The Semantic Drift of Worship

The Church as we know it today resembles little in definition or function compared to the Apostle Paul’s teaching about the first century “ekklesia” (called-out ones). While not obvious, these changes have contributed to a loss of adventure and enthusiasm in many Christians. I want to briefly outline why this has become a systemic problem of time that’s evolved over centuries. The words “Church” and “Worship” are synonymous with Christian activity, however, in practice, the Greek meaning of these words has more in common with the Jewish Temple Worship, Catholicism, and Islamic prayer meetings. If we dive deeper into the topic, we discover the consequences of semantic drift that are more serious than we might choose to acknowledge.

The absence of adventure, and the loss of enthusiasm, are experienced by many Christians and I’ve been searching for answers that might lie beneath the activities causing the problem. There’s a particular problem with enthusiasm among Men, who, for several reasons, hear very little in a Church worship service that stirs, challenges or motivates them to greater exploits. Whether or not they should need this motivation is another conversation, however, the bottom line is that intellectual and academic boredom is disengaging many which has a trickle-down effect in other areas of engagement and involvement. The words and actions that cause this are deeply influenced by semantic drift, where the Greek meaning used to describe them no longer applies. However, the entire Christian Body is subject to the consequences of not recognising how serious the lack of engagement issues are and continuing as if nothing is wrong, To some degree this has always been the case but it’s become an etymological, institutionalised, systemic problem that’s not understood in these terms but it’s like an itch with no obvious cause. Many Churches have responded over time, by masquerading as seeker-friendly Churches where foundational doctrine is misrepresented to appear liberal, tolerant, progressive and inclusive. None of this is helpful and as we look for man-made solutions to a spiritual problem the virus of woke has increasingly challenged the authority of the Christian faith. Much of what we do has been done before, and most of what we do is building on the sand instead of the rock. Generations die, some leave, and then another generation repeats the same errors as if, by revelation, they’ve discovered something new. It’s a sad testimony with a repeating theme, we all see it, but what can we do about it?

Semantic drift explains how biblical words have changed over time and grammatically altered the meaning and function of Christian assemblies today. D.A Carson 2002 stated, "We unwittingly read our ideas and experiences of worship back into scripture, so that we end up "finding" there what, with exquisite confidence, we know well ought to be there". This gradual regression in the meaning and function of foundational words has reached the point where the change has become so normalised, that we're unable to see the inherent cost, that comes with the change. Instead of the Bible being the plumbline of Church theocracy, we’ve become the arbiters of our institutional temperaments, to the point that some believe salvation itself is judged by whether we belong and attend a Church. In many respects we’re perpetrators, but also victims of semantic drift, but we don’t consider the extent to which the misuse of words such as "Church" and "Worship" is causing a decline in the enthusiasm of individual believers. The way forward would be structurally challenging but might be summed up in four basic statements, all of which, are detailed conversations. However, we might start by using words that accurately reflect their Greek meaning.

Biblical words matter.

We sow, God saves.

Christianity is a counterculture.

Run the race as if it matters.

Religious Theory - Some years ago, I responded to an article concerning the increased number of Christians leaving the institutional Church. The article stated, “The idea of being a Christian without the Church is an oxymoron”. It said that “leaving the Church contradicts the biblical record, and leaving reduces Christianity to a system of ideas and ideals that form the basis of nothing more than a religious theory” (ideology). The statement sounded convincing but Christianity is not based on a theory of ideas and ideals, but on believing in the person of Jesus Christ. Second, an ill-conceived perception of the authority of the Church and the conflating of ideas to support it. Does leaving the Church while claiming to be a Christian contradict the biblical record? No, but our view on this will depend on how we understand the word “Church” and the authority we imagine it has. We’re encouraged to fellowship with others (the assembly), but the Bible doesn’t define fellowship under the auspices of a denominational institution, and certainly not as a requirement for salvation. The article went further and ridiculed the idea that anyone could claim to be a Christian without embracing the Church, and, in saying this had to be challenging the decision of born-again Christians for the argument to make sense. So we might consider the biblical requirements for salvation, and what part the Church plays in that process. We might also consider who it is, that saves us because laying claim to this authority is the most serious issue raised in the article.

The definition and function of the Church - resembles little of “the assembly, or gathering” (ekklesia), as defined in the New Testament. Howard Marshall 1985 stated, in comparison with the first-century Church, "The remarkable fact is that Christian meetings are not said to take place specifically to worship God, and the language of worship is not used, as a means of referring to them or describing them". The Apostle Paul's teaching about “the assembly” was focused entirely on the “edification of the Body”. Those who argue for the current format ignore Paul’s teaching and use incorrect descriptors as if the English words mirror the Greek example. This creates the Etymology problem we see playing out today. We only have to read 1 Corinthians or Ephesians to see the polar difference between the function of the Assembly then, and the function of the Church today. Yet, the vocabulary of most Christians identifies with "the Church” as the building they go to, the building with a cross, a place that holds worship services, the place led by a hierarchy of Priests, Pastors or Elders. As a result, it is clear the word “Church” has semantically drifted into a poor explanation of the Greek “Ekklesia”, which like so many Greek words finds its real meaning in the context and surrounding words, not necessarily the English translation. The New Testament ecclesia describes a company of “called out believers” who assembled in homes, focussed on horizontally orientated edification, shared their faith, related personal experience, and exercised spiritual gifts. Their primary function was not meeting for vertically focused worship services. In reality, the physical presentation of the Church, and Worship-orientated services, have more in common with Old Testament Temple systems and Islamic prayer meetings. Worship as we understand it today never existed in first-century assemblies. Assemblies were focused on edification, encouragement, and comfort. The gifts of the spirit were given to equip the Body for the challenge of spreading the Gospel message. The emphasis of everything they did was directed horizontally, not vertically. The Apostle Paul wrote the books that defined the Ecclesia and spoke extensively about the assembly of God's people. His teaching stressed the horizontal edification of the assembly in the first instance, not worship directed toward God, however irreverent that may sound to the religiously minded. 1Co 14:26 states “What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. “Everything” must be done so that “the people of God” may be “built up” (edified). The shift away from "the assembly" back to a Temple construct has been recognised by many scholars, including Howard Marshall, Andrew McGowan 2014, and Gupla in 2024, and yet, the resistance to biblical orthodoxy and adventure is trumped by historical convenience.

“Proskuneo” is the most common Greek word translated as worship, and it connotes the idea of bowing down and prostrating oneself, flat on the ground as in, “Meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand”. The preposition “Pros” conveys direction, so compounded, "worship" exegetes as a moving forward to lie prostrate on the ground. The meaning of Proskuneo does not suggest that it can be applied to singing, praying, preaching, reading scripture, or liturgy. Paul’s account of the assembly in First Corinthians and Ephesians nowhere suggests that Christians prostrate themselves in this manner. The Greek language never implies this, and prostrating has nothing in common with the New Covenant assemblies. It also creates a Christology problem insofar as Christians don't need buildings or to prostrate themselves, because the Jewish Temple system is obsolete, and the “Holy Spirit is living in us. The Greek Worship language of prostrating (worship) was not used to describe what Christians did in their assemblies. However, if we compare how we conduct worship services today, it is clear that we don’t follow either the Temple System or Paul’s teaching about the assembly. We’ve invented an entirely new expression drawn from a combination of secular constructs and Jewish Temple origins. The only mention of "Proskuneo" in Paul's account of the assembly is in 1 Cor 14:25 where it refers to a non-Christian hearing God’s word and prostrating himself but this has nothing to do with how the assembly functions.

The semantic evolution of the institutional Church deserves critical analysis. The general decline and isolation of the Church within the social landscape hasn’t stirred the Church into a broader conversation. While I believe God has the final say, the apparent scarcity of spiritual enthusiasm screams loud, and the longing for adventure aptly describes how many feel. It’s a breakdown in personal and combined purpose among the people of God. When the sense of adventure dies, the Christian race (sanctification) loses its purpose in our daily lives, and over time the Church suffers consequences arising from the erosion of enthusiasm. This doesn't appear serious at a superficial level but is evident at a deeper level of spiritual immaturity. This evolution away from the biblical example happens for several reasons, it might be the result of power and control, but equally the culmination of many factors including, how we manage the meaning of words, man-made rules and laws, membership restrictions, mission statements, vision statements, business constructs, the emphasis on vertically focussed activity, legalistic tithing, leadership authority, and the way Church auditoriums are set up, all of which are unbiblical and unhelpful in the essential purpose of building the Body of Christ. Semantic drift has caused us to stray into language that incorporates a fundamental misunderstanding of what should be at the centre of Christian meetings. In the same way, Jewish traditions in Jesus' day had become little more than a religious vacuum of authoritarian control, and Jesus confronted its abuses, idolatries, and orthodoxy (Matt 23:3).