Thursday, September 28, 2006

Jeff Meyers on "Worship"

The English word "worship," especially as it is used in modern times, is not a very helpful translation. One of the problems with our word "worship" is that it now refers to all sorts of activities, both physical and mental. In fact, a recent fad is to stress that all of life is "worship." In some sense this is true, but only in a very loose sense. When used in this sense "worship" denotes a mental disposition. But this is not the sense in which this word proskuneo [the Greek word frequently translated as "worship" in the NT] or "bowing down" is ordinarily used in the Scriptures. If you want to say that all of life is "bowing down," that is fine; but this can only be so in a very abstract or metaphorical way. If you are working hard on a painting job, for example, you may, indeed you should mentally gives thanks and praise to God while you do so, but ... you are not bowing down at that time with others who reverence the same God.

(The Lord's Service, p 308)

No comments:

Post a Comment