Is Worship Confined to Five Acts?

In more conservative segments of the churches of Christ, we have historically spoken of the “five acts of worship,” consisting of singing, praying, observing the Lord's Supper, preaching, and giving. In doing so, we have sometimes implied, if not explicitly affirmed, that these are the only activities that qualify as expressions of worship. This position has been countered by appeals to Romans 12:1, which speaks of the Christian’s body being presented to God as a “living sacrifice” – language that seems to reflect the notion of worship. Some translations of the Bible even use the word “worship” in that passage (ESV, NIV), while others use the word “service” (NKJV). The New American Standard Bible combines the two words (“your spiritual service of worship”). I’ll address that momentarily.

I am not of the opinion that every particular action that a Christian does is an act of worship to God. For example, I have yet to be convinced that blowing my nose, taking a restroom break, or attending a Dallas Stars hockey game are expressions of worship. And what about sin? Surely no one would call sin worship.

It is my judgment, and I will attempt to offer scriptural reasons for it momentarily, that worship is broader than the “five acts” of a typical Sunday assembly, but not broad enough to encompass every act of a faithful Christian.

Think through this with me. Drawing from the typology of the Levitical system, the New Testament affirms that every Christian is a priest (1 Pet. 2:5, 9), and that the primary work of priests was to offer sacrifices (Heb. 10:11). However, the sacrifices we offer today are spiritual (1 Pet. 2:5), not animal. If it’s the case that when Scripture speaks of sacrifices being offered to God it is using the language of worship, then I’m forced to the conclusion that worship can encompass more than the “five acts.” It is the case that when Scripture speaks of sacrifices being offered to God it is using the language of worship (2 Chron. 32:12; Isa. 19:21; Jer. 1:16; Ezek. 46:2; Acts 7:42; Heb. 9:9; 10:1-2). Therefore, by using the language of sacrifice to describe different actions of Christians, the Holy Spirit uses this language of worship to include more than “the five acts.”

Here is an example: Hebrews 13:16 reads, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” The inspired writer refers to sacrifices offered to and accepted by God, sacrifices that consist of doing good and sharing. Those are broad concepts that would include more than just the “five acts” of Sunday assemblies. That being so, could we not say that cooking a meal for a sick brother or sister, for example, could be an act of worship, a sacrifice pleasing to God, provided that the act is motivated by love for God and neighbor, and done with a view toward the glory of God? I’m inclined to say yes.

That brings us to Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (ESV). This is the passage that has been at the forefront of disagreements on whether worship is confined to the “five acts.” The heart of this discussion is the definition and usage of the Greek noun latreia (and the verb form latreuo) and its relationship to the Greek verb proskuneo.

The argument that I have heard from some in churches of Christ, including myself in years gone by, is that latreia refers only to acts of service or ministry, but not to worship. Therefore, it is argued, latreia should never be translated “worship.” It has also been averred that since proskuneo is the primary term for worship, to parallel latreia with proskuneo is wrong.

Whatever else might be said on the issue, the lexical evidence is clear: latreia can be rendered “worship” when the object is God. I found no Greek lexicon that did NOT include “worship” as an acceptable translation of latreia. A few examples of lexical entries for latreia (or the verb form latreuo):

• “Service/worship (of God)” [Arndt, William, Frederick Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. W. Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000]

• “To perform religious rites as a part of worship” (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1996)

• “Latreuo refers to service or worship that is always religious in nature” (Mounce, William D. Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006)

• “Service, servitude; religious service, worship” (Pershbacher, Wesley J. The New Analytical Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1990)

• “Latreuo is a verb found twenty times, meaning ‘serve’ in the primary sense of ‘worship, or officiate in a ritual ceremony’” (Renn, Stephen, D. Expository Dictionary of Bible Words. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2005)

• Latreia “is a technical religious word meaning ‘service’ or ‘worship.’ In the LXX it means ‘the service of worship of God according to the requirements of the Levitical law (Thayer, p. 372). Occurring five times in the NT, it is translated ‘service’ four times and ‘divine service’ once. The point is that this word as used in the Bible refers to religious service, not secular” (Earle, Ralph. Word Meanings in the New Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1986).

The key to understanding Romans 12:1 is the recognition that Paul is utilizing metaphorical language in a general, not a precise sense. He is not teaching that literally every act of a person’s life is worship. He is affirming that, just as an animal literally gave his body on an altar as a sacrifice in worship to God, we are to make a similar life-sacrifice, metaphorically speaking. Offering my body to God is a metaphorical act of sacrificial worship in the same way that an animal’s body was a literal sacrifice of worship. But to use such generalized language does not of necessity imply that every single thing a person does is a specific act of worship.

Consider this parallel: We may say of a man, “Football is his life” while at the same time knowing that the same man will frequently do things that are not exclusively connected to football. He might regularly play a round of golf, for example. The statement (“Football is his life”) is not a lie. It’s merely a way to convey the primary focus and emphasis of a man’s life. I believe the same to be true with Romans 12:1. Our lives, on the whole, should be God-focused. Our lives should be consumed by offering sacrifices of homage and service to God, all of which can be called worship. The attempts made to create a hardline and never-overlapping distinction between proskuneo and latreuo are unnecessarily manufactured. The lexical and biblical evidence simply do not support such a distinction, in my opinion.

So here is my take in a nutshell:

• There are extremes to be avoided on this issue, as is the case in many doctrinal controversies.

• I do not believe the Bible teaches that every particular action a Christian does is worship to God.

• Neither do I believe that worship is confined to the “five acts” that comprise our Sunday church assemblies: singing, praying, preaching, giving, and the Lord’s Supper.

• Doing good for others and sharing with others (Heb. 13:16) are some ways in which we use our bodies as “living sacrifices” (Rom. 12:1) and “offer spiritual sacrifices” to God as his priests (1 Pet. 2:5). To use the language of sacrifice, as those verses do, is to use the language of worship.

• I believe that the word “worship” is an acceptable translation of latreia when the object of that action is God, and Romans 12:1 is a good example of such usage.

I realize that my answer puts me at odds with some Bible students and teachers that I love and respect, and I don’t take that lightly. But that’s where I am at this point in my study.