Acts 10:25

And when it came to pass that Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.

Worshiped him ...

WORSHIP DEFINED

All five New Testament words translated "worship" indicate that worship is an act, not some kind of subjective feeling. Note these:

<LINES><MONO>

(1) [@proskuneo] means "to bow down toward" and is used of:

(a) worshiping God (Matthew 4:10; John 4;:21f; 1 Corinthians 14:25; Revelation 4:10, etc.).

(b) worshiping Christ (Matthew 2:2,8,11; 8:2; 9:18; 28:9,17; John 9:38; Hebrews 1:6, etc.).

(c) worshiping a man (Matthew 18:16).

(d) worshiping the dragon (by men) (Revelation 13:4).

(e) worshiping the beast (Rev. 13:4,8,12; 14:9-11).

(f) worshiping the image of the beast (Revelation 13:15; 14:11; 16:2).

(g) worshiping demons (Revelation 9:20).

(h) worshiping idols (Acts 7:43).

(2) [@sebomai] means "to revere," stressing the feeling of awe; but the word is used of reverencing God (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:7; Acts 16:14; 18:7,13), and also of reverencing a goddess (Acts 19:27).

(3) [@sebazomai], akin to (2), above, means "to honor religiously" (Romans 1:25).

(4) [@latreuo] means "to serve or to render religious service" (Philippians 3:3; Acts 7:42; 24:14 (in some versions)

(5) [@eusebeo] means "to act piously toward" (Acts 17:23).MONO>LINES>

Thus, the New Testament Greek words confirm the usual dictionary definition of "worship" as a transitive verb meaning "to pay an act of worship, to venerate, or to adore." There is no New Testament definition of "worship," but it is always associated with doing, rather than with feeling, although, of course, feeling is present in true worship. However the notion that worship is some kind of communion with God is ridiculous, never being true at all except in the most poetic and romantic sense. The action of worship, whether presented to God or to idols, is the same in both instances, according to the New Testament, as indicated in the words above; and of course no communion with an idol is possible.

Contrary to the facts which are clearly discernible from the above considerations, there is nevertheless a hurtful heresy to the effect that "worship is an attitude of mind." Philip Wendell Crannell asserted that "Worship is not a physical or material offering but an attitude of mind."[15] Such a notion should be rejected. Note the following:

A. The public assemblies of Christians, dating from the resurrection itself, specifically commanded by the apostles and forming an essential element in the worship of Christ, are physical acts of presentation before the Lord, as evidenced by Romans 12:1.

B. The Quaker conception that the Lord's Supper is a "spiritual act," requiring no physical emblems such as bread and wine, is incorrect. Faithful observance of the Lord's Supper is a physical act; and without that physical act, there is no observance of it. To be sure, "the proper attitude" is a part of it also, but only a part of it. True and faithful observance of the Supper is worship.

C. Giving money or wealth to the support of God's work is worship in the truest and highest sense, properly attended of course by an attitude of loving obedience to the Father; but that attitude is not the worship; it is the giving of one's means that is worship.

D. Praying is a physical thing, involving the total person in both mind and body; but it is nonetheless the action of an appellant seeking the blessing and forgiveness of God. No attitude may take the place of petitions addressed to God through Jesus Christ.

E. Singing is likewise physical, as well as spiritual and mental. Singing is something that Christians do, not merely something they feel. That there is a way to do this, involving the spirit and the understanding (1 Corinthians 14:15), does not and cannot nullify the fact that singing is something the Christian does.

Once the premise is allowed that worship is not anything that men do, but a subjective condition or disposition of the mind, then the inevitable corollary follows that whatever is done has nothing whatever to do with worship! Crannell expressed such a deduction as follows:

Anything that stimulates and expresses the worshipful spirit is a legitimate aid to worship, but never a substitute for it, and harmful if it displaces it.[16]

Such a view justifies every innovation ever introduced into the worship of Christ, as well as every innovation that may be dreamed up in the future! This conception of what worship is cannot be otherwise than profoundly wrong. Worship in any real sense is doing what God has commanded us to do; and, although it must be admitted that subjective feelings inevitably arise in the doing of those things, they must be looked upon as a consequence of worship and not as worship itself.

The author of Hebrews said, "Through Christ let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name" (Hebrews 13:15); but such praise is not a sacrifice, so long as it is merely "in mind." It is when it passes the portal of the lips that it becomes a sacrifice of praise to God.

Thus, Cornelius' worshiping of Peter refers not merely to some attitude within Cornelius' heart but to what he did in Peter's presence.

[15] Philip Wendell Crannell, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Chicago: The Howard Severance Company, 1915), p. 3112.

[16] Ibid.