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Course 21 · Lesson 1.2

Worship in the Old and New Testaments

11 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 21 outline

Module 1: The Theology of Worship

  1. What liturgy is: the word, the idea and the debate
  2. Worship in the Old and New Testaments
  3. Praying and believing: how worship shapes doctrine and doctrine shapes worship
  4. Word, sacrament and sign across the traditions

Module 2: How Christian Liturgy Developed

  1. The earliest descriptions: the Didache, Justin Martyr and the early church orders
  2. The liturgical families of East and West
  3. The Reformation and the revision of worship
  4. Liturgical renewal in the twentieth century

Module 3: The Christian Year: Calendars, Feasts and Fasts

  1. Sunday, the week and the hours of the day
  2. Easter, Holy Week and the dispute over the date
  3. Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
  4. Lent, the Orthodox fasting seasons and Protestant approaches to fasting
  5. Saints days and the second cycle of the calendar

Module 4: Sacred Space and Sacred Images

  1. From house church to basilica: the development of church buildings
  2. The meaning of church buildings: altar, table, orientation and the Orthodox and Gothic examples
  3. Icons and the Incarnation: John of Damascus and the Second Council of Nicaea
  4. Images and the Reformation: Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican approaches

Module 5: Material Signs: Incense, Water, Oil and Blessings

  1. Incense: Scripture, temple worship and its use in the churches
  2. Water: baptism, the renewal of baptismal vows and holy water
  3. Oil: anointing of the sick, chrismation, confirmation and ordination
  4. Blessings: what the church means when it blesses a person, a house or an object
  5. Sacraments and sacramentals: the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant vocabulary

Module 6: Popular Piety and Devotional Practice

  1. What popular piety is, and why scholars take it seriously
  2. Pilgrimage, relics, medals and pious objects
  3. The rosary, the Stations of the Cross, litanies and akathists
  4. How the churches have regulated and corrected popular devotion

Module 7: Telling Tradition from Superstition

  1. What the theologians mean by superstition, and why the line is hard to draw
  2. A method: source, date, doctrine, authority and consequence
  3. Case studies: apocryphal legends, magical formulas and invented history
  4. Honesty and respect in judging other people’s devotion

All courses

Program / Course 21: Liturgical Theology / Lesson 1.2

What you will learn

  • Outline the main forms of worship in the Old Testament: altar, tabernacle, temple, Psalms and synagogue.
  • Identify what the New Testament says about the worship of the first Christians.
  • Explain how the traditions read John 4:24 and the Letter to the Hebrews differently.
  • Distinguish what Scripture describes, what it commands and what later churches added.

The big idea

The Bible does not contain a single service book for Christians. It records patterns: sacrifice at altars, a tent and then a temple, the singing of Psalms, the reading of the Law, and in the New Testament a gathering on the first day of the week for teaching, prayer, hymns and the breaking of bread. Christians in every tradition draw on these patterns, but they weigh them differently. Some see the temple as a model that the church fulfills. Others see it as a shadow that Christ ended.

Key terms

Tabernacle
The portable tent of worship described in Exodus 25 to 40, used by Israel before the temple was built.
Temple
The house of worship in Jerusalem, first built under Solomon and rebuilt after the exile. It was destroyed by Rome in the year 70.
Sacrifice
An offering made to God at an altar. The Old Testament describes several kinds, including burnt, grain and peace offerings.
Synagogue
A local place of assembly for prayer and the reading and teaching of Scripture. Historians are unsure exactly when it began, but it was well established in the first century.
Psalter
The Book of Psalms, the prayer and song book of Israel, used by Jews and Christians in worship.
Breaking of bread
A New Testament phrase for a shared meal that, in several passages, appears to include the Lord’s Supper.
Fulfillment
The Christian claim that the institutions of the old covenant find their completion in Christ. Christians differ on what this means for worship today.

Background

Israel’s worship was centered on sacrifice and on holy places. The patriarchs built altars (Genesis 12:7). At Sinai God gave detailed instructions for the tabernacle, its furniture, its priests and its offerings (Exodus 25 to 31, with the building in Exodus 35 to 40). Solomon later built a temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6 and 8). Alongside the sacrifices, the people were commanded to hear the Law (Deuteronomy 31:10-11) and to keep holy days such as Passover and the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16 and 23). The Psalms gave the nation words for praise, lament and thanksgiving.

After the destruction of the first temple in 587 or 586 BC and the exile in Babylon, the people gathered for prayer and Scripture reading without a temple. Many historians connect this period with the rise of the synagogue, although the exact origins are debated. By the time of Jesus, local assemblies met on the Sabbath to read the Law and the Prophets and to pray, and Luke records Jesus doing this (Luke 4:16). The temple still stood, and Jesus and his first followers took part in it (Acts 2:46; 3:1).

The first Christians were Jews, and their worship grew out of these patterns. The New Testament gives no complete order of service. It gives glimpses, and the churches read those glimpses with different assumptions.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: What the Old Testament shows

Three things stand out. First, worship is God’s initiative. The tabernacle is built according to a pattern shown to Moses (Exodus 25:9), which is why later traditions say worship is received and not invented. Second, worship is shared. Israel worships as a people, with priests acting on its behalf. Third, the prophets warn that outward worship without justice and mercy is empty (Isaiah 1:11-17; Amos 5:21-24). These warnings are accepted by all traditions and do not reject worship itself. They reject worship separated from life.

Step 2: What the Gospels show

Jesus worships in the synagogue and goes up to the temple for feasts. He also speaks of a coming change. To the Samaritan woman he says that the hour is coming when people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, and that “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:21-24). At the Last Supper he takes bread and the cup and says that they are his body and the new covenant in his blood (Luke 22:19-20). These two moments are the basis of much later argument.

Step 3: What Acts and the Letters show

Acts 2:42 says the first believers “continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Paul writes about the Lord’s Supper and its abuse at Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:17-34), about order in the assembly (1 Corinthians 14:26-40), and about psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Colossians 3:16). Acts 20:7 describes believers gathered on the first day of the week to break bread, and Revelation 1:10 mentions the Lord’s day. Hebrews 10:25 urges believers not to neglect meeting together.

Step 4: How the traditions read the temple

The Letter to the Hebrews says that Christ is the great high priest and that his offering was made once for all (Hebrews 9:11-12; 10:10). Catholic and Orthodox Christians hold that the church’s worship is the fulfillment of the temple, not its abolition: the Eucharist makes present Christ’s one sacrifice, and incense, priesthood and sacred space carry meanings from the old order. Reformed Christians emphasize that the temple was a shadow, now ended, and that worship is marked by the preached word, the sacraments and prayer, without a priesthood of sacrifice. Lutherans and Anglicans stand between, keeping much historic form while teaching that Christ’s sacrifice is complete. These are differences of interpretation, and each side cites Hebrews.

Step 5: What Scripture does not say

The New Testament does not give a complete liturgy, a full church calendar, a rule on church architecture or a list of vestments. Catholic and Orthodox Christians say that apostolic teaching also came through practice handed down (2 Thessalonians 2:15). Many Protestants hold that what Scripture does not command should be treated with caution or left to the freedom of the church. Both sides agree that a student should separate what the Bible records from what later centuries added. That is the habit this course tries to build.

  1. Does the passage describe what people did, or command what they must do?
  2. Is the practice from the Old Testament, the New Testament, or both?
  3. Does the New Testament say that Christ fulfills or ends this practice?
  4. Who is the actor in this text: priest, people, or God?
  5. What would a Reformed, a Catholic and an Orthodox reader each say about this verse?
  6. What can I verify from the text itself, and what do I only believe from tradition?

Examples

Description versus command

Acts 20:7 says that believers met on the first day of the week to break bread. It describes a practice. Some Christians see in it the root of Sunday worship. Others point out that it does not say Sunday is commanded. (A constructed comparison of two readings of one verse.)

The tabernacle pattern

Exodus 25:9 tells Moses to make the tabernacle after the pattern shown to him. Hebrews 8:5 takes this as a sign that earthly worship points to a heavenly one. Catholic and Orthodox writers use this for the idea that church worship joins heaven’s. Reformed writers use it to argue that worship should follow what God shows, not what people devise.

Prophets and worship

Amos 5:21-24 records God saying he despises feasts and solemn assemblies that are joined with injustice. Each tradition reads this as a warning against worship that does not change life, not as a call to end worship.

Different perspectives

Catholic

The Old Testament worship prepared for Christ, and the Mass is the new covenant’s sacrifice, which makes present Christ’s one offering on the cross. Scripture and apostolic tradition together give the church’s worship its form.

Orthodox

The Divine Liturgy is the continuation of the worship of Israel completed in Christ. Temple imagery in the church building, the altar and the services is taken to be Scriptural in origin and fulfilled in the church.

Lutheran and Anglican

Worship should be shaped by Scripture, but what Scripture does not forbid and the church finds helpful may be kept. Both teach that Christ’s sacrifice is complete and that the Lord’s Supper is not a repeated sacrifice.

Reformed and free-church Protestant

The New Testament marks a clear shift away from temple ritual. Worship is centered on the word, prayer, praise and the two ordinances or sacraments. Additions not commanded by Scripture are suspect, though practices differ widely among these churches.

Jewish scholars and historians

Jewish tradition holds that the Torah’s worship continues in prayer and study after the temple’s fall, and many Jewish scholars read Christian claims about fulfillment as a later interpretation. Historians add that the synagogue and early Christian gatherings shared some features, such as Scripture reading and Psalms, though the exact links are debated.

Why it matters

A person who wants to judge any practice of worship, from incense to a simple hymn sing, needs to know what the Bible actually records. This lesson prevents two common errors: treating every later custom as biblical, and treating everything not spelled out in the New Testament as unbiblical. It also shows that the Bible itself contains both a rich ritual world and a strong warning against empty ritual.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: The New Testament describes a full Christian service.

Correction: It gives only glimpses. The earliest detailed descriptions outside the New Testament are from the second century and later, which later lessons examine.

Misunderstanding: Jesus rejected all ritual.

Correction: Jesus kept the feasts, taught in the synagogue and instituted the Supper. His criticisms were aimed at hypocrisy and at human rules replacing God’s commands (Mark 7:6-8), not at worship itself.

Misunderstanding: Because Hebrews says the old sacrifices ended, all liturgical symbols are unbiblical.

Correction: Hebrews ends the need for repeated sacrifice, which all Christians accept. Whether symbols from the temple, such as incense or sacred space, may still be used is a matter on which the traditions differ and each cites Scripture.

Misunderstanding: A person can reproduce the apostolic church’s worship exactly from the Bible.

Correction: The New Testament is too brief and written for people who already knew the practice. Every tradition fills gaps with some inherited or chosen forms.

Knowledge check

Name three elements of Old Testament worship.

Examples are altars and sacrifices, the tabernacle and then the temple in Jerusalem, the reading of the Law, the festivals such as Passover, and the singing of the Psalms. After the exile the synagogue also became important. Any three of these are correct.

What does Acts 2:42 list as marks of the first believers’ common life?

The apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers. Traditions differ on how exactly to define the breaking of bread, but most see in it at least a link to the Lord’s Supper.

How do the traditions differ in reading Hebrews on Christ’s sacrifice?

All agree that Christ’s offering was made once for all. Catholic and Orthodox Christians hold that the Eucharist makes that offering present and continues the temple’s meanings. Reformed Christians stress that the temple order has ended and that worship is word, prayer and sacrament without a sacrificing priesthood.

Why can the New Testament not be used as a complete service book?

It records glimpses of worship, written for communities that already knew their practice, and gives no full order of service or calendar. Every tradition fills in details from later inheritance or its own choices.

Think it through

  1. Which Old Testament pattern of worship do you find most surprising, and why?
  2. When you read John 4:24, do you take it as a rejection of ritual forms, a principle for ritual, or something else?
  3. What would you need to see in the text to believe that a practice was commanded and not merely described?
  4. Where do you place the burden of proof: on those who add to Scripture or those who refuse inherited practice?

Independent assignment

A table of worship texts

In your own notebook, make a table with three columns: passage, what it describes or commands, and which traditions cite it and how. Include at least eight passages from the list in this lesson or from the course scripture list. Under the table write 200 words stating which of them you find most useful and which you find hardest to interpret. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study