WORSHIP AS DEFINED BY Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words

WORSHIP

Old Testament

Verb: הָוָה (hāwâ), GK 2556 (S 2331), 173×. hāwâ essentially means “to bow down.” This action may be directed either to a human being or to a divine being. It may be a mere greeting, but it can also indicate submission or “worship.” It is the external action of an internal attitude.

(1) In terms of other humans, people bow down before others for various reasons: to greet strangers (Gen. 18:2), to acknowledge authority (1 Sam. 24:18), to pay honor or homage (2 Sam. 1:2; cf. Est. 3:2), and even to beg (1 Sam. 2:36). Bowing low to the ground can even take place within family circles (Gen. 33:3; 48:12; 50:18–20).

(2) But more important is the religious exercise of bowing down. hāwâ is used in this manner about 110×, of which more than half refer to bowing down before heathen gods (e.g., 2 Chr. 25:14; 33:3; Isa. 44:15; Jer. 16:11). God’s people, of course, are commanded not to worship and bow down to idol gods (Exod. 20:5; 34:14). Instead, the psalmist calls on them to “worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness” (Ps. 29:2; 96:9). He exhorts us, “Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord our God” (Ps. 95:6). We must “exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool/mountain” (99:5–6). True worship is often accompanied by praise (1 Chr. 29:20; 2 Chr. 29:28–30). Isaiah prophesies that the glorious day is coming when people from foreign nations “will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain of Jerusalem” (Isa. 27:13; cf. 66:23; Zeph. 2:11). We should note that in all these instances of true worship, the focus is on the Lord, never on the one leading in worship or any other human being; he is the only one worthy of true worship. See NIDOTTE, 2:42–44.

Verb: יָרֵא (yārēʾ), GK 3707 (S 3372), 317×. yārēʾ denotes both a sense of terror and a sense of awe and worship. It is commonly translated “fear, revere, worship.” See fear.

Verb: עָבַד (ʿābad), GK 6268 (S 5647), 290×. ʿābad means “to serve” and is used in both secular and religious contexts (see serve).

The act of serving takes on theological significance in the cult of Israel, where ʿābad often means “to worship.” At age fifty, a Levite could no longer perform cultic service (Num. 8:25), and Isaiah speaks of sacrificial worship to God as ʿābad (Isa. 19:21). Serving God and worshiping him overlap significantly in the OT (Exod. 3:12; Mal 3:18). It is in this light that the Israelites are commanded not to serve foreign gods (Deut. 4:19; 5:9). Worship belongs to God alone and is evidence of the Israelites’ covenantal faithfulness (Exod. 4:23; Deut. 6:13; 1 Sam. 7:3; Ps. 100:2; Jer. 2:20).

New Testament

Verb: λατρεύω (latreuō), GK 3302 (S 3000), 21×. latreuō refers to service or worship that is always religious in nature (Rom. 1:25; Acts 7:7, 42). See serve.

Verb: προσκυνέω (proskyneō), GK 4686 (S 4352), 60×. proskyneō means “to fall down and/or worship” someone or something. While it is most often used of people worshiping God, it does not limited bowing down before the God of the Bible.

In classical Greek and even in some NT passages, proskyneō was used of the adoration of idol gods, the falling down and prostration of oneself in reverence (see, e.g., Acts 7:43). It sometimes denotes specifically false worship, especially in Revelation. The recipients of pagan obesiance include the dragon (Rev. 13:4), demons (9:20), and the image of the beast (13:15). proskyneō can also be used for prostrating oneself before another human being, such as the servant in the parable of the unforgiving servant falling on his knees before his master, asking for more time to repay his debt (Mt. 18:26). Cornelius too, a man who revered God, fell at Peter’s feet in reverence; Peter objected.

But for the most part in the NT, proskyneō refers to worship addressed to God or to Jesus Christ. Jesus warns Satan, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Mt. 4:10). A part of the conversation Jesus has with the Samaritan woman in John 4 revolves around the right place and the correct way to “worship” God (4:20–24, where this verb is used nine times). Jesus insists that true worship only occurs in the inner attitude is appropriate: “in spirit and in truth” (4:24). The elders in the heavenly throne room fall down and worship God, who is sitting on the throne (Rev. 4:10; 5:14).

What these various meanings create, then, is ambiguity in some of the uses of proskyneō in the Gospels. When the wise men come and worship the baby Jesus (Mt. 2:2, 11), do they see themselves as falling down before Immanuel, God in human flesh, or as merely giving obesiance to a human “king of the Jews”? When sick people “kneel before” Jesus (e.g., Mt. 8:2; 9:18), do they see him as a human miracle-worker or as the great divine Healer? Yet regardless of how Jesus is viewed by those who come to him for help, there is no doubt that the gospel writers themselves see Jesus as the Son of God. Note especially the use of proskyneō as an outward expression of faith in Jn. 9:38, where the man born blind says, “Lord, I believe,” and he worships Jesus (Jn. 9:38). Worship is the appropriate response of a believing heart that adores God. See NIDNTT-A, 496–497.

Verb: σέβω (sebō), GK 4936 (S 4576), 10×. sebō means “to worship.” It is used twice in the gospels (Mt. 15:9; Mk. 7:7) where the OT is quoted; in these cases it refers straightforwardly to the worship of God. All other NT uses of the word are in Acts. In 18:13 it is used of the worship of God and in 19:27 of the worship of the pagan goddess Artemis. Elsewhere in Acts sebō describe Gentiles who “worship” or “fear” God of the Jews and who are thus affiliated with a synagogue (13:43, 50; 16:14; 17:4, 17; 18:7). These Gentiles are called “God-fearers.” Since these people appreciated the Jewish religion but did not want to undergo circumcision in order to become full-fledged Jews, they were a ripe mission field for the apostle Paul, who showed them how they could become members of God’s new covenant people through faith in Jesus Christ. See NIDNTT-A, 520–21.*

William D. Mounce, Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 810–811.

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