What Does Worship Mean?
What Does Worship Mean?
What does worship mean? Worship is more than an external action like bowing or raising hands or singing or even, when you really understand the word, prayer.
Traditional Legal Model – Worship is something we do in posture, in song or in prayer and may include attitudes such as humility as in the publican praying in contrast to the Pharisee (Luke 18:11-14).
Biblical Healing Model – Worship is a continual attitude of the mind, most of all, a recognition, an understanding that God is worthy. It is not something that a person starts and stops from day to day. The postures and actions are things we might do when feeling especially worshipful, when we are especially recognizing and appreciating God’s worth but they are not, in themselves, worship.
What Does Worship Mean? – Dictionary Definitions
Modern Dictionary
worship (noun)
“Reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.” (https://dictionary.com/browse/worship)
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
worship (noun)
“Chiefly and eminently, the act of paying divine honors to the Supreme Being; or the reverence and homage paid to him in religious exercises, consisting in adoration, confession, prayer, thanksgiving and the like.”
(Webster: https://webstersdictionary1828.com/)
What Does Worship Mean? – Old Testament
If you put value on and depend on other gods as, for example, the Egyptians did with the Nile god who cannot provide your needs, God will honor that choice but you will suffer the consequences of turning from the only God Who can provide. In some cases, that could mean you will, ultimately, perish:
“But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.” (Deut 30:17-18)
Note that “name,” in the Bible, is often a reference to character. God is due or worthy of worship because of His character, of how loving etc He is, not because of glory as in a brightly-shining countenance.
“Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” (Psa 29:2)
Here is an example of the extreme of folly to which people would go in their worship of idols:
“Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take [the wood] thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue [the remaining wood] thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.” (Isa 44:15-17)
Imagine the foolishness of worshipping a piece of wood when you have just burned the other part of it to cook your supper!
Hebrew Word Definitions
OT shachah H7812 שׁחה shachah shaw-khaw’
a primitive root; v;
AV-worship 99, bow 31, bow down 18, obeisance 9, reverence 5, fall down 3, themselves 2, stoop 1, crouch 1, misc 3; 172
1) to bow down
1a) (Qal) to bow down
1b) (Hiphil) to depress (fig)
1c) (Hithpael)
1c1) to bow down, prostrate oneself
1c1a) before superior in homage
1c1b) before God in worship
1c1c) before false gods
1c1d) before angel
What Does Worship Mean? – New Testament
Matthew shows that the heart must be involved:
“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matt 15:8-9)
More than that, if the understanding includes man’s ways in contrast to God’s, the worship is vain as it does not include a right knowledge of God and thus will not transform the heart.
Worship is connected with a knowledge of God by observing Him, specifically, in this case, His actions:
“Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for [or because] thy judgments are made manifest.” (Rev 15:4)
Here is an example of wrong worship:
“And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.” (Rev 22:8-9)
Wrong, because it is based only on external appearance and, in fact, is directed towards one not worthy of worship.
An act of worship (even mock worship) involves the mind; at least the mind is deciding to do it – the action:
“And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.” (Mark 15:19)
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
“And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,” (Rev 7:11)
“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Rev 13:4)
In acts of worship, something is happening in the mind of the worshipper.
Greek Word Definitions
G4352 προσκυνέω proskuneo pros-koo-neh’-o
from G4314 and a probable derivative of G2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); v;
AV-worship 60; 60
1) to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence
2) among the Orientals, esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence
3) in the NT by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication
3a) used of homage shown to men and beings of superior rank
Notice the emphasis on physical posture.
The Word “Worship”
Worship is not a thing. The dictionary definitions given earlier call it a noun but they are really referring to an action. A church might have “a worship service” but that service is not the worship; it is only providing the opportunity for worship to happen in a group setting. Genuine worship is an individual heart response to “seeing” or perceiving God. If God is not “seen,” there can be no genuine worship.
Worship is really a verb. It’s an action and it’s a personal action, pictured in the Bible as the response of someone who has an encounter with God and regards Him as worthy.
The word worship can be understood as a combination of two things:
Worship = worth + ship
The “-ship” suffix of nouns in English denotes condition, character, office, or skill as in:
indicating state or condition: fellowship
indicating rank, office, or position: lordship
indicating craft or skill: horsemanship; workmanship; scholarship
So, worship is the mental act of understanding or perceiving or assigning the condition of worth to someone or something.
What is the worth of something? We tend to think in terms of monetary value but there can be value (something we would cherish) in other ways. What do you value?
Who Worships and When?
How many people worship? Everybody worships something – everybody ascribes value or worth to something or someone. Really, there is no such thing as not worshipping. The only choice we have is what to worship.
So, if I have an attitude that God is good, I am ascribing value or worth to Him.
If I am going about daily business and not actually thinking about God has my attitude towards Him changed? – no. Do I still ascribe worth to Him? – yes.
Am I worshipping? – well, I still consider God to be worthy even when not actively thinking about Him. So, yes, I still (even while not actively thinking about it) ascribe to God a condition of worth – He is worthy.
So, does worship stop and start? In a sense, no, it is a constant state of mind. Do outward expressions (praying, singing, sharing etc) of the inner attitude of worship start and stop? – yes.
Worship and Flattery
Don’t we try to be like what who value?
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” ― Oscar Wilde
Fans will dress and act like their heroes. Imitation can be the highest form of flattery because it shows that you have not only taken the time to observe someone else/their work, but also like it enough to want to change yourself to be more like them/it.
It has been said that “‘the sum of true religion is to imitate the God whom we worship.” This is why Paul wrote:
“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;” (Eph 5:1)
“Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children.” (Eph 5:1, ESV)
“Followers” is from
G3402 μιμητής mimetes mim-ay-tace’
from G3401; n m;
AV-follower 7; 7
1) an imitator
Similar to mimicry or mime.
Many verses tell us to be like God:
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt 5:48)
“But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” (Luke 6:35)
“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)
“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Eph 4:32)
“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;” (1 Pet 1:15)
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” (1 John 4:11)
By continually beholding and worshipping (so not just seeing, but seeing and valuing) we can be changed:
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor 3:18)
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)
We can only see Him as He is by correctly understanding His character as He reveals it to us.
What about this verse:?
“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev 13:8)
Worship = G4352 refers to posture. All will adopt the posture (action) even if they don’t totally go along with the system. That action, in this case, will include accepting the mark of the beast. (Rev 13:15-17)
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