I Have a Problem with the King James Version

On the table next to my bed sits my first Bible, given me by my grandparents for my fourteenth birthday. The full title reads as follows:

THE HOLY BIBLE

CONTAINING THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS

TRANSLATED OUT OF THE ORIGINAL TONGUES

AND WITH THE FORMER TRANSLATIONS

DILIGENTLY COMPARED AND REVISED,

BY HIS MAJESTY'S SPECIAL COMMAND

"His Majesty" who commanded that the Bible be translated was King James I of England (also known as King James VI of Scotland) and this translation is therefore commonly called the King James Version or KJV. It is a Bible I treasure for many reasons and one I still read from time to time but it is not the Bible I use for my personal Bible study or in my ministry as a pastor. There are those who would condemn me for this, who maintain that the KJV is not only the best translation but the only translation into English that can be trusted. I cannot agree.

Now there is no denying the greatness of the KJV. It is arguably the greatest work ever published in the English language. It not only shaped English faith and worship but also the English language itself. English literature is permeated with phrases from and allusions to the KJV. As Alister McGrath has noted: "Without the King James Bible there would have been no Paradise Lost, no Pilgrim's Progress, no Handel's Messiah . . . and no Gettysburg address."

Not only has the KJV inspired poets, writers, musicians and orators but the common people too have taken it to heart and adopted many of its expressions. When we say that someone licked the dust, or that he fell flat on his face, or that a person poured out his heart, or that we stand in awe of something, we are quoting the KJV. When you tell a person that he is a man after your own heart, or ask if someone is still in the land of the living, or say that you have escaped by the skin of your teeth, you are using phrases from the KJV.

No single book has so influenced the English language or the English speaking peoples as the KJV. Albert Cook, Professor of English at Yale University in the 1920s, was correct when he wrote: "No other book has so penetrated the hearts and speech of the English race as has the Bible. What Homer was the Greeks, and the Koran to the Arabs . . . the Bible has become to the English." The Bible of which Cook wrote was, of course, the KJV, the Bible of English speaking peoples since the seventeenth century.

The KJV was first published in 1611 and for the next three hundred and fifty years it was almost the only Bible read by people who spoke English. Other translations were produced but, until the publication of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) in the 1950s, if people read a Bible in English it was almost certainly the KJV that they read. And until the latter part of the twentieth century it was always the KJV that people would hear being read when they attended a church service. Indeed, in England the KJV is commonly called the Authorised Version (AV) because for four centuries it was the only version authorised to be read in the Church of England.

Now I have a deep affection for the KJV. It is the Bible that I grew up with. I love its simple yet elegant language, its vivid and striking imagery, its memorable expressions and delightful cadences. For sheer beauty of language it will always remain supreme among English Bibles. But for all its charm and power, I have a couple of problems with the KJV. Let me tell you one of them.

One problem I have is this: the KJV is not in the language that people speak today. I am a Presbyterian and we Presbyterians have agreed on an official statement of what we believe. It is called the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) and the WCF says that "the Scriptures are to be translated into the common language of every nation to which they come" (The Westminster Confession of Faith: Modern English Study Version, 1.8). In fairness to my brothers and sisters who belong to other Christian communions, I must add that this belief is shared by almost all Christians, not only Presbyterians. My problem is that the KJV is not in the common language of English speaking people in the twenty-first century.

The KJV may have been in the common language of the people of England when it was first published but the English language has changed over the last four hundred years. Indeed it has changed so much that the English of four hundred years ago is unintelligible to many people today. Indeed, some words are now so different in meaning from what they were in the seventeenth century that in places the KJV is not only unintelligible but even misleading.

English vocabulary has changed in two ways since the KJV was translated. First, some words that were in common use in 1611 are now seldom or never used. This means that some words and passages are simply unintelligible to modern readers. These are some of the words to be found in the KJV: almug, chode, chapt, habergeon, hosen, kab, ligure, neesed, ouches, pilled, pruit, ring-sacked, stacte, strake, tatches, trode, trow, wimples, and wot. I wonder how many of these words you know.

If I am in a mischievous mood, I like to ask advocates of the KJV if they can tell me the meaning of we do you to wit. You will find this expression in the KJV at 1 Corinthians 8:1 and in today's English it means we want you to know. I confess that I find a certain quaintness and charm in we do you to wit but it is certainly not the language of English speaking people today, at least not of the people that I know.

There is a second way in which English vocabulary has changed over the centuries. While some words have fallen out of use, others have taken on different meanings. We can see some of these changes by looking at how a few passages were translated in the KJV of 1611 and the English Standard Version (ESV) of 2001.

First let us look at Genesis 25:29.
Jacob sod pottage (KJV).
Jacob was cooking stew (ESV).
In modern English the word sod is a noun and refers to a piece of turf; in the seventeenth century sod was the past tense of the verb seethe meaning boil or cook. We still use seethetoday in the expression seethe with anger but we do not say he sod with anger.

Our second example comes from 2 Kings 3:9.
They fetched a compass of seven days' journey (KJV).
They made a circuitous march of seven days (ESV).
In our day the word compass is usually a noun and refers to an instrument for determining direction; in King James's day compass was usually a verb meaning to go around or make a circuit.

For our third example let us look at Psalm 5:6.
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing (KJV).
You destroy those who speak lies (ESV).
Today when we are leasing we are allowing or obtaining the use of something (usually a property or motor vehicle) by paying money; if we were leasing four hundred years ago, we were being loose with the truth, that is, we were telling lies.

Our next example comes from Psalm 88:13. It is part of a prayer to God.
In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee (KJV).
In the morning my prayer comes before you (ESV).
In today's English to prevent means to hinder or stop something; four hundred years ago to prevent meant to precede or go before, with no thought of any hindrance.

Our last example is taken from 1 Peter 2:12.
Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles (KJV).
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable (ESV).
Today we understand conversation to refer to an informal exchange of thought by spoken words; in the seventeenth century conversation referred to a person's behavior or manner of life. 

These are but five of very many examples that could be given. Like the demons dwelling in the poor man of Gadara, their number is legion.

When the Bible was written it was written in the language of the people. When it is translated it should also be translated into the language of the people. When the KJV was published in 1611 it was published in the language of the people of that time. But the language of 1611 is not the language of 2011. The KJV is no longer in the language of the people.

The language of the KJV may be beautiful but it is obsolete. It does not give the message of the ancient writers to modern readers. It does not speak to the common person. For many ordinary people today much of it is simply not intelligible. We do not read the Bible to be entranced by its language but to learn about God and what God requires of us and we cannot learn if we do not understand.

Connoisseurs of the English language and English literature may enjoy reading the KJV but even they must admit that its language is not the language of people today. As much as we might love the KJV as a monument of the English language, as much as we might delight in it cadences and its poetry, and as much as we might find pleasure in its turns of phrase and quaint expressions, we must acknowledge that it is simply not a good translation for the twenty-first century.

The first questions to ask of any translation of the Bible are not, Is it beautiful to the ear? and Is it elegant in its style? but Is it understandable to the reader? and Is it faithful to the original?  We have seen that the KJV is not understandable to today's reader. In a future article we will see that it is also not faithful to the original writers. And that is an even bigger problem.

TO BE CONTINUED

Copyright © 2010, 2021 Ronald Nugent

Ten Good Books for Young (and Old) Christians

About thirty years ago, a couple of young Christians, both students at university, asked me if I could give them a list of good Christian books to read.  Over the years others have asked me the same question, and over the years, as I have discovered new books, I have made a few changes to my list.  I am publishing my current list here for the benefit of any young (and old) Christians who may be looking for good books to help them grow in their faith, love and hope.

I have restricted my list to ten books and, with a couple of exceptions, I have chosen relatively short books.  My first criterion for choosing a book is, of course, its spiritual usefulness.  In making my choice, I have tried to select outstanding authors, in the hope that having read one book by that author, the reader may want to read other books by the same person.   Also, I have chosen books that are easy to read and understand, that are  easily accessible in good Christian bookstores, and that are available as Kindle books from Amazon. (I regret that the Banner of Truth edition of the Heidelberg Catechism, which is the one I favour, is not available as a Kindle book.  However, you can download a pdf version here).   

I have chosen only older books that have proven themselves by enduring through the generations and have become Christian classics.  This means that no contemporary authors are included, as their books have not yet been exposed to the test of time.  The list includes two books from the sixteenth century, two from the seventeenth, two from the nineteenth, and four from the twentieth. For the books from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, I have listed recent versions in today's English, which are much easier to read than the older versions.  I encourage you to obtain the recommended modern versions, as the English in the original versions can be rather difficult for most twentieth century readers, especially for those for whom English is their second language.

The books can be read in any order; you don't have to begin with the first; you can begin with the last, if you wish. Also, for some of them (those by J.C. Ryle, C.H. Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and J.I. Packer) the chapters can be read in any order.     

One more thing (this is very important): don't forget to read your Bible.  Do read good books, but don't fall into the trap of being so taken up with reading books about the Bible that you neglect the Bible itself.  

Here, then, is my list:

• John Calvin, A Little Book on the Christian Life (edited by Clay Denlinger and Burk Parsons, published by Reformation Trust). 

• Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, The Heidelberg Catechism (published by the Banner of Truth Trust).

• John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version (revised by Alan Vermilye, published by Brown Chair Books).

• John Owen, Overcoming Sin and Temptation (edited by Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor, published by Crossway).   

• J.C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots (published by Ichthus Publications).

• C.H. Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon's Prayers, (introduced by Dinsdale Young, published by CreateSpace Publishing).

• Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure (published by Marshall Pickering).

• J.I. Packer, Knowing God (with Study Guide, published by Hodder & Stoughton). 

• John Stott, The Cross of Christ (with Study Guide by David Stone, published by IVP Books). 

• Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (with Study Guide, published by NavPress).

By reading good books, especially older books, we are able to sit at the feet of some of the greatest teachers God has given his church.  Let us not let this opportunity go to waste, and let us read carefully and prayerfully. 

Mowing the Lawn Is Not Worship

Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care (Psalm 95:6-7). 

In the forty years since I first surrendered my life to God I have seen many changes in the Christian church but in no area of Christian thinking and practice has the change been greater than in the corporate worship of the church.  These changes in the church’s worship have not been without controversy.  Indeed the disagreements have at times become so intense that some have spoken of them as the “worship wars”.  It is right that God’s people feel strongly about worship for we were made to worship and we have been redeemed to worship.  To be human is to worship and, if we do not worship the true and living God, we will manufacture or discover something else to worship.  While I am saddened by many of the changes in Christian corporate worship, I welcome the debates that have surrounded these changes, for no activity of the believer is more important than his or her worship.

One of the most significant and striking verses on worship in the whole of the Bible is to be found in the Gospel of John: “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks” (John 4:23, my emphasis).  (See NOTE 1).  The Lord Jesus tells us that God is seeking true worshippers.  As Robert Rayburn has observed, “Nowhere in all the Scriptures do we read of God’s seeking anything else from the child of God. . . .  Nowhere in the Bible are told that God seeks our service.  It is not servants he seeks, but true worshippers. . . .  It is not without real significance that the only time in the Scriptures when the word seek is used of God’s activity is in connection with seeking true worshippers.”  (See NOTE 2).

Perhaps no generation of Christians has been in more need of a reminder of the importance of worship than our own because, despite all our talk, we have forgotten how to worship.  While there are many reasons for the poverty of our worship, much of the blame is to be laid at the door of definition.  On the one hand, there are those who narrow the definition of worship to mean only singing and making music.  In many churches the musicians are now called “the worship team” and “a time of worship” means a time of singing.  Certainly singing and making music in our hearts to the Lord is worship, but so too are bringing our prayers and petitions to the Lord, hearing and taking to heart God's Word as it is read and preached, and remembering and receiving Christ in the Lord’s Supper.  All that we do in a so-called “worship service” is (or should be) worship.

While some restrict worship to singing, others expand it to include everything.  Every activity of the believer is worship, they say.  Not only praying or singing to God, but also mowing the lawn, washing the dishes, driving a truck, surfing the net, kicking a football, bandaging a wound, writing an essay: all are worship.  In the words of Professor Moule, “All work done and all life lived for God’s sake is, in essence, worship.”  (See NOTE 3).   Of course, this view provokes the question: if all that we do is worship, then why do Christians meet together on a Sunday to worship God?  Why not stay at home and mow the lawn or wash the car?  After all, are not these activities just as much worship as praying and singing hymns?  The answer that is usually given is that the purpose for meeting on Sunday is to receive instruction and enjoy fellowship (by which is usually meant chatting with one’s friends).

At the risk of being branded a heretic, I beg to differ.  I humbly suggest that worship does not embrace all that we do and Christians gather on the Lord’s Day not only for instruction and fellowship but also, indeed primarily, to worship.  Now it is true that everything we do is to be done for the glory of God: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).   And I agree that in all that we do, we are serving God: in weeding the garden just as much as in preaching a sermon, in studying mathematics just as much as in reading the Bible, and by serving in a shop just as much as by singing in the church choir.  However, I believe that the popular teaching that all of life is worship, while it sounds very spiritual, both departs from God's Word and impoverishes God’s people.  I say this, not from any desire to be contentious but, insofar as I know my own heart, out of love for God and his people.  I am not writing in reaction to any particular situation but in response to a teaching that has become widespread among evangelical Christians in recent years, at least in my own land of Australia.  Nor am I writing  to attack any particular person; my concern is not with persons but with principles.  Many, I know, will disagree with me.  To them I humbly say, “Come, let us reason together.”

The disagreement is over the nature of worship.  The question at issue is: what is worship?  Many answer this question by exploring the etymology and usage of the English word, worship.  However, the New Testament was not written in English but in Greek.  The question, therefore, is not, “What is the meaning of our English word, worship?” but “What is the meaning of the Greek words translated worship in our English Bibles?”  In the New Testament there are five Greek words that can be translated into English as worship but by far the most important is the verb proskynein.  It is is used sixty times in the New Testament and always means to worship.  It is an interesting word, being built from the root kynein, meaning “to kiss”, and the prefix pro-, meaning “before”.  The word then literally meant to kiss before and was used of bowing and kissing the ground in front of a person, or an idol, or God.  Wilbur Gingrich defines the meaning of proskynein as: (fall down and) worship, do obeisance to, prostrate oneself before, do reverence to, welcome respectfully.  (See NOTE 4).

In the New International Version (NIV) of  the New Testament, proskynein is translated as worship fifty-one times, three times as kneel before, and once each as fall down, fall on [one’s] knees in front of, kneel down, on [one’s] knees before, pay homage and reverence.  (See NOTE 5).   While proskynein is most commonly used of falling down or prostrating oneself in worship, the word is also used of other forms of worship, such as singing praise and offering sacrifices.  The essential thing is showing respect or rendering homage, whether by physical posture or vocal expression.  It is important to note that in the New Testament proskynein is only used of paying homage, for example, by kneeling, bowing, praying or praising; it is never used of everyday activities, such as farming, fishing, cooking or eating.  

The following verses illustrate the use of proskynein in the New Testament to describe acts of devotion and adoration:

• And coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him (Matthew 2:11).
• “All this I will give you,” he [i.e., the devil] said, “if you will bow down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9).
• Suddenly Jesus met them.  “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him (Matthew 28:9).
• Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem (John 4:20).
• Then the man [who had been healed of his blindness] said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him (John 9:38).
• The secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” (1 Corinthians 14:25).
• And the twenty-four elders . . . fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty . . .” (Revelation 11:16-17).
• And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God . . . And they cried: “Amen, Hallelujah!” (Revelation 19:4).

Those who argue that everything we do is an act of worship usually ignore the usage of proskynein in the New Testament and instead appeal to the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”  William Barclay is one of those who has used this verse to argue that all of life is worship:

The true worship, the really spiritual worship, is the offering of one’s body, and all that one does every day with it to God. . . . Real worship is the offering of everyday life to God.  Real worship is not something which is transacted in a church; real worship is something which sees the whole world as the temple of the living God, and every common deed as an act of worship. . . . A man may say, “I am going to church to worship God,” but he should also be able to say, “I am going to the factory, the shop, the office, the school, the garage, the locomotive shed, the mine, the shipyard, the field, the byre, the garden, to worship God.”  (See NOTE 6). 

It is important to note that the word translated act of worship in the NIV is not proskunein, the word most commonly used of worship in the New Testament, but the word latreia.  The noun latreia and the associated verb latreuein are derived from latron, meaning wages, and in secular Greek they were originally used of work for wages.  Later they expanded their meaning to include service without wages, including service rendered for the gods.  Greek-speaking Jews then used the word for the service of God, especially service in the Temple.  Wilbur Gingrich defines latreuein as serve by carrying out religious duties.  (See NOTE 7).  In the New Testament latreia and latreuein are used twenty-six times and in the NIV they are translated thirteen times by serve and its cognates, eleven times by worship and its cognates, and twice by minister and its cognate, ministry.

The basic meaning of latreia and latreuein, then, is service, but it can also mean worship as one form of service to God.  In English we also recognise that worship is a form of Christian service; for example, when we call the Sunday morning meeting in the church a service of worship we are saying that we this is a time in which we serve God by worshipping him.  Just as mowing the lawn is a form of service to God, so too is worshipping him, but they are very different types of service.  When we turn to Romans 12:1 it is not clear whether latreia would be better translated as service (i.e., service in general) or worship (i.e., the specific service of paying homage to God).  Some versions translate it as worship or act of worship (e.g., the RSV, NIV and ESV) while others translate it as service (e.g., the KJV, RV and NKJV).  The NASB translates it as service of worship.

When Paul used the word latreia in Romans 12:1, was he using it in the generic sense of service or in the specific sense of worship?  If he was using it in the generic sense of service, then clearly he was not saying that we are to worship God in all we do, but that we are to serve God in all we do, not just in our worship but also in our mundane daily tasks.  Everything we do is to be done for the glory of God and every job is a calling from God.  The student serves God by studying, the mechanic by repairing motors, the mother by caring for her children, the accountant by keeping the books, the farmer by cropping the land, the teacher by educating his students.  These are all noble tasks because all are done for the glory of God but none of them is worship as that word is used in the New Testament.

If, however, Paul was using latreia in the specific sense of worship, was he saying that everything we do is an act of worship?  I think not.  It is significant that latreia and latreuein are frequently used in the New Testament for the offering of sacrifices in the Temple.  In Romans 12:1, when he exhorted his readers to present their bodies to God as living sacrifices, Paul was using  the imagery of  the sacrifices in the Temple to illustrate what he meant.  He was comparing Christian worship with Jewish Temple worship,  and in so doing he described both their difference and their similarity.  Their difference was in the nature of the offering.  Whereas the Jews offered animals to God, Christians were to offer their own bodies; and whereas the Jews offered dead bodies, Christians were to offer a living body.  Their similarity was in the act of offering.  Both Jews and Christians presented their offering in an act of worship, that is, in an act of homage to God.  It is not by mowing the lawn or washing the dishes that we offer our bodies to God but by presenting our bodies to him in humble prayer, thankful for his manifold mercies toward us.

If I may be forgiven for giving an example from my own life, I commonly begin the day by praying this prayer:

Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I thank you for the rest of the night and for gift of this new day; I thank you for your mercies that are new every morning and for the promise of your presence with me all through this day.  I offer myself now –  body and soul – to you.  Be in my head and in my thinking; be in my eyes and in my looking; be in my ears and in my listening; be in my mouth and my speaking; be in my hands and in my doing; be in my feet and in my going out and coming in, so that you will be glorified this day in all that I think and say and do.  Amen

Similarly, the order of service for Holy Communion in An Australian Prayer Book includes this prayer, to be prayed after the people have eaten the bread and drunk the wine:

Lord and heavenly Father, we your servants entirely desire your fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and to grant that, by the merits and death of your Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we and your whole Church may receive forgiveness of our sins and all other benefits of his passion.

And here we offer and present to you, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice, humbly beseeching you that all we who are partakers of this holy Communion may be fulfilled with your grace and heavenly benediction.

And although we are unworthy, though our manifold sins, to offer you any sacrifice, yet we pray that you will accept this, the duty and service we owe, not weighing our merits but pardoning our offences, through Jesus Christ our Lord; by whom and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory are yours, Father Almighty, now and forever.  Amen.  (See NOTE 8).

That, I suggest, is what Paul means when he says that offering our bodies is our spiritual act of worship. It is in humble prayer that we offer our bodies as to God, and this offering of our physical bodies is our spiritual worship.

Why do I make an issue of this?  Is it really important?  Am I not merely arguing about words?  Does how we define worship make much difference to how we worship in practice?  I believe that this is a matter of utmost importance for what is at stake is the honour of God and the health of his church.  It is a simple matter of fact that in those churches that teach that all of life is worship, the focus of the Sunday service moves from the Triune God to the congregation.  Not only is this so, this must be so, because the reason for meeting, we are told, is not to pay homage God, but to be instructed and to have fellowship.  The result is that vertical dimension of worship is replaced by the horizontal dimension of fellowship and, rather than reverence and awe, the atmosphere becomes one of conviviality and bonhomie.  The congregation may well enjoy themselves, but whether they also enjoy God is a moot point.

What is wrong with all this?  First, God’s name is dishonoured.  He is denied the homage that is his due. True, we talk about God, we hear about him, we even talk to him, but we do not worship him.  But, of course, that is not why we gather; we gather for fellowship and instruction, or so we are told.  Secondly, God’s people are impoverished.  Those who know and love God, who have his Spirit and seek his kingdom, love nothing more than to worship him, and they especially love to worship him in the assembly of his people.  They are not interested in “doing church”; they want to worship God.  They come to worship him; they long to worship him; they yearn to worship him, but they go away disappointed and dissatisfied, still hungry for worship.  

In summary, when the New Testament uses the word proskynein it means what English speakers commonly mean when we use the verb worship.  My dictionary defines worship as: to render religious reverence and homage to.  (See NOTE 9). This surely was the meaning of the Psalmist when he exhorted God's people: “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. . . .  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name” (Psalm 100:2, 4).  This was also the understanding of the authors of The Westminster Confession of Faith when they listed the elements of the ordinary religious worship of God as prayer with thanksgiving, the reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the word of God, singing of psalms with grace in the heart, and the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ.  (See NOTE 10).  

There is one more question that I must answer: do we not also gather for fellowship as well as for worship?  Most certainly.  However, by fellowship the Bible means, not primarily casual conversation, but sharing in something, such as the rich sharing their goods with the poor or Christians sharing in the work of the gospel.   (Please understand that I am not for one minute decrying casual conversation.  On the contrary, I think that it is of great value to share our hopes, our fears, our joys, our plans, our experiences and our needs with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  However, I suggest that the time for such conversation is not during the worship service, but beforehand and afterwards, perhaps over a cup of tea or coffee or, better still, in one another’s homes).  A. R. George says that “the important thing is that these words [i.e., fellowship and its cognates] refer primarily . . . to participation in something rather than association with others.”  (See NOTE 11).  Is not our participation with others in worship a form of fellowship, indeed the epitome and consummation of fellowship?  For is not this the highest and greatest activity that we can share in as Christians?  And are we not most conscious of our union with our brothers and sisters when our hearts are joined in worshipping the Triune God to whom belongs all glory, honour and praise, both now and forever? 

Copyright © 2010 Ronald Nugent


ABBREVIATIONS
KJV, King James Version
NASB, New American Standard Bible
NIV, New International Version
NKJV, New King James Version
RSV, Revised Standard Version
RV, Revised Version


NOTES
1  All Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version® (Grand Rapids:   Zondervan, 1984), Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
2  Robert G. Rayburn, O Come Let Us Worship: Corporate Worship in the Evangelical Church (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 15-16.
3  C.F.D. Moule, Worship in the New Testament (London: Lutterworth, 1978), 82. 
4  F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Shorter Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1965), 186.
5  Edward W. Goodrick and John R. Kohlenberger III, The NIV Exhaustive Concordance (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1990), 1783.
6  William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans (Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, Second Edition, 1957), 169.
7  F. Wilbur Gingrich, op. cit., 125
8  The Church of England in Australia, An Australian Prayer Book (Sydney: Anglican Information Office, 1978), 128.  My italics. 
9  Macquarrie Australian Encyclopedic Dictionary (North Ryde, New South Wales: Macquarrie University, 2006), 1386.
10  The Westminster Confession of Faith (Suwanee, Georgia: Great Commission Publications, 1993, originally published in England, 1646), Chapter 21.
11  Quoted in J.D. Douglas, editor, The New Bible Dictionary (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1962), 245.