word is elsewhere translated `religion', once by Paul when he referred to his

past, saying that `after the most straitest sect of our religion' he lived a

Pharisee; and twice by James (Jas. 1:26,27).  We do not intend spending time

in pursuing the meaning of Colossians 2:18 and 23 here, simply because when

all is said and done these passages tell us what to avoid.

Had the translators of the A.V. followed their usual practice they

would have translated Philippians 3:3 `We ... serve God in the spirit', which

would have brought the passage into line with the emphasis upon service

already noted.  Again, had the translators followed their usual practice, we

should have the words `religion' and `religious observance' in the second

chapter of Colossians instead of the word `worship'.  The Prison Epistles

then, would not have contained the word `worship' at all, any more than they

contain one single reference to a `priest'!  This observation is a mere

matter of fact, but such facts demand explanation.  If we ask `why is worship

(proskuneo) entirely absent from the epistles of the Mystery?' we may

hesitate to give an answer.  If worship be `worthy -ship' it is possible that

to walk `worthy' of our calling (Eph. 4:1), to have one's conversation

`worthy' of the gospel of Christ (Phil. 1:27) and to walk `worthy' of the

Lord unto all pleasing (Col. 1:10) may take the place of the worship

prescribed for earlier dispensations.  Worship as presented in this epistle

to the Philippians seems to be summed up in the words found in that epistle,

`serving, as a son' (Phil. 2:22).

Wherever a true evangelical spirit has been manifested during the

history of Christianity, it has been associated with the `pulpit' rather than

with a `priest', with the `Opened Book' rather than with `altars', `incense'

and `ceremonial', and such by the mercy of God must our `worship of the

Father' be and remain.

We have seen that proskuneo conveys the idea of obeisance, whereas

latreuo (Phil. 3:3) does not of itself contain any idea of obeisance, but

simply that of service.  Latreia occurs five times in the Greek New Testament

and each occurrence is translated `service' in the A.V.  These are John 16:2,

`think that he doeth God service', Romans 9:4 and 12:1, `the service (of

God)', `your reasonable service', and Hebrews 9:1 and 6, `ordinances of

divine service' and `accomplishing the service (of God)'.  Latreuo occurs

twenty -one times, and is translated `worship' four times, and `serve'

seventeen times.  Threskeia, the word used in Colossians 2:18,23, in the

expression `worshipping of angels' and `will worship', is best expressed by

`religious ceremonial' and `ritual'.  Suidas derives the word from a

Thracian, Orpheus, who introduced religious mysteries among the Greeks.  If

this be true it would be very apposite, seeing that it is used in antagonism

to the true Mystery divinely revealed to Paul as the prisoner of Jesus

Christ.  This derivation however we cannot press, it may be but an ancient

It is evident from the Canon of the Council of Laodicea, held about

a.d. 367, that some superstition regarding the `naming of angels' had crept

into the church, and Theodoret maintained that this superstition had infected

the church at Colosse.  Whether the Colossians actually `worshipped angels'

or whether the words of Colossians 2:18 mean that they `adopted the religious

attitude of angels' remains to be seen.  While threskeia is used outside the

New Testament with a genitive, it is never so construed in the New Testament

to denote the object of worship.  Consequently Colossians 2:18 may mean `the