The first occurrence of the word "worship" in the A.V. is in Gen. 22: 5, the

significance of which will be appreciated by all who realize how near to the heart of all

doctrine is the great offering therein set forth in type. While the word "worship" does not

appear earlier, the student of Scripture is very conscious as he reads Gen. 3: that the

words of the Serpent, "Ye shall be as God", would have been no lure to our first parents

had true worship and its central significance been understood by them. Moreover, had

Cain entered into the meaning of worship, as did his brother Abel, he might have enjoyed

like acceptance with Abel, and have avoided the murderer's curse.

Those who see in Ezek. 28: something more than a reference to an ordinary King

of Tyre, may perceive that an attack upon true worship, a usurpation of Divine

prerogative, lie behind the judgment that caused the chaos of Gen. 1: 2.

Coming to the end of the sacred volume and viewing the crisis and conflict there

depicted, it can be truthfully asserted that it is mainly a conflict between true and false

worship. Worship lies in the forefront of the ten commandments and is found in every

section of the inspired Scriptures. The heart of the redeemed responds to the call:

Redemption, the gospel, prophecy, dispensational truth, are the outer court of the

temple of truth, but the inner shrine, the goal towards which the whole purpose of the

ages leads, namely, "that God may be all in all", is the summing up in word and in fact of

all that acceptable worship means. A theme that is so near the centre of all truth should,

therefore, receive from all who love the Lord the most earnest and prayerful attention, for

if we are right here, we have a corrective against all other evils, doctrinal, dispensational

and practical. On the other hand, if we are wrong here, we are exposed to all the assaults

of the wicked one.

In every argument or study it is a necessity that terms be defined. We must arrive at a

clear, scriptural understanding of what the word "worship" means and all that the term

connotes. The inspired Scriptures were not given in our mother tongue, but in Hebrew,

Chaldee and Greek, yet, upon examination, the English word "worship" will yield its

The meaning of the word "worship".--The reader will not need a long explanation

concerning the qualifying suffix, "ship", which is used in such words as "fellowship",

"discipleship", or in the less familiar form as in "landscape". The word worship comes

from the Anglo-Saxon weordhscipe, "worth", or "worthy", with the added suffix, and