What Is Worship According To The Bible – New Testament (NT) Worship is highly contested in the church today. As biblical Christians, we should make our definition of worship from the Bible itself – not our church tradition. We agree with D.A. Carson, who writes, “We should not begin by asking whether we or not

If we cannot explain from scripture why we form our opinion on this subject, we are no different than any other religious group. Sadly, many believers are confused about the definition of NT worship, because of church tradition. But what does the Bible teach about NT worship?

What Is Worship According To The Bible

In our contemporary Christian culture, worship has become synonymous with large, corporate singing services. However, the definition of serving is not a NT convention, but an OT one. In fact, early on, Christians reverted back to the OT search for worship (see 1 Clement 40:1-5; Didache 13:3). As a result of the return to the old covenant view, the church has formed a tradition on its performance of worship. While the reformers corrected much of Catholic dogma, they failed to correct this understanding as well. Theologian Erwin Bishop writes,

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As heirs of the Reformation and Restoration movements, we have made good progress in brushing away much of the church and ceremonial tradition accumulated over hundreds of years, but our thinking has not yet been swept away from the dusty concepts that lie beneath the tradition [i.e. H. serve]. The inheritance concept makes it difficult for us to see the clear teaching of the New Testament.

This may be surprising to read, but there are three lines of evidence for thinking that Worship Services are not God’s plan for the church: (1) No

With such a focus on worship services in Western Christianity, we might expect to find many passages that command such a thing. But, surprisingly, we do not find even

. Theology D.A. Carson writes, “There is not a single passage in the New Testament that establishes a paradigm for corporate worship.”

What Is Biblical Worship?

Worship services are filled throughout the Psalms in the Old Testament. However, the book of Hebrews claims that the old covenant has been replaced by the finished work of Christ. Therefore, it is outdated. If we try to pull services out of the OT, we’ll also have to pull out everything else (eg priests, temples, animal sacrifices, etc.) Carson writes, “We don’t have a ‘sanctuary’ in the Old Testament. Sense. On On what grounds do we transfer Old Testament choirs to the New Testament and not an Old Testament temple or priests?

The book of Revelation has several scenes of worship services, where believers sing to the Lord together (Rev. 5: 9; 14: 3). However, these passages describe the function of the church in

. In heaven, there will be no ministry to do. There will be no witnesses or lawyers. We will have no sin to deal with. Perhaps, in this setting, we will have time and freedom to sing and praise the Lord unhindered. Now, however, there are many things that God has prioritized for us to do – the side of eternity. Moreover, most of the passages about “worship services” in heaven are

(Rev. 5:11-12; 6:1, 10; 7:10). If we believe that worship services can be taken from the book of Revelation, why don’t we also have meetings where believers chant praise to God in unison?

Verses About Praise & Worship

Singing is certainly a NT imperative, and we see many examples of this throughout the NT. For example, Paul writes that believers should “[encourage] one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in [our] hearts to God” (Col. 3:16).

And yet, this does not describe a worship service. This is certainly an imperative to sing, but not necessarily to one another. If this is a “one another” passage, we would need to admonish one another

– As in a musical! This is a strained and nonsense interpretation. Furthermore, the passage says that we should sing “in [our] hearts.” It does not say

. So this can refer to singing in the car before work, after reading the Bible, or even with a few friends and a guitar. It is certainly not prescriptive of a worship service. How can one go from a command to sing – to a public service? Furthermore, how could this suddenly become the focus of our time in fellowship together?

What Is Worship?

Likewise, Ephesians 5:19 (“speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord”) does not prescribe a worship service. Here Paul prescribes “

). The “one another” is not in the Greek. This is only inferred from the reflexive mood. So, it can mean singing to each other or singing to yourself. Furthermore, even if it teaches that we should sing to one another, it does not mean that it should be done in worship. For example, the Bible says “encourage one another.” However, this does not mean that it should be done corporately. We don’t have services with hundreds of people encouraging one another – although encouragement is mentioned much more often than singing.

(Gal. 4:4). This, like much of what Jesus did in his historical and religious context, should not be mandatory for new covenant Christians (eg celebrating the Passover, visiting the Temple, etc.).

(Acts 16:25) But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners listened to them.

Review: Family Worship Bible Guide Edited By Joel Beeke Et Al.

This is the only passage about singing in the entire book of Acts. For a book describing the events of the early church, a lack of a corporate worship service is telling. Furthermore, this is not mandatory for worship services. If so, we would only be allowed to have two people to sing, and we would have to sing in prison!

(Romans 15:9) For the Gentiles to praise God for his mercy; As it is written: Therefore I will praise you among the nations, and I will sing to your name.

(1 Cor. 14:15) What is the result then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind too; I will sing with the spirit and I will also sing with the mind.

Will sing…”). Moreover, this is not even an imperative. It is simply what Paul himself did. Of course, we believe that we should imitate Paul’s example for us (1 Cor. 11:1).

My 10 Favorite Bible Passages On Worship

(1 Cor. 14:26) What is the result then, brothers? When you gather, everyone has a psalm, a lesson, a revelation, a language, an interpretation. Let all things be done for the building.

This is probably in the context of the home church meeting (how else can everyone participate?). So this would not serve as a good example of a corporate worship service. Moreover, notice that Paul is not

(Hebrews 2:12) I will call your name to my brothers, in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.

(James 5:13) Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone happy? He is to sing praises.

The God We Worship (master)

Be against singing like believers. This is repeated throughout the NT, and it is given as a means of connecting with God and praising Him. This is, no doubt, for

Consider the great meetings described throughout the book of Acts. There is not one reference to a public worship service in the entirety of this book. How can serving services be such an emphasis for us, if we do not find one example of this in the book of Acts? Carson confirms, “We have no details

Evidence of a complete Christian service. There are certainly things to be learned from the Patristic sources, but they should not be read back into the canonical sources.”

Instead, the first century church contains innumerable passages on the word, prayer, praise and fellowship. When believers pray before and after Bible studies, we should consider this “praise” (Heb. 13:15-16).

Verses Of Praise

Worship is never associated with corporate singing and worship services (as in the OT). But apart from that, we also find that the whole thought system is being reinterpreted for us. That is, the old covenant should be a test of giving our whole life to God.

(pronounced light-or-GAY-ah) is normally translated as “liturgy” in the OT (LXX). In fact, it normally refers to “priestly service” or priestly “ministry” as in Luke 1:23, Hebrews 8:2, 6, 9:21, and 10:11. BDAG defines it as “one engaged in administrative or religious service.” However, the NT authors reinterpret the word to refer to evangelism, financial giving, or our overall lifestyle.

] of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serve as a priest the gospel of God, so that my sacrifice of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit “(Rom. 15: 16). Here Paul replaces the concept of the OT priesthood With NT ministry – namely, evangelism.

] of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all” (Phil. 2: 17). In the OT, the “menah” was a

What Does The Bible Say About Corporate Worship?

Sacrifice. The context of Paul’s ministry here is verse 15, which refers to evangelism (“You appear as lights in the world”). That is, Paul’s ministry to non-Christians is his way of worshiping God.

] is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but

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