Worship - A Biblical Definition

So there was in the garden (has been ever since) a presumptuous attempt to lower God to a more creaturely level, and to raise man to a more God-like level. Needless to say, the former is an affront (not to mention an impossibility) to God; and the latter is a denial of man's proper place in the created order and a refusal to acknowledge God's unique place and to respond appropriately.

This is exactly what we see in Romans 1. In verse 21 Paul states that sinful mankind "did not honor Him as God or give thanks." And this is spite of being able to observe His power and greatness in the works of nature (v. 20). Paul's phrase in v. 21, though used in the negative of what natural man steadfastly refuses to do, suggests what the appropriate response of human creatures should be to their Maker: they should "honor Him as God" (i.e., accord to Him the unique place which He has the Creator God rightly holds, "ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name" Ps. 96:8) and to "give thanks" for all of His good gifts. This fits the familiar paradigm of praising God for who He is ("honor Him as God") and for what He has done ("give thanks").

Adam and Eve turned from honoring their Creator as uniquely God, and instead of giving thanks for all the "very good" (Gen. 1:31) things which God had made and placed into their care (Gen. 1:28), they desired more, even though it meant disobeying Him and attempting to usurp His unique position. Thus in Romans 1 Paul is really describing the situation surrounding the Fall, as well as the ensuing consequences in all following generations. At the root of the problem of sin was (and is) an issue of worship, a failure to honor God as God and to give Him thanks.

But now we must pull back and expand our gaze to take in the totality of Paul's argument in the book of Romans. From that perspective, we see that in fact Paul is painting this dark picture of fallen man's state in Romans 1 so that the light of the gospel will shine all the more brilliantly as he develops it in the chapters to come. And indeed we see already in Romans 1 a clear indication that that is where Paul is heading; for in the verses immediately preceding those we have looked at, he speaks of the "gospel" being "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes," and that as a result one can indeed become a "righteous man." (1:16-17)

Paul is promising nothing less than the restoration of worship through Christ, the reversal of man's downward spiral of sin (1:18-32) through the power of God's redeeming love displayed in the gospel. By God's gracious saving work (which Paul will expound beginning in chapter 3), it will indeed be possible for men and women to "honor Him as God" and to "give thanks." Because of these "mercies of God" (as Paul will summarize the preceding chapters in 12:1), believers will be urged to present their entire selves to God as a fitting and appropriate "spiritual service of worship."

And so, in one of the darkest chapters in the Scriptures, we find embedded a gleaming jewel, a precious and beautiful description of what worship truly is and should be. Let us then be about the "sweet work" (as Isaac Watts called worship) whereby we

honor Him as God

and

give HIm Glory