Devotion – Primitive Purity Voices

It is required of all that worship God that they worship him in spirit and in truth. We must worship God, in spirit, Phil. 3:3. We must depend upon God’s Spirit for strength and assistance, laying our souls under his influences and operations; we must devote our own spirits to, and employ them in, the service of God (Rom. 1:9), must worship him with fixedness of thought and a flame of affection, with all that is within us. Spirit is sometimes put for the new nature, in opposition to the flesh, which is the corrupt nature; and so to worship God with our spirits is to worship him with our graces, Heb. 12:28. In truth, that is, in sincerity. God requires not only the inward part in our worship, but truth in the inward part, Ps. 51:6. We must mind the power more than the form, must aim at God’s glory, and not to be seen of men; draw near with a true heart, Heb. 10:22.
Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Hendrickson Publishers, Vol. 5, 774.

In John 4:23–24, Christ states to the women at the well that “an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Worship is severely misunderstood in many churches today. Some worship services lack truth and emphasize charismaticism, and other services are dead, containing no more than formalism and ritualism. True worship and devotion occur when the inner man, or spirit, of the Christian surrenders fully to the Holy Spirit’s truth found in Scripture. The Holy Spirit moves the inner man to exalt, adore, confess, listen, commune with God and the brethren, and witness. Scott Aniol defines worship as “a spiritual response to God as a result of understanding biblical truth about God” (Worship in Song, p. 34). In this brief essay, I consider the dialogical worship seen in John 4.

First, Christ says that true worship occurs in spirit. Many theologians and scholars have debated the meaning of the word “spirit” found in John 4. Some argue that the proper understanding of the word is the Holy Spirit, and others aver that this word means man’s spirit or the inner man. I find the claims of the latter argument more convincing than that of the former. One commentary notes,

An old misreading of this text, accepted by some Fathers, and based upon the idea expressed in John 16:13, has found expression in the Sinaitic Codex, “in the spirit of the truth.” But “spirit” here does not refer to the Holy Spirit, but to the spirit of man — that part of man’s constitution through which he most especially bears the image of God, and with which the Divine Spirit deals, and in which he dwells (Romans 8:26). The worship in spirit is worship contrasted with all mere carnal concomitants, all mere shadows of the good things to come, all mere ritual, all specialties of place, or time, or sacrament, or order.
Pulpit Commentary, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/john/4-23.htm .

Thus, for a Christian to truly worship, his inner man must be surrendered to and in communion with God.

Second, Christ states that proper worship occurs in truth. Merriam-Webster defines truth as “the property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality.” Truth is absolute. The Triune God is the epitome of truth, so his word is truth. Sincere worship happens when a person expresses a right understanding of who God is. The only way to properly understand and express this reality is through study of The Holy Bible. Aniol rightly proclaims,

For worship to be directed to God, the worshiper must understand the truth about God. That is why the preaching of God’s Word should be central in a worship service. It is why the believer must be studying the Word of God if he is to worship God with all of his life. Without understanding God, a person cannot worship him.
Scott Aniol, Worship in Song, p. 31.

For corporate worship and devotion to be biblical, it must be thoroughly founded in Scripture. If worship is not saturated in truth, it is not God exalting worship. Thus, true worship occurs when the inner man is surrendered fully to the truth found in God’s Word. This worship evinces the dialogical communion between a believer and Almighty God. The Holy Spirit speaks to the Christian through his truth, and the believer’s spirit responds in reverent worship.

God glorifying private devotion and corporate worship occur in spirit and in truth. Dear readers, I beseech you to deeply ponder your worship of the Sovereign King and to examine whether you are truly worshiping him in the way that he prescribes.

Today marks the 380th birthday of Benjamin Keach, influential London Particular Baptist Pastor who was born February 29, 1640 in Buckinghamshire. Keach left a legacy of primitive purity in worship that can still be seen today. I consider Keach one of my heroes in the faith, and his extant writings continue to encourage me to follow Scripture in both faith and practice. The purpose in writing this short essay is to share some of Keach’s legacy.

Keach loved the Word of God, and he fought for worship that was regulated by Scripture. His son-in-law Thomas Crosby writes about Keach as a young man and new believer,

He [Keach] applied himself very early to the study of the Scripture, and the attainments of divine knowledge; and observing the Scripture to be entirely silent concerning the baptism of infants, he began to suspect the validity of the baptism he had received in his infancy, and after he had deliberated upon this matter, was in the fifteenth year of his age baptized, upon the profession of his faith, by Mr. John Russel, and then joined himself to a congregation of that persuasion in the country.
Thomas Crosby, The History of English Baptists, Volume IV, 269

At the age of eighteen, Keach’s local church affirmed his call to ministry and he began to preach. In 1668, He was ordained into the gospel ministry, and he became the pastor of a church meeting in Southwark. On Keach’s preaching, Crosby notes,

Preaching the Gospel was the very pleasure of his soul and his heart was so engaged in the work of the ministry, that from the time of his first appearing in public, to the end of his days, his life was one continued scene of labour and toil. His close study and constant preaching did greatly exhaust his animal spirits, and enfeeble his strength, yet to the last he discovered a becoming zeal against the prevailing errors of the day; his soul was too great to recede from any truth that he owned, either from the frowns or flatteries of the greatest.
Thomas Crosby, The History of English Baptists, Volume IV, 304

Keach’s love for Scripture and primitive purity also led him to argue zealously in many of the disputes of his time. He was a prevalent writer in controversies on topics including: congregational song, baptism, laying on of hands, the Sabbath, Quakerism, and Neonomianism. Keach’s fire for truth often led him into deep controversy even with his Particular Baptist brethren.

Like all human beings, Keach was a flawed man. At times he struggled with his temper. This being said, his love for God and the brethren was shown in his repentance. Crosby explains,

The vivacity of his temper sometimes exposed him, to sharp and sudden fits of anger, which occasioned no small uneasiness to himself, as well as those who had given any provocation; but those fits were but of a short continuance and so the trouble occasioned by them was soon over: and the goodness and tenderness of his nature was such, as afterwards made sufficient amends to those who had fallen under his resentment. Besides if his natural passion, at any time, so far transported him, as to cause him to speak any rash or offensive words, he was presently recovered, and would with the greatest humility and frankness retract what he had said; and thereby did discover, that not the least degree of prejudice, remained in his breast.
Thomas Crosby, The History of English Baptists, Volume IV, 307

Keach fought the good fight of faith until his death in the year 1704. He was a devoted pastor, loving husband, committed father, and scripturally sound theologian. He was a mighty voice in the war for liturgical reformation in the seventeenth century, and he remained faithful despite much persecution. Dear reader, I beseech you to join Keach in the good fight for reformation in worship. In closing, I leave you with one more quotation that reflects upon the life of this man of God. Crosby pens,

I shall only observe, that he was a person of great integrity of soul; a Nathaniel indeed; his conversation not frothy and vain, but serious, without being morose or sullen. He began to be religious early, and continued faithful to the last. He was not shock’d by the fury of his persecutors, tho’ he suffer’d so much from them for the cause of Christ.
Thomas Crosby, The History of English Baptists, Volume IV, 304

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