context that is negative in intention and character.  Having cited the

passages, and knowing that proskuneo is not employed, we must now acquaint

ourselves with the actual words in use.  The word 'worship' in Philippians

3:3 is latreuo from a word that means in classical Greek to serve for hire,

but no such word is employed in the New Testament where hired servants are

referred to.  Others derive latreuo from la 'very much' and treo 'to

tremble', according to which see Malachi 1:6: 'If I be a master, where is My

fear?' or in Ephesians 6:5: 'Servants, be obedient to them that are your

masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling'.  It is bad

theology, however, that attempts to build doctrine upon Greek mythology, for

Greek was a language employed by the pagan world before it was adopted by the

Spirit of God as a medium for the gospel.  We are safe, however, if we use

the LXX version to perceive what Hebrew words are translated by latreuo, and

foremost among them we find the words abad and abodah.

This word is employed in Exodus 3:12; 4:23 and similar passages.  The

Hebrew word means 'to serve' as did Jacob (Gen. 30:26) and Israel (Exod.

1:14), 'to till' and 'to dress' the ground (Gen. 2:5,15), and the service

connected with the Tabernacle (Num. 3:7).  Moses is many times given the

title 'Moses the servant of the Lord'.  'Is Israel a servant?  Is he a

homeborn slave?'  Jeremiah 2:14 shows that service of a lowly and menial

character can be intended, as is the case where the word is used of Israel

under Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar.

With this insistence upon service, we turn once again to Philippians

and notice that it opens with this very thought:

'Paul and Timotheus, the Servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in

Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the Bishops and Deacons'

(Phil. 1:1).

In this same epistle Paul uses the figure of service when he said of

Timothy that 'as a son with a father, he hath served with me in the gospel'

(Phil. 2:22).  It is, moreover, revealed in this epistle that Christ Himself

'took upon Him the form of a servant' (Phil. 2:7); and Paul himself speaks of

his willingness to be 'offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith'

(Phil. 2:17).  Different words are used in these passages to speak of

service, but whether it be douleuo, doulos, leitourgia, or latreuo they but

emphasize various aspects of this common act.  It is in Philippians that the

exhortation comes to 'work out' salvation with 'fear and trembling', and it

is in Philippians that the prize in connection with the high calling is in

When we turn to the passages in Colossians, we note at once that this

reference to the prize is before us.  In Philippians 3:14 the word translated

'prize' is brabeion and it occurs in combination in Colossians 2:18, where

the words 'Let (no man) beguile you of your reward' translate the verb

katabrabeuo.  The Colossians were warned that their reward would be in

jeopardy by voluntary humility and by worshipping angels, which thought

recurs in verse 23, where the apostle speaks of will worship, humility,

neglecting of the body, yet of satisfying, at the same time, the flesh.  The

word used here in both Colossians 2:18 and 23 for worship is threskeia.  This

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.