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

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

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

already noted.  Likewise we should have the word '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 with a Father', and what higher aspect of worship

is revealed anywhere?

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 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 is 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 speculation.  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

worship of which angels offer', that is, the Colossians were affecting such

humility that they did not approach to God with the boldness of access and

confidence which was theirs through Christ (Eph. 3:12).  This presupposes

that angelic worship was not characterized by such holy boldness.  We have,

admittedly, little ground to work on here, but if we agree that the seraphim

of Isaiah 6 are at least as high in the spirit world as angels, if not

higher, we shall be struck with the fact that when these holy beings stood in