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As we have commenced with the English, let us go back to the Hebrew by
way of the Greek of the New Testament.
(1)
Proskuneo. There is a superficial resemblance in this word to
the Greek kuon, `a dog', and some have given the primary meaning of the word
as `to crouch, crawl, or fawn, like a dog at his master's feet'. But there
is a sense of degradation about this figure, and it is entirely contrary to
any Scriptural conception of `worship' that the Father seeks those who will
`crouch, crawl, or fawn to Him like a dog'. There is another word, unused in
the Scriptures but used in classical Greek, namely kuneo, `to kiss', and it
is from this root that Cremer, Thayer, H. J. Rose in his footnote in the
later edition of Parkhurst, and other lexicographers derive this word for
`worship'. Proskuneo means properly `to kiss the hand (towards) one, in
token of reverence', `to make a salaam' (Thayer). Liddell and Scott give
instances where kuneo, `to kiss', is used in the sense of proskuneo, `to
worship'.
The Scriptures moreover associate kissing with worship. `And Moses
went out to meet his father -in -law, and did obeisance, and kissed him'
(Exod. 18:7). The word translated `do obeisance' is translated `worship'
ninety -nine times in the Old Testament. Again, there is no doubt about the
close association of the kiss with worship in the following passages:
`Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have
not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him' (1
Kings 19:18).
`Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves' (Hosea 13:2).
`If I beheld the sun ... moon ... and my heart hath been secretly
enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand ... I should have denied the
God that is above' (Job 31:26-28).
The marginal reading of Genesis 41:40, too, is suggestive. The A.V.
reads, `Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my
people be ruled'. The word translated `word' here is `mouth', the cause put
for the effect, and `be ruled' the verb nashaq, `kiss' as in Genesis 48:10.
Omitting therefore the sense of the fawning of a dog, we can adopt the
remainder of the definition given in Dr. Bullinger's Lexicon:
`To prostrate one's self, after the eastern custom, to do reverence or
homage to any one, by kneeling or prostrating oneself before him; (LXX
everywhere for shachah, to bow down, to prostrate one's self in
reverence.) Used therefore of the act of worship'.
(2)
Sebomai, sebazomai, eusebeo. The word just examined is used of
the act of worship, whereas, these three words are used rather for the
feeling associated with it. The meaning of sebomai is `to stand in awe'. It
is never used in the epistles. Sebazomai occurs but once and that in
connection with `the worship of the creature' (Rom. 1:25). In the Acts,
sebasma is used once of the `devotions' of the Athenians (17:23), and once in
`all that is called God or worshipped' (2 Thess. 2:4). While eusebeia,
`godliness', is used in the epistles, neither eusebeia nor eusebeo is there
translated `worship'. Their bearing upon the question of present -day
worship must be examined later.