Worship Defined

"Worship consists of acknowledging that someone or something else is greater – worth more – and by consequence, to

be obeyed, feared, and adored…Worship is the sign that in giving myself completely to someone or something, I want

to be mastered by it. (Harold Best, Music Through the Eyes of Faith, pg. 143)

Worship is the activity of the new life of a believer in which, recognizing the fullness of the Godhead as it is revealed in

the person of Jesus Christ and His mighty redemptive acts, he seeks by the power of the Holy spirit to render to the

living God the glory, honor, and submission which are His due. (Robert Rayburn, O Come, Let Us Worship, pg. 20)

“Worship is the work of acknowledging the greatness of our covenant Lord…. In worship we adore God’s covenental

control; bow before His absolute, ultimate authority; and experience God’s presence” (John Frame, Worship in Spirit

and Truth)

Worship is the human response to the self-revelation of the triune God, which involves: (1) divine initiation in which God

graciously reveals himself, his purposes, and will; (2) a spiritual and personal relationship with God through Jesus

Christ enabled by the ministry of the Holy Spirit; and (3) a response by the worshiper of joyful adoration, reverence,

humility, submission and obedience. (David Nelson, Authentic Worship, Herbert W. Bateman, ed., p. 149)

Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are – mind, emotions, will, body – to what God is and says and does.

(Warren Wiersbe, Real Worship, p. 26)

Worship is the term we use to cover all the acts of the heart and mind and body that intentionally express the infinite

worth of God. (John Piper)

Worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the terms that he proposes and in the way

that he alone makes possible. (David Peterson, Engaging with God, pg. 20)

True worship involves reverential human acts of submission and homage before the divine Sovereign, in response to

his gracious revelation of himself, and in accordance with his will. (Daniel Block, For the Glory of God, SBTS Course, p.

30)