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What is New Testament worship? There are several Greek terms translated as ‘worship’ in English translations. We will examine two terms to gain a better understanding of biblical worship: proskuneo and latreuo. 

Proskuneo occurs sixty times in fifty-four verses. It is significant to note that it is never used to refer to the Church or New Testament worship. Latreuo occurs twenty-one times in twenty-one verses. The NASB translates the term in some contexts as worship and others as service. 

Careful observation of the etymology and contexts of these two terms suggests a marked difference in meaning and why proskuneo is not used of New Testament worship. Proskuneo consists of two terms, pros, meaning toward, and kuon, which, when used alone, means dog. Etymologists differ widely in their attempt to understand how the two terms were connected to form the term for worship. Both Greek and Jewish societies used the term to refer to the worship of God or gods. It referred to both physical posture, bowing down toward, and the attitude of veneration. Latreuo, on the other hand, refers to the act of serving. It refers to the service of a priest in offering sacrifices. 

One context provides insight into the distinction between these two terms. When Paul was testifying before Felix (Acts 24:1-21), he acknowledged that when he was in Jerusalem, he entered the temple to worship (proskuneo, v. 11). In verse 14, he uses the term latreuo to describe what he was doing. He confesses that he was acting according to the Way. This was the term used to describe the new sect, which is now known as Christianity. 

The implications of his use of these two terms in Acts 24 can be seen when comparing the different passages of the New Testament. In Hebrews 13:10ff., the author refers to the service that the priests offered in the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem. The term is latreuo. In this verse, he refers metaphorically to sacrifices from an altar from which the Old Testament priests had no right to partake. This places those who are born of God in the New Testament inside the veil, serving as priests. This is the whole point of the book of Hebrews. Many Jewish believers had grown weary of the persecution they were receiving and all the theological debates. They were considering returning to the old-time religion of their fathers. Paraphrasing the author’s response, if you understood the change from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, why would you want to go back?  

In the New Testament, we worship through our service as priests. Jesus is the one sacrifice that removed the veil, allowing us to enter the Holy of Holies to offer the sacrifices ourselves. We are, as individuals and as a body of believers, the holy of holies. We worship by our service inside the veil, not outside bowing down. 

And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Heb 13:16 NASB)

An epilogue is the last words recorded of a person’s life. There are three that stand out in the Old Testament: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; each is different.

Regarding Abraham, we read:

“And Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.” (Gen 25:8)

While Abraham was not perfect, his life was exemplary. No better epilogue could be written about a person’s life. The blessings to Abraham continued for the next generation. These blessings were explained to Issac:

“. . . and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” (Gen 35:28-29)

Isaac followed in his father’s footsteps, sometimes the good steps and sometimes the bad. Comparing the details of both his father’s life and Isaacs’s, there is a pattern. Children do not mirror their parents’ mistakes, they magnify them.

“And Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, an old man of ripe age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.”

Notice that Isaac’s epilogue ends, mentioning two sons. The next chapter highlights interpersonal conflicts that continue to this day among nations.

Jacob provided his own sad epilogue:

“. . . ‘The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.’” (Gen 47:9-10)

These family conflicts were a magnification of his trickery and rebellion. Chapter 49 begins with Jacob predicting the course of history. There is little to commend this genealogy left by Jacob. Some of the predictions might be characterized as curses:

“Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what shall befall you in the days to come. Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; And listen to Israel your father. . . “When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.” (Gen 49:1-2, 33)

Three men, three lives lived. Each epilogue ends with, “… he was gathered to his people.” But the lives they lived and the results of their lives were vastly different. While Jacob’s life was the most defective, there is a hint of redemption and fulfillment of all of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes,” (Gen 49:10)

Shiloh is mentioned thirty-three times in Scripture. The root meaning being peace, Shiloh refers to land, a kingdom, and the Prince of Peace. This is a challenge to those who are just starting a family; take care of how you live. To the older generations, there is forgiveness and blessings for us despite our failings. Until Shiloh Comes.

In 1999 Justin Zackham drew up his bucket list of things he wanted to do before he died. Later it was produced as a movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Hence it entered American culture. We often hear individuals jokingly or seriously speak about fulfilling their bucket list. What would you put in your bucket list?

As believers, we set goals. These goals keep us motivated, give us hope under the sun, fill our lives with purpose. Yet we must do this in the light of God’s Word:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. (Jam 4:13-17)

Years before the age of bucket lists, a young couple in college started attending our church. Both came from solid Christian homes and were genuine believers but were holding back and not getting involved in church life. When I ask the young man why he was holding back, he responded that he was afraid if he did get involved, the Lord would call him into fulltime Christian service. I asked him what he wanted to do in life. He said he wanted to be a dentist. I shared Proverbs 37:4-7 with him:

Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. And He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; (Ps 37:4-7)

I encouraged him to follow his dream. The couple moved to another university where he entered the school of dentistry. I lost track of them for the next several years. One day we reconnected at a conference. He ran up to me excited that he was graduating but even more, that he and his wife were headed to the mission field. He was going to be a missionary dentist.

Our bucket list will be God’s bucket list when we put Him first. King David was known as “a man after (God’s) own heart.” (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22) Later we read, “. . .after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, (he) fell asleep.” (Acts 13:36)

Paul, a prisoner in Rome, wrote “. . . for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil 1:21) The first item we should put in our bucket list is to live for Christ. The second, for God to accomplish His purpose for us in our lifetime.