Defining Christian Worship
Daniel Webster directs enrollment and marketing and teaches music and theology at Welch College. He has served as senior pastor and associate pastor for Free Will Baptist congregations in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee; he currently serves as associate pastor at Immanuel, a Free Will Baptist church plant in Gallatin, Tennessee. Daniel is in the final stages of the Ph.D. in Southwestern Seminary’s School of Church Music and Worship. His research examines the late second-century church father, Clement of Alexandria’s use of music to teach Christian theology.
As we consider the question of how we should reform our worship, I have been tasked with presenting two items: a general introduction to worship and an introduction to the elements of Christian worship. I will narrow my introduction [break] to worship in the New Testament, where we find two Greek verbs for worship—προσκυνέω and λατρεύω
Proskuneo occurs 60 times, and it generally has the idea of bowing down to pay homage. Examples are the Magi at the birth of Christ, the maniac of Gadara, and the mother of James and John, all who proskuneo before Christ.[1]
Here are three uses of proskuneo that are pertinent for us:
- In John 4, where the Father seeks worshipers who will worship in the Spirit and truth, we learn that our worship is not bound to a temple or holy city.
- In Revelation 22, the angel refused human worship and said, “Worship God!” On the other hand, in Matthew 28, Jesus did not refuse Peter’s worship; thus, we conclude that we worship Christ as we worship the Father.
- 1 Corinthians 14 is the only use of proskuneo in reference to the assembly of Christians. More on this later.
While these principles seem elementary, these basic principles that establish things like where we worship and who we worship are not human innovations. These foundational aspects of worship are part of our received tradition because they are commanded in the Scriptures. Our forebearers did not invent them.
The second Greek verb, λατρεύω, translated as “worship” and “service,” is used 21 times in the New Testament.[2] A secular Greek would have described the work of the governor or a servant as latreuo. In Christian contexts, latreuo is used to describe the service of the priests in the temple.[3]
Here are two important principles for Scripture’s use of latreuo:
- Paul, in Romans 12, commands Christians to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, which is spiritual worship or service.[4] Latreuo and its temple context is often used to illustrate a life of worship.
- Worship and Service are inextricably related concepts.Sometimes, proskuneo and latreuo occur together. When Jesus was confronted by Satan, he quoted Moses, stating, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”[5]
As I close this general introduction, let me offer two practical points. First, we often call our Lord’s Day assembly a “service” or “worship,” or even a “worship service.” These terms are rooted in Scripture’s use of these two Greek verbs. This is a sign that our spiritual ancestors employed Scriptural terminology for expressing what they were doing when they gathered. Second, we often think of worship as being unto the Lord. While this is certainly an essential aspect of worship, we will see in the passages ahead that a vital aspect of our worship is also unto one another. This has been helpfully labeled as the vertical and horizontal aspects of worship.
With a foundation of the meaning of “worship” in the New Testament, let’s now consider the elements of worship, or what elements should comprise Christian worship, or what it should include. As mentioned before, proskuneo is used only once in the context of the Christian assembly. Instead, the New Testament more commonly uses phrases like “coming together,” or “the prayers,” or “breaking bread” to refer to Christian worship. That early Christians preferred to refer to their worship by the elements of their worship reinforces the proposition that the things we do in worship matter.
Allow me to offer an illustration. Have you ever been to an HOA meeting, you know, the Homeowners Association? Imagine that you go to the first HOA meeting for your new neighborhood. As you enter, a man in a tuxedo with a serving tray offers you hors d’oeuvres. You help yourself and then take your seat. An eloquent moderator graces the platform. The body conducts business productively and politely. At the end, someone makes a motion that the neighborhood pay to have the grass cut at 1017 Prairie Lane because this family is facing financial hardship. The motion passes unanimously and peacefully. You later tell your spouse, “I have NEVER seen an HOA meeting like that.”
When it comes to HOA meetings, there are certain things we all expect. The complaining. The ranting. The fines. The pettiness. Expectations are always involved.
The same is true for Christian worship. Distinct characteristics, attitudes, and elements comprise the Christian worship service. But, unlike an HOA meeting, what we do in Christian worship is prescribed for us in the Scriptures. Frankly, I don’t care what you do at your HOA meeting. I don’t care how you go about your YMCA, PTA, NRA, or AA meetings, because God has not prescribed elements for these community associations. But He has told us what we need to know about Christian worship.
When Christians gather in Scripture, we see them practicing many things:
In Acts 20, when Eutychus fell out of the window, we see the Christians meeting on Sunday, breaking bread, preaching until midnight, meeting in a house, sleeping during the sermon, and resuscitating the dead.
In Acts 2, when the Christians began to gather after Pentecost, we find teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayers, wonders and signs, things in common, benevolence, conversions, baptisms, community meals, and membership.
In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul states that when the Christians come together, they are to carry out church discipline. In chapter 14, the Christians are partaking in hymns, lessons, revelations, tongues, and interpretations. In 1 Corinthians 11, prayers, prophecies, head coverings for women, partaking of the bread and cup, and confessions are all part of the worship.
In 1 Timothy 2, Christian male leaders are commanded to pray with holy hands and teach the church, while women are commanded to carry out good works and learn quietly. Later in chapter four, public readings of Scripture, exhortations, and teachings are prescribed.
Time does not allow me to examine every passage in the New Testament where Christians gather, nor can we probe all the rules of biblical interpretation that guide us in determining which of these practices are to be perpetuated by the New Testament Church for liturgical purposes. So, let me summarize these passages with 5 Elements for Word-Based Worship—Preach, Pray, Read, Sing, and See. These serve as somewhat of a consensus for confessional Churches like our Free Will Baptist Church.
- Preach the Word: Preaching comes in many forms; we proclaim the Gospel, we teach or explain doctrine, we exhort to change minds and behavior, we admonish or warn about sin and judgment, and we encourage as we provide the hope of the Gospel.
- Pray the Word: We pray corporately in several ways: confession of sin, intercessions, supplications, thanksgiving, and prayers of praise and adoration. We offer extemporaneous prayers and the prayers of Scripture in the form of Psalms, the Lord’s Prayer, and Benedictions.
- Read the Word: We read the entire Bible—the Law and the Prophets. the Psalms and books of poetry, the Gospels and Epistles. Early Christians read it solo, corporately, responsively, and antiphonally.
- Sing the Word: Scripture prescribes Psalms from the Hebrew Psalter, hymns which are human-composed songs of praise to the Triune God, and spiritual odes which are composed not of worldly concerns but matters pertaining to the godly life.
- See the Word: In our tradition, we uphold baptism, the Lord’s Table, and the washing of the saints’ feet as gospel ordinances to be regularly practiced in worship. We also show the Word in other ways—the laying on of hands, anointing with oil, the right hand of fellowship, the collection of offerings, and greeting one another.
In conclusion, I’d like to read an extrabiblical source that was written within a generation, not more than fifty years of the death of John, the last apostle. In this passage, Justin Martyr defends Christian worship to the Roman Emperor and thus provides a detailed description of what an early second-century worship service was like. This is not Scripture, but it is the earliest record of how our primitive brothers and sisters worshiped based on the teachings of Christ and the Apostles.
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the presider [or by implication, minister] verbally instructs and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray… and when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the presider [minister] in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying “Amen.” And there is a distribution to each, and a partaking of that which has been blessed, and to those who are absent, a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are financially able and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the presider [minister], who succors the orphans and widows… Sunday is the day on which we hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead… [6]
In these few minutes, we’ve explored worship verbs in the New Testament, identified the elements of worship, and observed the assembly of an early second-century Christian community. In doing so, I hope you have been challenged to evaluate your worship, not according to modern standards, but in accordance with the Scriptural teaching. It is my conviction that the life-giving, Spirit-inspired Word of Christ is the only means given to us for worship of the Father.
[1] Mat. 2:2, 2:8, 2:11; Mat. 20:20, Mark 5:6
[2] The related and lesser-used verb leitourgeo (λειτουργέω), often translated as “minister,” is where we get the word “liturgy” or “liturgical.”
[3] One example is Zechariah, who doubted Gabriel’s prophecy about the birth of John the Baptist. See Luke 2:37 and Heb 9:1, 10, 21; 10:2.
[4] See also Phil 3:3, Heb 12:28, 2 Tim 1:3.
[5] Mat 4:9-10. See also Revelation 7 and 22 (7:11, 15; 22:3, 8-9), where we find proskuneo and latreuo are at the throne of God in eternity.
[6] Justin Martyr (c.100–c.165), First Apology 67. Adapted from Marcus Dods’ translation (ANCL, 1867).
