"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." 10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the LORD your God, and serve him only.' " – Matt 4:9-10
Let’s take a look at the New Testament words for worship. We looked briefly in on these last month, however they bear the weight of expressing what God Himself means by worship, so a closer look is worth our time and effort. A couple of the main words used in the New Testament for worship are Proskuneo and Latreuo.
Proskuneo means “to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence, by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication.”1 One scholar summarizes the meaning as “bow down before someone you revere and kiss the ground.” 2 Another suggests the meaning “to prostrate oneself in token of reverence.” 3 This side of worship is where we arrive at the ideas awe, reverence, and wonderment of God for who He is and what He has done. We sense God is and who He is and we worship Him.
Matthew 2:11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
Matthew 8:2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "LORD, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
Matthew 9:18 While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live."
Matthew 14:33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
Revelation 19:4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: "Amen, Hallelujah!"
From the birth of Christ to His throne in the new Jerusalem, people were and are falling down, bowing before God to worship Him. Jesus walks on the water and those in the boat worship Him. The leper in need of healing worships Him. The ruler whose daughter has died comes and worships Him. They are showing reverence to Him. They are acknowledging He is the only one who can help them. The Samaritan woman at the well learns from Jesus that true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth. She learns He is the Messiah.
Latreuo means “to serve, to perform sacred services, to offer gifts, to worship God in the observance of the rites instituted for his worship.”4 Latreuo carries the idea of general, even bodily service “in far more comprehensive sense than that of slavery.” Like being a cup-bearer where your body is used for the king or even in the sense that bodily preparations must be made for service.5
Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Luke 2:37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
Romans 1:9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you
Revelation 7:19 Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them
Matt 4:9-10 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship [Proskuneo] me." 10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship [Proskuneo] the LORD your God, and serve [Latreuo] him only.' "
Latreuo carries the comprehensive idea of service. Serving by prayer and fasting, setting apart even our actions to God that our bodies themselves may be holy (set apart for Him). If Proskuneo is the sense of God, then Latreuo is the service of God. True worship must be “in spirit and truth, spirit providing the inner energy and feeling, truth providing the outward conformity and boundaries.”6 Mary can be seen as a brilliant example of this kind of worshipper. Mary is seen consistently at the feet of Jesus – a true worshipper. She sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said (Luke 10:39). She got up quickly and went to Him and fell at His feet saying “Lord, if you had been here, my brother [Lazarus] would not have died” (John 11:29, 32). Again we see Mary at the feet of Jesus weeping over His feet, wiping His feet with her hair, pouring a pint pure nard (very expensive perfume) on His feet and again wiping them with her hair (Matt 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, Luke 7:36-50; John 12:1-8). Mary understood what it meant to worship Jesus, to proskuneo (to sense, to reverence, to fall at His feet) and latreuo (to serve, to wipe His feet, to offer something of high personal value to Him, to serve with her body). “You cannot serve Him unless you sense Him in your life. It will be a mockery. And if you just sense Him without serving Him, you are not worshipping Him. If you serve Him without sensing Him, it will be drudgery.”7
Footnotes
1 Thayer, Joseph. "Proskuneo." Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Hendrickson, 1996.
2 Zacharias, Ravi. “Let My People Think.” Podcast. “Leadership Seminar Workshop.” http://www.rzim.org/resources/listen/letmypeoplethink.aspx. 22 July 2009.
3 Tenny, Merrill C. "Worship." The Zondervan Pictoral Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Regency, 1975. Print.
4 Thayer, Joseph. "Latreuo." Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Hendrickson, 1996.
5 Tenny.
6 Zacharias.
7 Zacharias.
References
All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.
