Public Worship in the Old and New Testaments

Public Worship in the Old and New Testament

Vincent CHEUNG

In the Old Testament, God took the initiative to instruct His people to conduct worship. In the Ten Commandments, Israel's view of God was monotheistic. Only Jehovah was God. Only He was to be worshiped. Furthermore, God was transcendent, merciful and faithful . It was so because it was God who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt and brought them to the promised land. Therefore, worship was a response to His might and grace.

God also set apart certain times and places in worshiping Him. God's people had to follow His instructions as to how to worship Him. The worshiper had to be wholehearted in performing religious rites so that his worship would be acceptable to God. In short, worship was God-centered.

During and after the exile, the focus of synagogue's worship was the reading of Scriptures, which was followed by the exposition of the text. Primarily, the New Testament church followed the pattern of synagogue worship.

In the New Testament, God-centered worship was elaborated in Trinitarian form. In essence, the New Testament church worshiped God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. In light of this, worship had to be God -centered, Christocentric and pneumatic.