13. TO WORSHIP, SERVE
13. TO WORSHIP, SERVE
The word of most frequent use for worship is , from and , ‘to fawn or crouch’ and ‘to kiss.’ Its first use in scripture is in Gen 18:2 (LXX), when Abraham prostrates himself on the ground. See also Gen 19:1. Job 31:27 may have reference to an act of worship. It takes in (as ‘worship’ once did in English, see 1Ch 29:20) all acts of outward honour, such as kneeling, prostration, which were paid to kings and other superiors, as well as to a divine person, or one regarded as such: compare Mat 18:26; Joh 4:22-23; Act 7:43; Act 10:25; Rev 3:9; Rev 13:12; Rev 13:15; Rev 16:2; Rev 19:10; etc. So that the word in itself does not determine whether the homage is rendered as to God (which is its most constant use) or not. It might in most passages be translated “do homage.”
is another word three times translated ‘worship,’ of which however the usual rendering is ‘to serve.’ Connected as the word is with , ‘hire,’ its original force is ‘serving for hire,’ not of compulsion like a slave. But Biblical Greek has raised the word, with its substantive , ‘service,’ to higher use, so as never to express any other service but that of God, or of false gods. Thus it most fully answers to the present sense of ‘worship,’ and all true service partakes of this character. The Lord meets Satan’s proffer of the kingdoms of the world – “if thou wilt fall down and worship (.) me” – with “it is written, Thou shalt worship (.) the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve (),” thus using both words. Mat 4:9-10
Compare, as to the force of , Luk 1:74; Act 7:7; Act 24:14 (worship); Heb 9:14; Heb 12:28; Rev 7:15; Rev 22:3; for the worship of idols, Act 7:42; Rom 1:25. It is applied also to the services connected with the first covenant, Luk 2:37; Act 26:7; Rom 9:4; and Heb 9:1; Heb 9:6 (), with the omission in the original of ‘divine’ and ‘of God’ (as if no longer to be recognised as such), obtruded in each case in the A.V. See also Heb 8:5; Heb 10:2 (‘worshippers’); Heb 13:10. Other passages are Php 3:3; Act 27:23; Rom 1:9; 2Ti 1:3; Rom 12:1, and, in total contrast, Joh 16:2 (). These are almost all the occurrences.
‘Worship’ is also given as the rendering of two words used in Acts 17. In Act 17:23 it is for , with which may be compared the adjective , ‘devout,’ Act 10:2; Act 10:7, and Act 22:12 and the substantive so often found as ‘godliness,’ or perhaps better ‘piety’ in the Pastoral Epistles and 2 Peter. It embraces not only the reverence well () and rightly directed to God, but similarly to parents and others, though the first is the general use of the forms of the word in scripture. It may be rendered in Act 17:23 “whom therefore ye reverence, not knowing (him).”
(from , ‘an attendant’) in Act 17:25 is ‘to serve,’ ‘render service to’ (A.V. ‘worship’), constantly used for curing and healing in the gospels; it is nowhere else translated ‘worship.’
One more word, used in this address of Paul in its substantival form, , ‘devotions,’ Act 17:23; and 2Th 2:4, “that is worshipped,” leads us to the only passage where the verb occurs, , ‘worship,’ Rom 1:25, which is from , ‘reverence’ or ‘ awe.’ The substantive expresses the object of veneration, altar, image, or shrine, in heathenism, and not ‘devotions,’ which has ceased to have this meaning in modern English
14. WORD. WORDS
Both and are translated ‘word ‘ and ‘words.’ is the saying, the thing spoken (, , ‘to speak’); it is more individual than , standing in relation to it rather as a part to the whole. includes the thoughts as well as the utterance. Compare the use of the French mot with parole
The words have been thus distinguished: is the deeper, fuller word; it is the revelation of what is in God, in His nature and character – His love, His ways – in short, all that He communicates: is the actual communication. (from , ‘to speak’) is that which is known in the mind, and known by expressing it. I cannot think without having a thought, and is used for that, and the expression of it: it is the matter and form of thought and expression, as well as the expression of it. It is a word so large in sense as to be very hard to express. is the actual utterance.
If this distinction be borne in mind, the following passages will be the better apprehended. For , Mat 13:19; Mar 14:39, ‘word’ not ‘words’ (compared with Mat 26:44); Mar 7:13; Mar 16:20; Luk 1:2; Act 4:31; Act 6:4; Rom 9:6; Heb 4:12; Heb 6:1; Jam 1:18; 1Pe 1:23. And it will be understood how characteristic is of John’s writings: Joh 1:1; Joh 1:14; Joh 5:24; Joh 5:38; Joh 8:31; Joh 8:37; Joh 8:43; and in Joh 8:51-52; Joh 8:55 (where it is the same – ‘word,’ instead of ‘saying’ as in the A.V.); Joh 10:35; Joh 14:23-24 (‘word’ and ‘words,’ not ‘words’ and ‘sayings’ as the A.V.); Joh 15:3; Joh 15:20; Joh 17:6; Joh 17:14; Joh 17:17; 1Jn 1:1
Yet the apostle also uses : Joh 3:34; Joh 6:63; Joh 6:68; Joh 8:47; Joh 12:47-48; Joh 14:10; Joh 17:8. Compare also Mat 4:4; Eph 6:17 (not the book merely, but the text); Mat 26:75; Luk 5:5; Rom 10:8; Rom 10:17; Heb 1:3; Heb 6:5; Heb 11:3; 1Pe 1:25. These will suffice to illustrate the use of the word, which has the force more of individual utterances, divine communications
(from , ‘to talk, utter a sound’) is, as a substantive, of much more limited use, as it is of meaning, being in fact only found in Mat 26:73 = Mar 14:70; Joh 4:42 (comp. , Joh 4:41); and Joh 8:43. But the constant use of the verb for the fact of uttering human language (Mat 9:33; Mar 16:17; Act 2:4; Act 18:9), and in such expressions as “He spoke saying” (cf. Mar 6:50; Heb 2:2) sufficiently defines its force. Joh 8:43 brings and together in a way that illustrates their respective meanings: is the matter of those discourses, the word itself; the outward form and utterance which His word assumes. They did not understand what He said (), because they did not take in His thought (); as it has been said, “In divine things one does not learn the definitions of words and then the things: one learns the things, and then the meaning of the words is evident.” There could not be a more important principle