Worship: From Obeisance to Participation with Christ

[Note: This is the first of three articles taken from the Worship Action Book,  Worship: Obeisance to Christ through Participation with Christ.]

Christ transforms everything.

Christ transforms the way we wait upon our worship. That’s what this challenging and mind-changing essay is about. Christ transforms worship through the impact of his cross, resurrection and ascension to the Father.

Paul in the passage below describes the transformation involved in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. We were buried with Christ through baptism that we not be slaves to sin, and were raised with Christ to walk in newness of life. The thrust of this essay is to show that the apostle wrote about the profound transformation of our worship in Christ.

Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4).

The apostle could very well have ended the quotation above with this statement: “That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should worship in newness of life.”

Worship in the Four Gospels

Worship maintains its original meaning in Genesis through the Bible to the Gospels. The first mention of worship in Genesis is when Abraham arrived at the altar to sacrifice his only son, as God commanded. Faced with the reality of sacrificing his son, Abraham said to his servants “I will go yonder and worship.” (Gen. 22:5). The Hebrew word for worship is shachah which means “to bow down in obeisance.” Throughout the Old Testament, authorized versions render shachah as “bow down” or “worship.” The New International Version unfortunately renders words that mean “service” as “worship,” in step with the popular view that whatever’s related to the veneration of God may be considered worship.
The Gospels maintain the original meaning of worship as “bowing in obeisance.” It’s shachah in Hebrew and was consistently rendered by proskuneo in the Greek Septuagint published by Jews living outside the holy land before and during the apostolic period. It’s face value rendering of Hebrew into Greek supports the view that worship carried the original meaning in the time of Christ and apostles. For example, when the Magi came to Jerusalem seeking the Messiah, they bowed down (proskuneo) in worship before the Christ Child (Matt. 2:2). That meaning carried all the way to the ascension of Christ where the text records that the disciples worshiped (proskuneo) him (Luke 23:52).

Worship in Paul’s Letters

I used the word transformation above. It’s a noun Paul used to describe the awesome changes that Christ brings to our daily walk and worship. For instance, the apostle used the picturesque verb metamorphoo to describe the transformation that the Spirit performs among those who picture the Christ of grace in reading the Old Testament (1 Cor. 3:1ff).

Metamorphosis; how visual and vibrant. Here’s the quotation:

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:17f).

Being spiritually transformed describes what the Father does through Christ in the Spirit both in our spiritual walk as well as our manner of worship. If transformation applies to the changes the triune God brings to our total lives, then it obviously applies to our worship. Worship is one of the factors that drives the intensity and disposition of our walk.

Metamorphosis explains the transition from our worship as expressing loving obeisance to Christ to our worship as participating in the death, resurrection, and glorification of Christ. Looking at it from a theological perspective, loving obeisance to Christ is really an expression of our participation in Christ’s continuing governance of our daily walk. What a magnificent and meaningful re-alignment it is to become partakers with Christ in his triple saving feats for our personal wellbeing and welfare.

Perhaps the apostle had this vision of worship in mind when he used metamorphoo in the admonition below to the church of Christ in Rome. Does not this “renewing of the mind” in relationship to Christ effectively prove that the participatory manner of Christ-engaged worship is “that good, acceptable and perfect will of God” as we enter into union with Christ in his crucifixion, resurrection and glorification?

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2).

Up to now, we have built a dynamic relationship between the Gospels’ sense of worship as obeisance to Christ, and the apostles’ imaginative participation with Christ. The time has come to examine the phrases that Paul used. They are unique. Paul selected verbs about a part of Christ’s mission, prefixed each with the phrase “together with” (the Greek sun), and produced a series of participatory relationship not used elsewhere.

Paul’s Unique and Unusual Phrases

Here are five phrases that Paul used in Romans to picture the believer’s participation with Christ in his saving works. He challenged his readers to overcome sin by considering their dynamic relationship with Christ, by participating with Christ in his death, resurrection, and glorification. Such is the awesome mystery of overcoming sin and living righteously.

Romans 6:4 We were buried with Him (Christ) through baptism
Romans 6:6: The old man was crucified together with (Christ).
Romans 6:8: Then we shall live together with Him (Christ).
Romans 8:17: That we may be glorified together (with Christ).
Romans 8:17: If indeed we suffer together with (Christ).

Now, why and how do we transit from the Gospel’s use of worship as “bowing in obeisance” to the phrases that involve participation in the death and resurrection of Christ? First, there’s the obvious need for a transition from the Gospels to the apostolic letters. There’s the almost total absence of references to worship (proskuneo) in the pastoral letters. How can we overlook the abrupt ending of references to worship after their standing in the Pentateuch, the Major and Minor Prophets, and the four Gospels?

Even with two dozen references to worship in the Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and several in Acts, one cannot ignore the glaring absence of references to worship in the saga of the early church. The Gospels picked up the practice of worship from the Law and the Prophets, but Paul, Peter and John seemed on the surface to act as if it didn’t require attention.

However there’s another factor that bears directly upon this issue. It’s the neglected treatment of the theological meaning of biblical worship itself. Unwrapping the theological meaning of worship (proskuneo) begins with acknowledging its linguistic sense. It means, as noted above, “to bow in obeisance” or submission or surrender to God. However, there’s more to worship than the lexicon’s definition, although the definition is never lost.

Consider how Paul dealt with the theological aspects of other religious concepts. Take for instance his discussion in Romans as to how Gentiles became part of the covenant of grace though uncircumcised. He argued that Abraham was accounted righteous before God based solely upon his faith. Then he stated that God graciously imputed righteousness to Abraham before he was circumcised.

Through the process of theological reasoning, Paul concluded that God brought uncircumcised Gentiles to salvation by his grace. This theological approach not only evidenced God’s mind and desire, but also witnessed to God’s mercy and compassion. Does not this theological process apply to worship?

Does theological analysis relate directly to participatory worship?

Here’s the logic. Worship as bowing in obeisance before God equates theologically to the worshipers’ submitting to God’s governance of their lives. Bowing in obeisance is what the worshiper does. Participating-in-God’s sovereign oversight is the theological equivalence. It organically fuses obeisance-to-Christ with participating in Christ’s saving feats.

To summarize: As I see it, worship is the believer’s participation in the Father’s mission through the Son (1) involving thoughtful and loving obeisance to Christ during the period of the four Gospels, and (2) involving thoughtful and intuitive participation with Christ in his death, resurrection and ascension, during the period of the early church.

Paul’s emphasis didn’t center upon the part humans play. Although he considered imaginative involvement essential. He sought to exalt Christ, and Christ alone, as the Father’s obedient Son in crucifixion, resurrection and glorification. We are dead with Christ. We are made alive with Christ. We are raised up with Christ. We are seated together with Christ. We are glorified together with Christ. Paul wrote that we “are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).

After identifying the number of unusual and interesting ways that the apostles dealt with worship as our participation with Christ in his death, resurrection and glorification, it’s time to analyze how these phrases actually relate to us now in overcoming the power of sin in our lives, sharing in the life of the risen Christ, and basking in the blessings of eternal life. Paul gives us helpful insight in Romans 6, but it’s an uphill journey in our desire to achieve practical holiness and righteousness.

Participating with Christ in his saving works is not actual physical sharing in his death, resurrection and glorification. What took place in Jerusalem centuries ago is not duplicated in our bodies today. So what then is our participation with Christ in his saving works? Is participation primarily a symbolic gesture encouraging us to overcome sin and live a Christ-like life? Many accept this interpretation and walk the walk with Christ. Isn’t that enough evidence to let the matter rest at this level?

The answer is No! Paul gave us a clue in Romans 6:10-11 that lifts our insight beyond symbolism to the real world of cognitive and passionate initiative. He reminded us that Christ “died for sin once and for all but the life that he now lives, he lives to God.” The truth that Christ died for sins is a crucial and historical fact. The truth that Christ lives right now to serve the Father is an existential reality. Christ now lives with the Father in order to support our growth, that we may live it out in mind, heart and behavior.

Participating Involves Cognitive Imaging

Paul carefully and caringly exhorted his readers: “Therefore, always reckon (logizomai) yourselves as dead to sin, and then go on living with God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (translation mine). This verse raises our response above simply resting in passive symbolism to decisively imagining ourselves as crucified and risen with Christ in the Spirit.

I highlighted the verb logizomai to emphasize its cognitive and intuitive potency. It means “to take into account,” or “let the mind dwell upon this,” or “imagine this as real.” It’s a verb that Paul used over thirty times in his letters. Participating with Christ in his death, resurrection and glorification involves the pursuit of the whole person in internally recognizing that the power of sin died on the cross, the power of the risen Lord is released by faith, and the blessings of our participation is available here and now.

Paul made clear that engaging the self is not limited to mind and will, but also to intuition, to emotions, and the caring of the soul. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:2: “Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” It’s our abiding love for Christ who died for our sins, arose triumphantly from the grave, and sits majestically on the Father’s right hand that releases our will and energy to participate in his saving feats as our worship.

Summary

I stated in the opening paragraphs of this essay that Paul recognized the transforming power that our relationship with Christ brings to our walk and worship. I also suggested that we could render Romans 6:4 “That just as Christ was raised from the dead, even so we also should worship in newness of life.” I stated that this piece addressed the mystery of worship’s absence (proskuneo) in the apostolic letters by establishing, through theological reasoning, that worship as obeisance to God continued and expanded in the early church through participation with Christ in his death, resurrection and glorification. No participation (koinonia) with the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit, is conceived and carried out without the worshiper’s homage to and heart-felt love for the triune God of grace.

Although Paul, John and Peter employed different linguistic vehicles to explain the worshiper’s participation in Christ’s death, resurrection and glorification, each approach required an active and committed imagination, fired by a burning passion for the triune God, tethered to a sense of divine mystery, that the power of sin died on the cross with Christ, that renewal in Christ is actualized through nothing but vital faith, and that the reign of the Father, through the Son in the Spirit is evident as much now as ever.