Worship (Hastings' Dictionary)

Christian worship grew out of the .Jewisli synagogue worsliip, to which, in its early forms, it bore considerable resemblance. Our Lord with His disciples visited the synagogues at Capernaum (Mk P' 3') and Nazareth (Mk 6») ; and, as He preached in the synagogues of Galilee generally (Mk P", Lk 6'), He must have taken part in the public worship. Wlien St.

Paul was on his missionary tours he invariably sought out the synagogue, or, if that were wanting, the proseuclU (Ac 16"), no doubt joining in tlie Jewish worship. See Synaoooue. It was only by de- glees that Christian worship came to supersede synarjogue worship in the Church.

At first the meetings of the Christian brotherhood, which of course were held in private, were quite distinct from the Sabbath worship, and Jewish Christians would go to the synagogue on the Saturday and to their o^vn meeting on the Sunday. The fipistle of St.

James seems to imply that the community there addressed consisted of the worshippers in some synagogue who had accepted Christianity as a body, and who then continued to meet in the building, but as a Christian Church, so that the writer, referring to the place of worship where the Church assembled, could call it 'your synagogue' (Ja 2' ; but von Soden understands the word crwo- yuyri here to mean 'as-sembly,' see Ildcom.

in loc; Bennett allows that it may mean the Jewish place of worship ' if the Epistle is very early,' though preferring 'assembly' as KVm, see Century liihle, »n loc.) The separation of Christian from Jewish worship was brought about under various influ- ences, viz.

(I) Jewish antagonism, leading to the expulsion of the Christians from the synagogue ; (2) Church development, giving more importance to the worship carried on in the Christian assembly and stamping it with an individual character, thus rendering attendance at the Jewish synagogue superfluous and incon<;ruous ; (3) the conversion of the heathen on the lines of Pauline liberalism, dispensing with circumcision, so that the Gentile Christians could not be regarded as prosel3'tes to Judaism.

As these free Hellenistic (Christians in- creased in number, and before long became the majority of the Apostolic Church, the necessity for maintaining Christian worship quite apart from the synagogue would be apparent to all but the narrow Judaizers. L Teaching and Practice of Jesus Christ.

— The only worship that our Lord expressly required was private worship, as when He warned His dis- ciples against the Pharisaic ostentation of piajing 'in the synagogues [private prayers] and in tlie corners of the streets,' and bade them enter their 'inner chamber' and pray to their 'Father which is in secret ' (Mt 6"). His teaching about prayer deals with the subject of personal prayer, encourag- ing individual faith with regard to specific petitions (e.(f. Lk 11'"'^).

In one place He commends the united prayer of two persons for a common end (Mt 18'"); but this refers to a special emergency, and has no bearing on public worship. On the other hand. He assuraea that His disciples took part in public worship ; He did not need to com- mand a universal practice which He sanctioned by Himself following it. Whenever our Lord's own praying is referred to, this is not connected with public worship. Most frequently it is associated with mountain solitude.

In this worship He was either entirely alone or praying by Himself in the presence of disciples rather than praying with them. Still, is it quite accurate to say that He never prayed together with other men ? Must He not have done this in the synagogue? The inci- dent of the woman of Sam.

aria contains His most significant utterance on the subject of worship, in which He denies the peculiar eflicacy of sacred places (Jerusalem claimed by the Jews, Gerizim claimed by the Samaritans), and affirms that, for the future, worship must be ' in spirit,' i.e. in- ternal, not merely in external functions, and ' in truth,' i.e. in accordance with the nature of God and our true relations with Him as at once ' Sjilrit ' and ' Father ' (Jn i'"- -*).

That this teach- ing influenced the Church, remleriiig the dedica- tion of sacred buildings superfluous, is apparent from Justin Martyr's answer to I{usticus(c. le.^j a.d. ) who had inqiilred, ' Where do you assemble ? ' Justin said, 'Where each one chooses . . because the God of the Christians is not circumscribed by place ; but, bein^j; invisible, fills heaven and earth, and everywhere is worshipped and glorified by the faithful ' [Martyrdom, 2). iL Apostolic Teaching and Custom.

— As the Church giadually emerged from the synagogue specific Christian worship, as distinguished from tlie customary Jewish worship, came to bo shaped on lines indicated by the principles of the new faith. (a) Times. — The NT contains no regulations concerning stated days and hours for worship. In 80 far as .Jewish (Christians still followed the law and customs of tlieir people, they observed the Sabbath and the great feasts. St. Paul fre- quented the synagogues on the Sabbath [e.g.

Ac 13"' * 16' 17-); much more must this have been the ca.se with less liberal Jews in the Church. St. Paul also took some account of the annual festivals, e.g. desiring to bo at Jerusalem for tha 942 WOKSHIP IN NT WORSHIP IN NT Peutecost (Ac 20'«, 1 Co 16«).

But he held himself to be free from any obligation in regard to sacred seasons, and never laid any such obligation on his converts, even bidding the Colossians let no man judge them ' in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath-day ' (Col 2'"). The Galatians are rebuked because they ' observe days, and months, and seasons, and years' (Gal 4'"). But, while no especial sanctity of seasons was recog- nized by St.

Paul, of necessity a certain periodicity was requisite for public worship in the Greek as well as in the Jewish Church. At Jerusalem, over and above the temple worship, which they shared with other Jews, the disciples had their own private assembly. As no mention is made of their attendance at the synagogue, though the temple is named, it seems probable that they gave up this custom in Palestine — perliaps from the time when Jesus was e.\pelled from the synagogue.

Thus a necessity would arise to institute some worship in its place. But that was never done formally, nor did it come about suddenly. The Christian wor- sliip arose from another cause ; it grew out of the fellowship of Christian brotherhood.

The origin of this worship is indicated in the statements that the new converts — doubtless associated with the older Christians — ' continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship ((coixwvla), in the breaking of bread and the prayers ' (Ac 2^) ; that ' day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they did take their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God,' etc. (v.*^).

This seems to imi)ly a daily meeting, which must have been early in the morning or at night, so as not to interfere with the common work of life. Probably the statement a[)plies onl3' to the time of primitive en- thusiasm. We meet with nothing of the kind later. The custom of the Church, both Jewish (cf. Jn 20" and V.28) and Greek (Ac 20' ; 1 Co 16=), was to meet on the first day of the week. See Lord's Day. The NT contains no reference to any yearly Christian festivals.

The Pasclial contro- versy in the 2nd cent, reveals a very early practice of keeping Easter, and Polycarji's association with St. John seems to connect this with apostolic times, especially as the apostolic precedent is cited. Irenajus states that Polycarp, visiting Rome in the time of Anicetus (c. 155 A.D.), 'had always ob- served it[ .e. on the ]4th Nisan, the date in dispute] with John, the disciple of our Lord, and the other apostles with whom he had associated' (Euseb. HE v. 24).

But tlie identification of the date with the Passover — the very question discussed by Polycarp — points rather to St. John's Jewish custom of keeping the Passover than to the in- stitution of Easter as an independent Christian festival. It indicates that, in late apostolic times, the surviving apostles, being Jews, >\'hen they kept the Passover, associated this with our Lord s last Passover, and so with His death and resurrection.

Similarly, the Pentecost continued down from Jewish times as a Jewish festival adopted by the Church to commemorate the gift of the Holy Spirit as late as the 2nd cent. (TertuUian, de Idol. c. 12 ; Con.it. Apost. v. 20). Subsequently it was divided into the feast of the Ascension and Pente- cost proper (Whitsunday), and lost its Jewish associations. Epiphany was not known till the end of the 2nd cent. (Clem. Alex. Strom, i. 21), and then as a Gnostic festival, Christmas appearing Btill later.

(b) Places. — The Jerusalem Christians wor- shipped ' in the temple ' (Ac 2*"). This would be in common with other Jews and according to Jewish custom. The prayer would be private and per- sonal — like the prayers of the Pharisee and the publican in the parable. Similarly, when ' Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour ' (Ac 3'), this must have been for private prayer. There could have been no public Christian worship there.

If the phrase sar' ol/cov (2*^) should be rendered ' at home,' as in RV, this would not point to Church fellow- ship as in AV, where we read ' from house to house.' But when the Christians met at Jeru- salem it was in a private house, using an ' upper room ' {vTrep(}ov, Ac 1"), perhaps the same room as the 'guest chamber' (Ka-roKviia), also called 'a large upper room' (Lk 22"- '-), in which Jesus took the Last Supper with His disciples. When St.

Peter was liberated from prison, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of Mark, and found many gathered together there praying (Ac 12'^). The word ' many ' does not suggest that the whole Church was there assembled. But the Church could only meet in such a place. There were no buildings for Christian worship before the end of the 2nd cent, (see SchafF, Ante-Nicene Christianity, i. p. 199). St. Paul frequently refers to the Church in a house (Ko 16^ 1 Co 16''-', Col 4").

Once only, and that as late as the Pastoral Epistles, do we meet with the expression ' the house of God ' (1 Ti 3'°) ; but probably the word 'house' here means 'family' (cf. 2 Ti 1«, Tit 1". See von Soden, Hdcom. in loc). (c) Persons. — The apostles naturally took the lead in conducting public worship when they were present. It would appear that, at Troas, St. Paul conducted the Lord's Supper, himself breaking the bread (Ac 20").

This is the only passage in the NT in which the distribution of the elements by any person, other than our Lord Himself, is mentioned. Elsewhere, the references to the Lord's Supper, in apostolic times, simply tell us of the Christians partaking of it together. The NT references to the functions of Church officers are confined to administration, discipline, and teach- ing ; they are silent in regard to worship.

From the fact that the bishops took the lead in the worship of the sub-apostolic age, we may conclude that the elders in the Jewish Churches, and the bishops in the Greek Churches of NT times, had some pre-eminence in the conduct of worship. But from the example of Corinth — the one Church con- cerning the internal life of which we have any fulness of information — it is apjiarent that this was not always the case ; for 1 Cor.

shows that there it was open to any member of the assembly to ofl'er prayer or give utterance to a hymn of praise or a message of exhortation, even women praying and prophesying. If there were any who were more especially looked to for these offices they were the prophets (1 Co 14-^), not the bishops, ana the Didachi makes it certain that these were difl'erent persons.

That, too, is apparent from Eph 4", where the bishops must be looked for among the ' pastors ' rather than among the ' prophets.' (d) Method. — The proceedings of the best-known Church — that at Connth — suggest that there was no settled order for the coniluct of public worship in the apostolic Churches. It would not be safe to treat this one Church as typical of all other Churches, especially as St. Paiu has occasion to rebuke its irregularities.

Still, in doing so, he lays down no rides beyond that of mutual defer- ence (1 Co 14**); nor is anything appro.aching a rubric, except that of the Lord's Supper, to bo found in the NT, or in any primitive Church writ- ing, earlier than the Didnchi. It is probable that, throu;.;hout the apostolic age, the worship of the Church was always centred in the I^ord's Supper, combined with the Agapd. St.

Paul gives direc- tions for the conduct of the Lord's Supper on the authority of Christ, from whom the particulars WOKSILU' I^' XT WORSHIP IN N"r 9 IS concerning the institution of the ordinance had come down to hiiu (1 Co ll"-^*). The rest of the service seems to have been left to the impulses of individual members as they felt moved by the Spirit (McGillert, Apostolic Age, p. 520 ir.)

If, however, the Christians met twice in the day, it LB probable that the morning assembly was for prayer and praise, and tlie evening meeting for the Agap^, the arrangement we lind in Hithynia in the reign of Trajan (c. 112 A.U.) Pliny writes, ' It was their habit on a fixed day to assemble before dayliglit and sing by turns a hymn to Christ as a god.' lie adds that they ' buund themselves with an oath . . not to commit tlieft,' etc.

, and says, further, ' After this was done, tlieir custom was to depart, and meet together again to take food,' etc. (£/). X. 96). The following functions would certainly be found in the primitive Cliri.stian worship : (1) Prayer (1 Co 14"- "). (2) Praise, either by individual utterance (v.'), or in hymns sung in common. The example of their Lord would en- courage the early Christians to employ the Jewish Psalter, wliich appears to have been always used in the Church (Mt 26').

Then we have fraj,'- ments of Christian hymns scattered over the NT {e.g. Ac 4'^-', perhaps Eph 1'", 5", 1 Ti 3'"), especially those of the Apocalypse (4'-" 5'- '"• '"• " ~u 1117 1210-12 i5».4 i9i.V7)_ xhe Canticles in St. Luke — the Magnificat (l*-"), the Bcnedictiis (vv.

•■"), the Glurin in ExcelHs (2'), and the Nunc Dimittis {2'^'^')— though possibly of pre-Christian origin, were probably found by the evangelist in use in the woiship of tlie Churches, together with more specially Christian hymns. The passajj;e from Pliny's letter, cited above, .shows tliat in Bithynia, early in the 2nd cent., the singing was antiplional (cannenque . . diccre sccum viiissim). See HvMN. (3) Lessons. St.

Paul's frecjuent allu- sions to the OT, even in letters to Greek Churches, presuppose a knowledge of the LXX among his readers. This would be read in Christian worship after the analogy of the synagogue, tliough per- haps the Law would be omitted and preference would be given to Messianic prophecies. Possibly, login of Jesus were also read and facts of His life recited. St. Paul expected his Eiiistles to be read in the meetings of the Churches (1 Th o".

Col 4'"), but only the OT was treated as Scrijiture. (4) Prophecy. The insjiired utterance, so named, came from any member of the Church who felt the afflatus of the Spirit (1 Co 14'), though it was especially expected from those who were recognized as prophets (v.-^). The Thessalonians were warned not to check this gift or despise the exercise of it (1 Th 5""). IJut tiiey were to use tlieir own intelli- gence, accepting the good and rejiicting what did not approve itself to their judgment (v.")

(."5) Other gifts — tongues, exorcism, etc. (6) Contribu- tions. The Corinthians were to put by, on the Drst daj- of each week, their contribution towards the fund for the poor of Jeru.salem (1 Co 16'). St. Paul's language implies, not that they were to bring it to the a-ssembly every week, but that they should make up an amount at home by weekly instalments. The gifts for the Agape, however, would be brought every week, and the apostle re quires them to bo divided among the brethren.

Out of this subseiiuently grew the communion collections, which were sent to the jioor, the sick, and confessors in prison (Justin Martyr, 1 Apul. 65-67). (c) Ohject. — Christian worship in NT times is usually oH'cred to God as Father through Jesus Christ as His Son (see Ko 1", Eph 1> 3"). The Aramaic 'Ablia' appears to have been adopted by Greek, speaking Christians as the peculiar title for God in the Churches (see Ro 8'°).

Hut, while this was the normal type, worship was sometimes offered to Christ and prayer addressed to Him. Some indetiniteness attaches to this subject, partly owing to the two senses in which the Gr. word vpoaKweiv is used, and partly owiug to the ambiguous usage of the title Kupios. Liddon claimed many instances of the woi^hip of Jesus during His eartlily life, mostly on the strength of the use of the word irpoaKvfeiv in the Gospels, viz.

Mt 2" 8- 9's 14« 15^ 17'^-" 20=" 28''- ", Lk ""■*' H'"- '• 24"-", Jn 9'^-^ 20"-^ (Bampton Lectures, 1866, vii. 1). But it cannot be proved that in any of these cases (except the last, and there the word ' worsliip' is not used) more tliim an act of homage and liuiuble obeisance is inten<led. Josephus uses the word irpoo-Kui'oii/iei'Oi of tlie high priests [BJ IV. V. 2).

In the second case cited (Mt 8-), which occurred quite early in our Lord's public ministry, it cannot be supposed thiit the leper actually offered Divine honours to Christ. The physical act of prostration in profound humility, and as rendering great honour, is all that can be meant. In another case (Mt 17'^) the word vpoaKwdv is not used, but we have yowTrtTCiv (kneeling). Still it is to be observed that this homage was reserved for Christ alone, being repudiated by St.

Peter (Ac 10'^- '■) and by the angel in the Apocalypse before whom St. John had prostrated himself (Uev 22'-'-*).

The homage offered to Christ would vary in its signilicance from the simple prostra- tion of the lejier before tlie Great Healer to the adoration of Mary Magdalene and Thomas in lirescnce of the risen Ciirist, its signiHcmce de- pending wholly on the idea of His nature that had been attained, and therefore not to be determined by the mere statements of the outward acts which we lind in the Gospels.

It is inappropriate to intro- duce the case of the dying iiialelactor (Lk 23'-) as an instance of prayer to Christ (Liddon). This was a simple request without the element of worship. But one effect of the resurrection was to develoii so exalted a conception of Christ in the Church that homage which cannot be distinmiished from worsliip came to be addressed to Him.

Thus Ananias of Damascus, when addressing Jesus in a vision (since it was in a vision, we cannot cite this as an act of prayer to Christ, because, in this vision, Jesus appears to Ananias and a conversa- tion takes place), describes Christians as ' all that call upon thy name ' (Ac 9'^ ; cf. v.'-' ' them which called on this name '). The same exjncssion is used by St. Paul (1 Co P). The form of words is a Hebraism, used in the OT of the worship of Jehovah— ni.

T D»'3 (in,B (Gn 4'-« 12^ 2 K 5" lid St. Paul cites an OT passage where it occurs with reference to God and ajiplies this to Christ (Ko 10'^). St. Stcjilien commends his spirit to Jesus, and prays to Jesus as Lord for the pardon of his enemies, in language closely resembling that wliiili Jesus addressed to God (Ac 7™-'^ cf. Lk 23" ■"'). St. Paul refers to Jesus Christ in associa- tion with God himself ' as exercising a directing Providence for the help of which he prays (e.g.

1 Th 3", 2 Th 2'«- ", I'll 2'"). Various forms of benediction imply a reference to Christ (e.g. Ko 16'-'", 1 Co 1'). St. Paul writes of praying to ' the Lord,' evidently meaning Christ, but in langua'-e which suggests an allusiim to the Jewish thought of Jehovah (e.g. 2 Co 12''- «). The author of He- brews cliiims for Christ OT language referring to the worship of God (He l"- ">■'").

According to the Fourth Gospel, ' all men are to honour (TiiiQini) the Son, even as they honour the Father' (Jn 5'^). In the Apocalypse, direct woiship is ollered to Christ as 'the Lamb.' The prayers of the saints are presented to Him (Kev 5"), and hymns are sung in honour of Him (vv."- "• '-). In the sub-apostolic age prayer is usually ollered to God througli Christ, rather than directly to Christ Himself 944 WOT WRITING {e.g. 1 Clem. 59-61 ; Didnrh(, 9, 10) ; but Ifrnatius (ad Rom.

4) and Polycarp (ad Phil. 1, 12) use the language of prayer concerning Christ ; and the ancient homily, called 2 Clement, begins, ' Brethren, we ouglit so to think of Jesus Christ as of God ' (see Haniack, llkt. of Doff. I. iii. 6). According to Pliny, the Christians were in the habit of meeting to ' sing a hymn to Christ as God' (carmenquc Christo quasi aeo dicere, — Ep. x. 96).

There is no indication of saint-worsliip or of the adoration of the Virgin Mary in the NT ; nor do we there meet ^vitli the distinction between the adoration (Xarpeia) due to God alone, and the lower form of prayer to saints (oovXeia, ijivocatio) observed from the time of Augustine. St. Paul rebukes the worsliip of angels, associated with Jewish Gnosticism (Col 2"). Literature.

— Schtift, Apostolic Christianity/; McOiffert, His- tory of Chrintianity in the Apostolic Aiie ; Bartlet, The Apostolic Aqe ; Weizsacker, Apnatolic Age (Eiiu'- tr.), vol. ii. ; Harnack, liistory of Dofjma, vol. i. ; Hort, The Christmn Ecclesia ; Lechler, Apostolic and post. Apostolic Times ; Beyschkog, ■VT' Theolomi (Kng. tr.); Pfleiderer, rrchristcnthum ; Loening, Gemeiiiflecerfassitng des l/rohristcnthuins; also article Cuurch, i. The Public Worship, and books there named. W. F. ADENKY.