationship and, therefore, can't receive Biblical truth (1Corinthians 2:14) and can't worship properly because they don't have God's Spirit, which is required to worship in spirit and in truth.

In our fifth point (of the definition of worship), we see that liars 'claim one thing in their worship and live another'. Both the religious Jews and the religious Samaritans were guilty of this and the woman's question was (essentially) 'Which religious lie is correct?' It should be obvious why Jesus answered (essentially) 'Neither religious lie is correct' when He said 'Here is how people are supposed to worship' (John 4:24).

Several more points tell us that people are to worship God when they receive something from God such as His revealing a personal attribute of His (mercy, grace, power, etc) or His giving a promise or a blessing or command or judgment. Luke 17 also tells us about when Jesus went through Samaria and He healed 10 lepers and only one returned to worship. Jesus told him Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole (Luke 17:19). Because he returned and worshipped, Jesus added salvation to his healing. Jesus then spoke about the kingdom of God is within you (salvation [Luke 17:21]), which is needed for true worship. Finally, in Luke 17, Jesus spoke of judgment upon those who did not have the kingdom of God within them and who did not worship properly even though God gave them the greatest gift ever given: His own Son.

Returning to our story in John, we see that as a result of the revelation this woman received from Jesus she went to her city and testified of Him. In response to her testimony, the people listened and received Him and He abode with them for two days (John 4:40). They also testified Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world (John 4:42). Their response matches our point 12 of the definition of worship. In addition, John 4:44 tells us Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. Samaria was not his own country and the contrast of this story shows us that He did receive honour, which is a form of worship, from the Samaritans while the Jewish lepers refused to worship.

That brings us to the thirteenth point of our definition of worship. We are told that worship is commanded by God and is to be given only to God and is to be done God's way. Disobedience can bring punishment. In Luke 17, we say Jesus (God) bless the one who worshipped properly and promise judgment upon those who did not worship properly. In the start of John 4 we had a question of which religious form of worship was correct and Jesus answered (essentially) 'Neither of them'. We also saw in this story that these people did worship properly when they spent time with Him (as God's prophet) and testified of Him and honored Him. Thus we can conclude that outward religious displays, not matter what form they have and no matter how fancy, are not Biblically true worship. We can also see that Biblically true worship comes from inside as a result of receiving something personal from God through a personal relationship and that Biblically true worship results in people honoring God, spending time with God and doing the things that God wants done.

People who do not spend time with their God and serve their God in a personal way starting on Monday have not truly worshipped their God on Sunday.

Continuing our summary with what we learned from the Word Study on truth, the first thing that we see is that truth comes directly from God and does not change because God does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). While God (and truth) do not change, the way that God deals with us personally does have variance within the fixed limits that are defined by Biblical truth. Thus, all men are to worship. One might worship publicly in song, because God gave him that ability, while another might restrict his worship in song to private times because God did not give him a gift of public singing. One of the truths that the Bible teaches is that Jesus is our example on how to live in this flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit. There is a lot of good doctrine in the phrase 'What Did Jesus Do?', if we search the Bible for what He actually did instead of listening to some doctrinal error commonly taught. Thus our basic definition of how to worship in truth is to worship like Jesus did because Jesus is the truth (John 14:6). So, for example, we rarely read about Jesus bringing a sacrifice to the Temple, which is outward religious worship, but we often read about His praying in private. As a Jew Who kept the Law perfectly, Jesus would have brought a sacrifice to the Temple, as required by the Law, but that was not reported as it had a relatively low significance when compared to His private worship. In addition, we see that Jesus lived a life that was consistent with His worship and did not live as a hypocrite. His daily 'walk' backed His 'talk'. We also see Him judging religious sinners while forgiving publicans. The religious people would tell us that this is wrong but we see judgment strongly tied to truth in the Study on Truth as well as seeing judgment throughout the book of Psalms, which is our Biblical aid to personal (and public) worship. Further, we see that when the Jews challenged Jesus over His judgment, He referred them to the Bible (have you not read, it is written), which matches to Biblical fact that truth is what God defines it to be and that definition is in the Bible. Thus, true Biblical worship is more concerned with matching the truth of the Bible than it is concerned about religious traditions. In keeping with this theme, and the lessons from the Study on Truth, we see that part of our true worship, and judgment, is to destroy the influence of those people and spirits which teach and encourage error. Many people believe the religious error that 'loving worship' requires 'forgiving' anything and everything. However, true Biblical worship includes naming people and bringing judgment upon those who fight against the God of the Bible by teaching doctrinal error.

Our final critical word from this verse is spirit. The primary high-level thing that we learned from the Word Study on Spirit is that there are different types of spirits and each is to be treated differently. God is a Spirit and men have spirits and there are other spirits besides God and the spirits of men. We also know that there is a spiritual warfare between evil spirits (devils) and God (and the spirits on His side). While devils, and some men, wish to be worshipped, only God is to be worshipped. One way to know that a spirit is on God's side of this spiritual war is the fact that good spirits refuse to receive worship while devils crave it.

The primary thing that the Bible teaches us about other spirits is that they interfere with true worship and lead us into error. To worship them is definitely not worshipping in truth. As a result, we not only are to avoid worshipping these other spirits, but we are to actively fight against anything related to their worship, as we also saw in the paragraph (above) that dealt with truth and worship. One of the main sources of worshipping these other spirits is when worship is tied to a physical item. That is what the Bible calls an idol. The spiritual and the physical are two separate dimensions. Therefore, worship of a physical item can not be true spiritual worship. Yes, God did have men bring sacrifices and other physical things when they worshipped, but that was to teach them the relative importance of the physical versus the spiritual. True worship is from our heart and values the spiritual far above the physical. Since the Son of God has come in human flesh (as Jesus) and taught us better along with giving us a better covenant (Hebrews), we are to worship in spirit and truth. Any type of worship that is tied to a physical item (person, place, time, etc) is not worship in spirit and truth and is somehow tied to worship of other spirits, even if our mind tells us it is worship of the physical. Yes, God's people do meet at a regular time for 'worship services', but that is for our convenience and not because of some requirement related to worship in spirit and truth.

Part of our worship in spirit and truth is to worship God for His attributes as a Spirit. The first of these attributes is the fact that He is Creator and greater than all creation in every way. He is also more powerful (and has greater authority) than all other beings combined, since He created all. We are to worship Him for the promises He gives (before He fulfills them) and (again) when He fulfills those promises. We are to worship Him for the Spirit He gives to us and for His ongoing work in changing our spirit to match His Spirit. We are also to worship Him when His Spirit is revealed to others through our life. Among other reasons for doing so is His promise to increase our reward in Heaven each time we allow Him to work through our personal life. We are to worship Him for the advantages that His spirit provides in this physical world such as guiding us to the correct person to be our mate. When God does guide us in a physical matter (such as marriage) we are to recognize the ongoing spiritual aspects of that matter and continue to worship God for the spiritual effect that we are allowed to have through this physical matter. Finally, we are to constantly be aware that God's Spirit will not always suffer with all men and that all men will face judgment by God. Therefore, our worship is to include thankfulness for the ongoing tolerance and help of God's Spirit which increases our ultimate reward and decreases our ultimate punishment.

Obviously, there are many more details and refinements which need to be added to the summary above, but this summary will move onto the effect that worship in spirit and truth is to have upon man's spirit.

Man received his spirit from God, but Adam's sin caused us to all be born with a corrupted spirit. Because of our corrupted spirit, we seek corruption and, as one famous comedian said, 'all the good things in life are immoral, illegal or fattening'. Our spirit needs the constant ongoing influence of God's Spirit, which comes from worship in spirit and truth, to offset the corruption that our spirit naturally seeks all of the time. Further, since we all die and our spirit will go to some spiritual place, worship here and now helps our spirit to have greater enjoyment for eternity. Only a fool would believe that someone who lived for sin will enjoy Heaven with no sin. All sin is addictive and would be the ultimate 'cold turkey withdrawal'. People do a 'cold turkey withdrawal' to speed up the time of change to get used to not fulfilling the addiction. However, the Bible tells us that the time of change is while we are in this flesh (John 9:4) and after death no man can work. Therefore, such an event would be non-stop 'cold turkey withdrawal' until God wipes away all tears at the great white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11). As a result, our worship while in this flesh is, among other things, to increase our joy when we get to Heaven.

Most of what the Bible says about man's spirit is to let us know if our spirit is following God's Spirit or not and how to bring our spirit into alignment with God's Spirit for God's glory and our reward. (Please see the Study on Spirit for more details.)

To try and combine and summarize further than I have to this point is beyond my abilities. Further, I believe it poses a danger of giving people the idea that they can get a 'two second answer' for what takes a lifetime to learn. Basically, we are to have (and maintain) an ongoing personal relationship with God (as the central part of our life) whereby our spirit is constantly seeking Guidance from God's Spirit in all matters. We are to seek God's spiritual perspective, guidance and truth in all matters with a thankful attitude that is based upon the knowledge that this is for God's glory and for our reward and that God's glory is magnified (not got God's pride but) so that others will also know where to find guidance and reward.

May God bless your personal understanding in this matter that is beyond my personal ability to completely comprehend or convey to others.

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Biblical definitions: The outlines below have the summary points (but not the Bible references) from the Word Studies. Please follow the links to the other studies for those references.

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Summary points from the Word Study on Worship.

Worship is a personal act that often requires personal sacrifice.
When a representative of the God of the Bible accepts worship that shows that the being is actually God. When the being refuses worship that shows that the being is godly but is not God.
People who don't belong to God don't understand true worship of God.
Sometimes worship is applied to people to mean the actions of true worship without the aspects that mean deity. Often these applications are false and used to get an advantage or to avoid just punishment.
Some people claim that they are worshipping when they are lying and only putting on an outward show. These liars do not live a life of obedience to God's commands. They claim one thing in their 'worship' and live another.
Worship is done in response to realizing the presence of God.
Worship is done in response to realizing a personal attribute of God [mercy, grace, power, etc].
Worship is done in response to realizing a (received or promised) blessing from God. (Also see verses below for revival under point 10).
Worship is done in response to receiving a personal command or judgment from God.
Worship is to be done when we need a personal command or judgment from God.
Worship is done before starting a (great) work for God.
Worship does not make us saved. Worship is done as a result of true revival / conversion but a result is not the cause. True revival causes people to destroy the means of false worship.
Worship is commanded by God and is to be given only to God and is to be done God's way. Disobedience can bring punishment. Also see the verses of the next point. In Daniel 2:46 Daniel allowed 'the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel' and Daniel was not part of the next chapter. Daniel only came back into the story after getting this thing right.
Worship can be given to things/beings other than God. This always results in punishment and often the punishment is put upon the children and followers of those who worship any being other than the God of the Bible. In particular, the devil and all who follow him want to be worshipped as God. Those who do so will be damned by God.

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Summary points from the Word Study on Spirit.

What the Bible says about spirit needs to be sub-divided according to the type of spirit that is being talked about.

God's Spirit

The Spirit of God was involved in Creation.
The Spirit of the LORD is above all men and all other spiritual beings in all measurements. The Spirit of the LORD is eternal God.
There is a Spirit of Christ that is similar to the Spirit of the LORD but is also as different as the Son of God is different from God the Father.
God's Spirit fulfils the promises found in the book of the LORD. Please also see the points below as many of them show the fulfillment of a promise of God.
Receiving God's Spirit is a requirement of salvation in the New Testament and is a fulfillment of Old Testament promises.
After our initial profession of salvation, the Spirit of our God washes us and makes us sanctified and justified. Note: just as we have to be washes several times throughout our physical life, so also do we need several washings throughout our spiritual life. These three actions (wash, sanctified and justified) by the Spirit of our God are not one-time events but are repeated as part of our ongoing personal relationship with God, which is true Biblical salvation. That is what it means to be in subjection unto the Father of spirits. These actions are part of why the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is our Saviour along with God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Saved are to live by following the Spirit of our God (which gives us sanctification) and not by obeying religion.
'the spirit of God came upon him'' this verse directly says that the Spirit of God came upon a man. We also see this truth in other verses where it is stated directly or indirectly. In addition, we see the spirit of devils come upon men and we call them possessed. (Please see Other Spirits below.). Both God and other spirits can take control of us but while other spirits will take away our free will, God will not. Within these verses we also see the promise of God giving His Holy Spirit which is fulfilled in the New Testament Church Age.
The Spirit of God can be seen in men by other people including lost people.
Those that receive the Spirit of God (are joined unto the Lord) are one spirit because when we receive the Spirit of God we agree to submit (receive Him as Lord) or God will not give us His Holy Spirit.
God's Spirit is good
God gives 'thy good spirit to instruct them'.
God gives 'the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship. God's Spirit works through each man's life in these areas and how God works is different for each man because God makes a difference between each of these gifts.
The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus and is given to the saved.
'And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;'. The spirit of the LORD was upon Jesus in a special way. Please see the study called Jesus Used the Power of the Holy Spirit.
God made marriage a spiritual matter 'That he might seek a godly seed'.
The Spirit of the LORD can use men to speak. That is, the Spirit talks to men and tells them what to say in His authority.
The Spirit of the LORD can move (or stop movement of) men and other beings. Sometimes the Spirit does this by talking to men.
The LORD's spirit shall not always strive with man', God' Spirit causes fear in those wise enough to avoid being forsaken by God. The LORD weigheth (judges) the spirits.
God's Spirit brings judgment: (sword of the Spirit, His Spirit will consume that Wicked).
God can take the way that His Spirit works in our life and pass His Spirit to others to work in the same way.
Men could loose the Spirit of the LORD in the Old Testament. However, at no time could men go someplace that God's Spirit couldn't reach them. That, God can always reach us but there are times when He chooses to not do so and lets us suffer the consequences of our sins.
Men can die, in the New Testament, if they tempt the Spirit of the Lord.
God has a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning which is ultimately revealed by the Great Tribulation. God's judgment is sent against all religious leaders who claim their position makes it OK for them the sin.

Man's spirit

The God of the Bible is the God of the spirits of all flesh.
Our spirit/life is from the breath (Spirit) of the Almighty. (Please see the documents on Miracles in the Bible.)
Men die when God 'gather unto himself (God) his (man's) spirit and his breath. We do not stop existing but go to one of several places for spirits.
We are made spiritually alive when God's spirit quickens our spirit.
The spirits of just men (are) made perfect when they get to Heaven.
We are in the Spirit when we and God agree for it to be so.
We are to commit (our) spirit to God because thou hast redeemed me. When we do that, God can stir our spirit to do His work. God gives us His Holy Spirit in the Church Age so that our spirit can do His work in response to His Spirit stirring our spirit. Please see point 3(salvation) under God's Spirit above. Please also see the Book Study on Romans which explains how there are saved people (in the Church Age) who are not Biblical Christians because they refused to (or stopped) commit their spirit after being redeemed.
It takes the power of the Spirit of God to do the work of God, such as fully preaching the gospel of Christ. That's why God gives us His Spirit at salvation (please see point 3 under God's Spirit above) and why He gives special spiritual gifts to men (please see point 8 under God's Spirit above) and why we must commit (our) spirit to God, as in the point above.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The point above said that we have to have salvation to receive things from the Spirit of God and this one says that the unsaved can not receive things from the Spirit of God but what they receive is actually death. God says the same thing in a positive way and in a negative way so that this truth is clear no matter how men think about it.
Those who have not the Spirit are sensual. Many religions claim that sensual things, such as an 'emotional high' or the feelings from a beautiful ceremony, are spiritual.
When we are sincerely trying to serve God in our spirit, but are wrong in our actions or doctrine, God will send someone to correct us.
We are to seek God with (our) spirit.
We are to have the love of the Spirit.
'his spirit (was/was not) troubled' - our spirit can be troubled.
Our spirit can be revived.
That revival comes from God's free spirit.
'every one whom his spirit made willing' our spirit can make us willing to suffer loss in the service of God.
Our spirit can be with no guile.
Our spirit can be faithful.
Our spirit can rejoice.
We can receive the spirit of glory if ye be reproached for the name of Christ.
We can have a strong spirit.
We can have an excellent spirit if we have God's understanding.
We can have a contrite spirit.
If our spirit is right then it sustain (our) infirmity. However, we will find it hard to bear a wounded spirit. Therefore, we need to protect our spirit.
We can have a broken spirit, which is called the sacrifices of God and means that we have a broken and a contrite heart.
We are Blessed when we have are poor in spirit (have little of our own human spirit and willing to receive God's Spirit).
Our spirit can have strength when our flesh is weak.
We can have a right spirit but it requires that we first have a clean heart.
We can rule our spirit and God values that very highly.
We can be in the spirit, which is so set upon doing our purpose that not even godly men can turn us from our purpose.
The ability to discern different spirits is a gift from God.
We have erred in spirit when we turn our back on God and choose religion instead.
When God cuts us off from His blessings due to sin, our spirit can (and should) make diligent search to see what we need to do to get right with God again.
'they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage' life can cause anguish to our spirit which, in turn, can cause us to not listen to the truth.
Men can loose their spirit or have their spirit be overwhelmed, which means they give up hope.
Our spirit can be broken by sorrow of the heart.
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. If we 'let go' of Pride' and an haughty spirit, we can avoid destruction and a fall. If we follow Pride' and an haughty spirit, they will lead (goeth before) to destruction and a fall.
Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud..
A meek and quiet spirit'is in the sight of God of great price.
We demonstrate the type of spirit that we have by our actions and life. God rewards or punishes us for our demonstrated spirit.
The works of this world and of the flesh (all the works that are done under the sun, envy) are vanity and vexation of spirit. So is man's wisdom, madness and folly and knowledge.
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Men can '.turnest thy spirit against God'.
Our spirit can be provoked. Without God's help when that happens, we will do something unadvicedly.
We can be hasty of spirit, which means that we are not slow to wrath and that we lack great understanding and that we exalteth folly.
Men have a breach in the spirit when there is perverseness in their spirit which is demonstrated by a lack of a wholesome tongue.
We can have 'the spirit of jealousy come upon' us.
Men's spirit can make them think that they have the understanding that comes from God.
Men can follow their own spirit while claiming to be prophets of God.
Man's spirit can be hardened and God will do that to some people.
God can move men's spirit to punish God's people when God decides to judge them.
No man can say that man's spirit goeth upward. We believe this by faith in God's Word.

Other spirits

A study of angels, devils and other spiritual beings is not included here. These references are only to where the word spirit occurs in the Bible and where the reference is not to God's Spirit or man's spirit.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. God's Word clearly warns us that there are other spirits and we will suffer the consequence of following any spirit, including our own, which is not the God of the Bible. We know that the spirit we are following is the God of the Bible when that Spirit directs us to follow (obey) what God had men literally write in His Word.
Angels are spirits. Since devils are fallen angels, they are also spirits. In addition, there are other types of spirits in Heaven which apparently are not angels but which we do not have a complete description of. There are also other types of unclean spirits besides devils.
Some men, foolishly, deny the existence of other spirits.
Both God and other (devils, unclean spirits, etc) spirits can take control of us but while other spirits will take away our free will, God will not. These are references to being possessed by devils.
God has power over these unclean spirits and can give that power to His disciples. (Please see the documents on Miracles in the Bible.)
Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in Heaven.
Men preach another Jesus, which gives men another spirit.
Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them. God says in many other verses that these people are against God. The New Testament concept of antichrist is the same. When the way of this world (the spirit of Egypt) fails, people will seek idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
'the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err'.
These spirits can give powers (spirit of divination) beyond human abilities.
We can have a spirit of infirmity.
A 'dumb and deaf (foul) spirit caused a boy to not be able to speak and tare him and made him fall on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
God can send an evil spirit or a perverse spirit or a spirit of slumber when men are determined to sin and God decides to judge them.
Other spirits can quiet God's spirit in people.
We can have the spirit of the world.
People can claim to speak with the Spirit of God but their actions cause people to ask 'whose spirit came from thee?.
Men believe that animals (beast) have spirits.
That which is physical is not spirit. In Matthew 12:43 and Mark 6:49 the disciples thought they saw a spirit because Jesus was doing what is not physically possible. (Please see the documents on Miracles in the Bible.) In the Bible we see a distinction made between the physical and spiritual. In John 3Jesus clearly teaches that we must have a spiritual birth (by God) in addition to a physical birth if we are to be saved.
Sometimes something can be one thing physically while it is something else spiritually.
God is going to eliminate the influence of these other spirits in the Kingdom of Christ.

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Summary points from the Word Study on Truth.

Truth comes directly from God and conforms exactly to that which is correct as defined by God in His Word as interpreted by God's Holy Spirit. Jesus (as the Son of God) said He is the truth and God's Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. What is true matches what God says is true and that often is a spiritual view that does not match the current physical view. When the spiritual view changes the physical view, we have a miracle from God.
Truth does not change for any circumstance or feeling. God's law is the truth because it is built upon (and) God's righteousness. Truth is equivalent to the Rock (Son of God in every usage of the Bible) and to the true God.
Truth is something that we do and not just something that we think about. Men of truth conform their lives to the facts of reality (as presented by God) even when the consequences do not provide the greatest personal comfort or pleasure. In the Bible we see that we are in truth only when our actions match our claims. God expects His people to base their authority to speak, and their lives, upon the "God of truth". Keeping God's blessing requires that men take heed to their way, to walk before me (God) in truth with all their heart and with all their soul. When we walk in obedience to a specific truth that we find in God's Word, it demonstrates our faith before God responds to our faith. When we walk in obedience to the character of God we hope for thy truth. That is why only the living can walk in faith or in hope. Those who walk in truth today must be in Christ.
Receiving God's truth is seen as a blessing but we must stay completely within the limits defined by God's truth to keep God's blessing. (Also see the verses in the next point and those in the point below for judgment.) Truth is often associated with salvation. Truth is also often associated with mercy.
God also expects us to praise Him for the blessings that result from His truth and to declare His truth to others.
Finding the truth requires that we inquire, and make search, and ask diligently.
One of the errors that men make is confusing 'sincerity' with truth as we see in the 'Webster's 1828 definition' (above). Other false definitions are also confused with the Biblical definition of truth. Another source of error is using a past truth about men to predict the future. Only the God of Heaven has enough power to assure that future prediction will be true. Biblical truth does not leave out any part of God's truth. This requires diligence. Even the best people will believe a 'partial-truth lie' if they only examine what is presented to them and are not diligent to verify that nothing was left out or added in.
Proper judgment punishes those whose lives show that they reject what God says is true and rewards those whose lives show that they accept what God says is true. The Fear of the Lord is given to God's people to help them to stop their sinning. We see fear tied to truth in verses as well within the context of many other places of the Bible. Not finding and holding to God's truth brings judgment and abandoning God's truth brings judgment but when we are willing to suffer for the truth then the LORD will reward us with greater truth. Returning to God's truth is required for true repentance and God does not give victory until after we truly repent.
A claim that is true can be verified against the facts of reality (as presented by God) and any discrepancy makes the claim not true. Real truth comes from the Lord.
It may take some time, but if we will wait upon God, He will prove what is true and what is not true (a lie).
Liars will claim to desire the truth when they are shown to be fools for desiring a lie. When liars call God as a witness of their lie they only compound their judgment.
The longer we stay away from God's truth the greater the evil that we will be involved in.
In order to do that which was good and right and truth we must first destroy the influence and source of lies in our life and in the lives of those around us.
Truly means 'according to the principals of truth'.

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God is a Spirit

John 4:24 says God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Biblical definitions: The outlines below have the summary points (but not the Bible references) from the Word Studies. Please follow the links to the other studies for those references.

Summary points from the Word Study on Worship.

Summary points from the Word Study on Spirit.

Summary points from the Word Study on Truth.

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