The title might be one of the more commonly asked questions in modern theology and I want to give it some thought. This is a long one, sorry.
Frequently I hear it argued that, yes, everything we do is worship to God, and the verse often cited is Romans 12:1…
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
(Romans 12:1)
The phrase emphasized to teach this idea is at the end of the verse, which the King James renders as “which is your reasonable service.” Other translations phrase it differently, of course…
this is your true and proper worship (New International Version)
This is truly the way to worship him (New Living “Translation”)
which is your spiritual worship (English Standard Version)
which is your spiritual service of worship (New American Standard Version)
You see the key word that most modern translations use: Worship.
Here’s the problem: The word in question is λατρείαν (latreian), from the root word latreu’o, which is used to describe the services performed by a priest. Now, to that someone will say “well, what does a priest do? He worships! That’s his job.” And while that’s true, it’s a bit misleading. A priest has a lot of services that he performs, not all of which are worship. The priests of the Old Law did worship, but they also did many other things which were not acts of worship, but which were still done in accordance with the office they held. It’s too overly simplified to translate λατρείαν as “worship.” But maybe the word “service” is too vague, as well. Personally, I would translate the word as “priestly service.”
Now, as you read the text, it’s clear that some aspect of worship is on Paul’s mind, as he talks about offering a sacrifice. When a priest does that it is surely worship, no doubt about it. What I want you to consider, though, is why Paul is saying this. What is Paul’s overall point, and how is he using the words that he’s using?
The most literal translation of the phrase at the end of the verse, as far as I can make it is this (I put the English in red and the Greek in blue to make it easier to folow): This (τὴν) is your (ὑμῶν) [THE REAL WORD THAT NEEDS CONSIDERATION] (λογικὴν) priestly service (λατρείαν).
Let’s not focus on “priestly service” but instead on the word λογικὴν which, in the King James is translated as “reasonable” whereas other translations call it “spiritual” or “true.”
How is Paul using the word λογικὴν in this text? It’s worth noting that forms of this word only appear two times in the entire New Testament. You only can find it here, and in 1 Peter…
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
(1 Peter 2:2)
Can you guess whereλογικὴν is in Peter’s verse?
It’s in the word “sincere.”
“Sincere,” however, isn’t the best translation. The best translation is… “reasonable.” That is to say, “something which concerns the mind, or the ability to reason.”
In fact, you can see that in the root of the word λογικὴν. At the root is the word λόγος (logos) which is typically translated as “word” but can also, when used in a philosophical way, as many Greeks did, be rendered as “reason.”
Look at what Peter is doing in this verse. He is describing new Christians as “akin” to newborn babies that need their mother’s milk. What do newborn Christians need? They need, not the physical milk of a mother, but the spiritual milk of the Word. They need, not the milk that’s profitable for the body, but the milk of the mind. The milk of REASON. They need the “reasonable” milk of the Word, so that their MINDS may grow.
Now you might think “okay, but Peter could have been using the word one way, and Paul may have been using it in a totally different way. You can’t figure out what Peter meant and just apply it to Paul’s text.”
And typically that’s true; you can’t cross-translate like that. Words have meaning based on how they’re used in a given context. However, in this case, Peter and Paul are talking about the same thing. Keep reading Peter…
As newborn babes, desire the sincere [REASONABLE] milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.(1 Peter 2:2-5)
Did—did you see it? You see what Peter did there? He’s making the same point with these words “an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God” that Paul made with these words: “living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
So, now that we have the connection between 1 Peter 2 and Romans 12, let’s harmonize the word-translations, specifically with the word “λογικὴν.” What Paul is saying is that Christians are priests who offer sacrifices, but not of animal flesh. We offer ourselves as sacrifices, but not to our own deaths (the way a lamb was killed in order to be offered). No, we offer ourselves as living sacrifices. In other words, the things we do with our lives represent the NT Priest’s “service” to God, and that service we perform is, in this context, a mental one. It is a “reasonable” service. It is a service focused on reason.
Yes, it is true, there are things we do with our bodies that we do to the service of God. When we sing we use our voices. When we serve we use our hands. When we evangelize we use our feet. All of that is true, but that is not what Paul is talking about here and it does a disservice to this verse to misuse his words to say “we use our bodies to worship God therefore everything we do with our bodies is worship to God.”
I mean, do you hear how silly that sounds?
When I poop am I worshipping God?
This is where someone will say “well when we eat and poop we are being healthy, and strengthening our body so we can be better servants, and that’s a kind of worship…”
No. That’s not worship. That’s being a good steward. Worship involves giving something to God (I almost titled this article “do not give God your poop” but resisted the temptation). Worship is the specific action of giving something to God. When the Israelite farmer took the first-fruit of his crops and gave them to God, THAT was worship. What WASN’T worship was the farmer toiling in his fields for months to harvest those crops. Toiling in his fields was just the labor that made his worship possible.
Blatantly, not everything we do is worship, because if everything we do is worship then worship would not be written about as an action that a Christian must actively undertake. If everything we do is worship, then we’re automatically already worshipping and would never need “to” worship, because we always would be worshipping. But that’s not true; we’re not always worshipping. Sometimes we’re not worshipping and then we decide to worship.
So, let’s wrap this up by understanding what Paul is really saying in Romans 12…
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service
(Romans 12:1)
Here it is as plainly and literally as possible: “I invite you brethren, through the mercy of God, that you offer yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your reasonable priestly service.”
But why does Paul emphasize the “reasonable” here? Why focus on the mind? Also, how do I “present myself as a living sacrifice” as he says here? Look at the next verse…
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…
(Romans 12:2)
Paul tells those New Testament priests not to allow the world to mold them into its image but instead to be transformed into something distinct from the world. How? Well there are a lot of ways, but it BEGINS with the mind. It begins with reason. It begins with it, which is why Paul calls it a “renewing.” It is a “starting over” or a “change from one thing to something new.” My life is not what it once was. It has changed. That change begins with reason and then it spills out into various things that we do.
Is everything we do worship? No, and Paul isn’t even talking about “worshipping,” specifically in this text; he’s talking about starting a new life with Jesus in contrast to the world. That contrast begins with the mind, and when we as New Testament priests go about our priestly duties, we do so with our reason and our minds focused on him and not on the world.
~ Matthew