26: What Is Worship? Rethinking a Misunderstood Word

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Welcome to the Ready for Eternity podcast. I'm Eddie Lawrence.

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In podcast episode 18, I had a conversation with Dr. Tom Wadsworth.

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His extensive research led him to the same conclusion that I reached a number of years ago, in that the purpose for church gatherings is not to worship.

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Instead, the New Testament tells us that Christians are to meet together for the purpose of mutual edification.

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If this is so, then what is worship? Let's rethink a misunderstood word.

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It's no doubt a shock to most people to hear that the New Testament does not instruct

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Christians to gather together for the purpose of worship. We are laboring under a misconception when we gather on Sunday mornings.

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But the issue goes even deeper. The English word worship itself fails to accurately capture the original meanings found in the

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New Testament. I contend that our modern concept of worship rests on assumptions foreign to the

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New Testament and the early church. The New Testament portrays Christian assemblies as gatherings for mutual edification, not primarily for worship.

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Hebrews 10 24 through 25 emphasizes strengthening each other's faith, while Paul's instructions in 1st

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Corinthians 14 mention edification seven times. Paul concludes with the directive let all things be done for edification, rather than prescribing worship as the assembly's purpose.

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What do we really even mean by worship? Worship brings to mind church services, hymns, and acts of devotion directed toward God.

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Most Christians see worship as something that happens within the walls of a church. It's a specific activity with a set purpose.

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But this modern definition doesn't capture the meaning of the original

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English word. The English word worship originated in Old English.

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In Old English, the word meant the condition of being worthy, dignity, glory, distinction, honor, or renown.

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It's from a word which just simply means worthy. In this sense, worship was more about recognizing someone's inherent value or worthiness than about a religious practice.

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It was the quality of being worthy, worth -ship.

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In an article titled, Is Worship Biblical?, John Richardson said this.

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Since it was first used in translation, worship has acquired a semantic range quite different from its own original meaning.

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That this is so can be seen in some surviving English archaisms. Judges are still called your worship, and we still have a few worshipful companies, yet the term has no religious significance in these contexts.

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In the Old English, people could worship by honoring a king, a friend, or anyone worthy of respect.

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But there's been a shift in meaning. In the mid -13th century, people began to use the word to indicate paying reverence to God.

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Over time, the word's meaning narrowed, becoming linked almost exclusively to acts of religious reverence.

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By the time translators worked on the first English Bible translations, worship had shifted to mean specific ceremonies or acts directed toward God.

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This shift may seem minor, but it affects our understanding of what worship involves.

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Early Christians saw honoring God as a way of life. They did not view worship as specific events, activities, or gatherings.

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Our modern definition of the word fails to capture the New Testament's perspective.

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Using just one English word, worship, distorts the New Testament's meaning.

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This is because the English word worship translates several New Testament Greek words.

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The New Testament writers used a variety of words which our English Bibles mainly translate as either worship or serve.

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The word worship doesn't capture the New Testament authors' intended meaning.

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To truly understand what worship meant to early Christians, we need to examine the original terms and their contexts.

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For example, the Greek word proskuneo describes the act of bowing down in prostration to show reverence to God and even to other humans.

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The Greek word latreuo focuses on serving God through daily acts of obedience.

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Laturgeo adds yet another layer, emphasizing service and ministry.

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The sebo word group highlights reverence or all, which we can summarize as an attitude of piousness.

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And finally, threskeia refers to religious practice with its rules and rights.

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It emphasizes external forms of devotion. However, there's a lot more to this story.

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It may come as a shock to modern Christians to learn that all five of these Greek words described specific temple activities.

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Proskuneo denoted prostration before a deity in their temple. Latreuo described sacrificial service within temple walls.

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Laturgeo referred to priestly temple duties. Sebomai expressed the reverent attitude one had during temple rituals, and threskeia encompassed the religious ceremonies performed in temples.

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Early Christians avoided using these terms for their gatherings because Christ sacrificed eliminated temple worship.

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His death rendered obsolete the physical temples prostrations, sacrifices, priestly duties, sacred spaces, and religious rights.

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Jesus transformed these concepts from literal temple practices into metaphorical expressions of devotion through holy living and spiritual transformation.

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With only our English Bible translations, can we even know what is meant by the words worship or serve in the

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New Testament? Dr. Tom Wadsworth, in his PhD dissertation on this topic, asked a series of interesting questions.

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When an English Bible says that someone worshipped, what did that person do? Did they offer a prayer or a song?

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Did they feel a sense of reverence? When a Bible verse says that someone paid homage, what exactly constitutes homage?

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Did the person present a gift? Did they offer a sacrifice? Did they say certain words?

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The reader does not know. As it turns out, we have a gaping hole in our knowledge.

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Furthermore, it's one we can't even see because we are unaware of the meaning of the

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Greek words because the words worship and serve mask the

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New Testament author's message. What are the implications of this? The New Testament's use of words like proskuneo, latruo, latourgeo, the sebo word group, and threskia reveals a striking contrast with modern assumptions about worship.

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These words, which are rooted in Old Testament temple practices, show that early

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Christian worship was not about replicating religious rituals in a new context.

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Why is that? Because Jesus eliminated the temple and its rituals.

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The New Testament reapplies these words to living transformed lives in response to Christ's sacrifice.

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Romans 12 1 says, "...offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."

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And those last two words, service of worship, comes from the Greek word latruo.

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By translating all these distinct terms as worship or serve, English Bibles unintentionally blur their original meanings, leaving us with a narrow view of what it means to honor

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God. If we rely on a single word to describe the complex and varied expressions of devotion found in the

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New Testament, we risk missing the fullness of their intent. Worship, as the

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New Testament portrays it, extends far beyond a weekly gathering or set of religious actions.

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It encompasses reverence, service, humility, and holy living—practices that reflect

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God's holiness in every area of life. In the upcoming series of podcast episodes, we'll begin to explore these words one at a time, starting with proskuneo.

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Its meaning offers a glimpse into the heart posture that early

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Christians adopted toward God, one that transcends the confines of temple walls or ceremonial acts.

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Thanks for listening to the podcast. We hope this episode has deepened your understanding of Scripture.

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If you found this content valuable, please share it with your friends. For more biblical studies, visit our website at readyforeternity .com.

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That's the word ready, the number four, and the word eternity. readyforeternity .com.

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Be sure and leave a comment on the Ready for Eternity Facebook page or reach out on Twitter.

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That's all for now. Keep studying your Bible, growing closer to God, and getting ready for eternity.