What does it mean to worship?

What does it mean to worship? Ever really taken some time with that question? Sometimes I wonder if our traditions involving our assemblies have evolved over time and have slowly turned into our "doctrinal" undertanding of worship. Well, actually, I know it has. That leads to a fundamental misunderstanding of what worship is and worship is not. And equally as unfortunate is that it leads folks to be judgmental of other Christians whose worship assembly does not look like theirs.

Here's a few facts with some personal thougths mixed in for you to consider.

The word worship is translated 181 in most of the common translations. I think it goes as high as 250 in the NIV and 495 in the NLT. That doesn't mean anything other than those two translations hardly use any words other than worship to describe that act. Now when we are digging deeper in our Bible study it's always helpful to gain as much an understanding of the original language. In other words, what Greek or Hebrew word(s) did the inspired authors use that is now translated to our word worship? And just as importantly, what did that word mean to them at that time. That's tremendously important and equally difficult. Because as you know words change their meaning with each generation.

We'll just focus our limited time to the New Testament use of the word. Here's the Greek words that the NT authors used and their meaning.

Proskuneo - this is by far the most common word that is used. That is, each time you read the root word worship (in the NT), it is usually this word. In the first century, someone speaking Greek who said this word would most likely mean to kiss the hand of someone or physically prostrate yourself in front of another person. There are scriptures that use this word and refer to worshipping God, Christ, Man, Idols and even the Satan. So obviously, just because you are worshipping doesn't mean that you're doing something good.

Sebomai - This is the next most common word. And it's kind of the opposite in meaning as compared to proskuneo. Where proskuneo referred to more of a physical act, sebomai refers to more of an emotion or feeling. It means to revere and it stresses the feeling of awe or devotion.

Latreuo - This is by far the least common word that is translated as worship. However, it is actually a common word in the NT. In fact, to translate this word as worship is really not a good translation. It is usually translated "to serve". In the context of worship, or the reason it is sometimes translated as worship is because it can mean to render religious service or homage.

One of those "traditions" that I was referring to earlier is the idea that we go to "worship service" on Sundays. Given the definitions of the word and the uses in the Bible, that's just not a scriptural statement. That term is never, not once, used in the Bible. There's no example of Christians going to a worship service and no command from Jesus or any NT writer to go to a worship service. I wonder, for those of us who are affliated with the restoration movement, whatever happened to the slogan "Call Bible things by its Bible name"?

By the way, there is file on worship on the Bible Class Resources page. You can find the link at the top of this page. It's a brief study, but there is a little more information to look at.