If Jesus is God, why did he say that God is a spirit and we must worship him in spirit and truth?
Scripture is crystal-clear when it comes to the truth that “Jesus is God.” I will cite a number of verses that confirm this wonderful truth.
*John 1:1 & 14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (NKJV).
*John 20:28, “And Thomas answered and said to Him (Jesus), ‘My Lord and my God.’”
*Romans 9:5, “…Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God.”
*Hebrews 1:8, “But to the Son He (God the Father) says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”
*1st John 5:20, “We are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
I assume your main question is, “How can Jesus be God when He told the Samaritan woman that ‘God is a spirit?’” To answer this question we will read John 4:23-24, “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers 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” (NASB). Notice, Jesus is directing her attention to THE FATHER Who desires people to worship Him. Did the Father become FLESH (i.e. a human being with a physical body of flesh)? No, the Father never became flesh. We saw from John 1:14 that “the Word became flesh,” so it is true that God the Son left heaven and was born into the human race. But God the Father remained in heaven and is a SPIRIT and thus Jesus informed this woman that “God is spirit.”
You may be wondering, “Okay, if Jesus left heaven and became a true Man, then is John 4:23-24 teaching us that we can’t worship Him?” Look again at John 20:28 (quoted above), for there we see Thomas WORSHIPPING JESUS and calling Him GOD. Jesus never stopped being God when He became a true human being with a body of flesh; He was “God manifest in flesh” (1st Timothy 3:16). We sometimes refer to Him as the “God-Man,” for He had two natures, a DIVINE nature and a HUMAN nature. Thomas was acknowledging, in these words of worship and adoration, that Jesus is God.
When believers get to heaven we will surely worship the Father for all eternity, but we will also worship the Lord Jesus. We see this in Revelation 6:8, “When He (the Lord Jesus) had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders FELL DOWN BEFORE THE LAMB.” Verse 6 had just spoken of Him as “a Lamb as though it had been slain,” which will lead us to worship Him for giving His life for us at Calvary. So, we will not only worship the Lord Jesus as “God,” but also as the perfect “Man” Who was willing to take our place in death and judgment on the cross as the Lamb of God. He will be unique in that sense, for the Father (and the Holy Spirit) never became flesh. (320.5) (DO)