Recently, I mentioned to a brother in the church that we would begin a new study on worship. I said I would attempt to answer the question, How should the church worship? He quickly replied, “In spirit and truth” (John 4:24). That answer is biblically correct, but it raises another question: What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth?
I should say at the outset that two resources have been especially helpful to me. The first is Does God Care How We Worship? by Ligon Duncan. The second is How Then Should We Worship? by Sam Waldron. I have consulted more than these two, but if you want to study the subject further, both are worth your time.
Who Determines How God Is Worshiped?
Let me begin by citing the first paragraph of the chapter on “Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day” from the 1689 Baptist Confession:
The light of nature demonstrates that there is a God who has lordship and sovereignty over all. He is just and good and does good to everyone. Therefore, he should be feared, loved, praised, called on, trusted in, and served—with all the heart and all the soul and all the strength. But the acceptable way to worship the true God is instituted by him, and it is delimited by his own revealed will. Thus, he may not be worshipped according to human imagination or inventions or the suggestions of Satan, nor through any visible representations, nor in any other way that is not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.
The Confession makes a simple argument that only God has the right to determine how he is to be worshiped. That likely makes sense to most of us. We may never have considered that man could decide for himself how God should be worshiped. Yet that has often been the case and remains so today. Throughout church history, many have taken it upon themselves to worship God as they see fit, whether or not Scripture provides warrant for it.
This concern explains why the chapter begins as it does. In the 17th century, the proper worship of God was the primary point of debate between the Anglicans and the Puritans. The Church of England stated in the Thirty-Nine Articles, “The Church hath power to decree rites or ceremonies and authority in controversies of faith. And yet it is not lawful for the church to ordain anything contrary to God’s Word written.”
That final sentence may sound reassuring. It may seem that they were unwilling to go beyond Scripture. But the weight falls on the first sentence, which says the church claimed the authority to decree rites and ceremonies.
The Puritans responded by insisting that true worship consists only of what God commands in Scripture. The Anglicans, however, argued that worship must include what God commands and may also include anything not expressly forbidden. In other words, they believed the church could add to what God commands, provided Scripture did not explicitly prohibit it.
Put differently, the Puritans said false worship is anything not commanded by God. The Anglicans said false worship is only what God has condemned. The difference is significant.
The 17th-century Particular Baptists sided with the Puritans, which is why the Confession states,
The acceptable way to worship the true God is instituted by him, and it is delimited by his own revealed will. Thus, he may not be worshipped according to human imagination or inventions or the suggestions of Satan, nor through any visible representations, nor in any other way that is not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.
Were they right?
A History of Disputes Over Worship
Several years ago, I followed a website that posted video clips of some of the wildest church antics from around the country. One video showed a preacher becoming so animated during his sermon that he kicked over the lectern. Another showed a pastor flying onto the stage in an aerial harness. I’ve seen churches host movie-themed worship services. Star Wars has been a popular choice.
Even if we set aside the most outrageous examples, the church has long wrestled with the question: What is the proper way to worship God?
In the 8th century, churches debated the use of images and icons. Some believed that images, such as crucifixes or paintings of Christ, helped people worship and deepen their devotion. Others argued that images violated the Second Commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath” (Exodus 20:4). They considered it idolatry, even if the images depicted Christ.
By the late Middle Ages, many elements had been added to worship, some borrowed from old covenant practices, such as burning incense. Worship became increasingly elaborate, especially in the Lord’s Supper. It became the function of the clergy primarily, while the congregation largely observed. The Protestant Reformers accused the Catholic Church of obscuring true worship through these human innovations.
In the 16th century, even the Reformers differed. Martin Luther held to what is called the normative principle: the church may include in worship whatever Scripture does not forbid. Ulrich Zwingli, later John Calvin, and others argued for the regulative principle: the church may include only what Scripture commands. This debate touched on images, vestments, music, and the structure of the service.
In the 17th century, the Puritans objected to the Book of Common Prayer in the Church of England. They opposed set liturgies imposed by governing authorities and specific practices such as the sign of the cross in baptism and kneeling at communion. The Presbyterians later expressed their convictions in the Westminster Confession, which contains a paragraph nearly identical to the one in the Baptist Confession.
Among Baptists in the late 17th century, hymn-singing became controversial. All agreed that the church should sing, but the question was what to sing. The safest option was the inspired Psalms. Benjamin Keach, however, argued that Scripture instructs the church to sing more than the Psalter. Paul writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly … singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16). Keach maintained that, in light of Christ’s finished work, the church should compose new songs as well.
The 18th-century Great Awakening sparked debates over the role of emotion in worship and the style of preaching. Should preaching be measured and studious, or should it stir the emotions of the congregation?
In the 19th century, Charles Finney and others adopted a more pragmatic approach, emphasizing results. In the 20th century, some Protestant churches returned to more formal liturgies, while many others moved toward increasingly contemporary, even secular styles.
Virtually every element of worship has been debated, and churches have often divided over these issues. At one point, I searched online for summaries of historic church debates over various aspects of worship—singing, instruments, preaching, prayer, clothing, buildings. The results seemed endless.
For a time, a movement gained traction claiming that the Bible does not teach the concept of a formal “worship service.” According to its advocates, structured services centered on preaching, distinctions between pastors and members, formal liturgies, dressing up, or even designated church buildings were departures from true Christianity.
Disputes over worship have always existed, and they will continue. New controversies and new proposals will arise. At times, it has seemed that anyone who could argue the church had been worshiping incorrectly for 2,000 years could produce a best-selling book.
So how do we discern what is appropriate? What does it mean to worship “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24)? When the next controversy arises, how will we know what to do?
Does God Care How We Worship?
That is the purpose of this study. Before laying out specific principles for worship, however, I want to establish from Scripture that God does, in fact, care how we worship him.
The single greatest obstacle to the reform of worship in the evangelical church today is evangelicalism’s general belief that New Testament Christians have few or no particular directions about how we are to worship God corporately: what elements belong in worship, what elements must always be present in well-ordered worship, what things do not belong in worship.
He later adds,
Evangelicals do think that worship matters, but they also often view worship as a means to some other end than that of the glorification and enjoyment of God: some view worship as evangelism (thus misunderstanding its goal); some think that a person’s heart, intentions, motives, and sincerity are the only things important in how we worship (thus downplaying the Bible’s standards, principles, and rules for worship), and some view the emotional product of the worship experience as the prime factor in “good” worship (thus overstressing the subjective and often unwittingly imposing particular cultural opinions about emotional expression on all worshipers). Evangelicals believe these things about worship, but they do not think that there are many biblical principles about how to worship or what we are to do and not to do in worship.
Describing prevailing assumptions within contemporary evangelicalism, he concludes,
Not surprisingly, these assumptions help an evangelicalism enveloped in a culture of individualism, relativism, and situationalism remain, in its approach to the gathered worship of God’s people, strong on the individual, weak on the corporate; strong on the subjective, weak on the objective; strong on the heart, weak on the principles.
In summary, many churches affirm that worship is important but show little concern for what God himself says about it. Worship is often detached from God’s Word, as if Scripture offers no instruction. Those familiar with the Old Testament know that God gave detailed commands regarding worship. Yet today, some assume that Christian liberty under the new covenant means God no longer regulates how we worship so long as our motives are sincere and our emotions are engaged.
But what did Jesus say to the Samaritan woman? “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). To worship in truth implies an objective standard. There is a right way and a wrong way to worship him.
Freedom for Worship, Not Autonomy
God does care how we worship him. This is obvious in the Old Testament. In Exodus 25, God has just delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, and he always attached a purpose to their freedom. It was never, “Let my people go because freedom is good,” or “Let my people go so they can do whatever they like.” It was, “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness” (Exodus 5:1). In other words, let my people go, that they may worship me.
The same is true when God saves a person. He does not say, “I saved you; now you are free to do whatever you like.” He says, “I saved you; now you are free to worship me.” In Romans 6, Paul writes,
Thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17–18)
Once Israel is freed, God begins establishing how they will worship him, beginning with the tabernacle:
The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him, you shall receive the contribution for me. … And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.” (Exodus 25:1–2, 8–9)
God did not free his people to worship however they pleased. He gave detailed instructions, laid out over the next fifteen chapters. Even in this brief passage, we see three aspects of worship: motivation, goal, and standard.
First, the motivation. Worship must be willing. “From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution” (Exodus 25:2). God has never desired empty ritual. He wants the heart. Even as we consider standards and commands, we must remember that worship is not merely duty but delight in worshiping him as he directs.
Second, the goal. “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Exodus 25:8). The aim of worship is communion with God. Unlike lifeless idols, the living God dwells with his people.
Third, the standard. “Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle … so you shall make it” (Exodus 25:9). God would use the people’s resources and craftsmanship, but the design was his. They were not free to improvise. He prescribed both the structure and its use.
Some argue that God was strict about worship under the Mosaic covenant, but that things are different under the new covenant. For some, this stems from unfamiliarity with Scripture. For others, the claim is more nuanced. They argue that tabernacle worship was tied to types and shadows fulfilled in Christ. Hebrews shows that Christ fulfills the tabernacle’s structure and purpose. Therefore, while the tabernacle offers principles, they argue we are no longer bound by positive commands regarding how to worship.
Is that true? Even if Christ fulfilled the types and shadows of old covenant worship, was the tabernacle the only time God gave his people a standard for worship?
Cain, Abel, and God’s Standard Before the Law
In Genesis 4, we read about Cain and Abel, the second generation after creation, long before God gave ceremonial laws through Moses.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had > no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. (Genesis 4:1–5)
Both brothers bring offerings to the Lord as an act of worship. Yet “the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard” (Genesis 4:4–5).
Some suggest God rejected Cain because of what he offered. Perhaps he did not bring his firstfruits. But the greater issue appears to be his heart. He quickly becomes angry and eventually murders his brother, revealing deep corruption within. Hebrews tells us, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain,” implying that Cain’s offering was not made in faith (Hebrews 11:4). John writes that Cain’s deeds were evil, and Jude speaks of those who walk “in the way of Cain” (1 John 3:12; Jude 11). His motivation clearly fell short, and possibly the manner of his worship did as well.
Whatever the precise nature of the failure, this account shows that, from the earliest pages of Scripture, long before the Mosaic law, God either accepts or rejects worship. He has a standard.
We might ask, “How were Cain and Abel to know that standard without detailed instructions like those later given through Moses?” Scripture does not tell us. Perhaps God gave them explicit direction, not recorded for us. At minimum, they knew the seriousness of sin, that sacrifice was necessary to cover shame—since God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skin—and that a Redeemer had been promised (Genesis 3:15). In any case, God held them accountable.
This shows that God’s concern for proper worship did not begin with Moses. Worship can be compared to marriage.
In Genesis 2, God establishes marriage, saying, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). This is one man and one woman, united in covenant for life. Yet humanity quickly distorts that standard—polygamy, abandonment, concubinage, homosexuality. When God later gives his law through Moses, he addresses these practices and places restraints on them.
During Christ’s ministry, the Pharisees asked, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” (Matthew 19:3). They were thinking of Deuteronomy 24, where Moses regulated divorce to limit injustice. Jesus responded,
Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. (Matthew 19:4–6)
He added, “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so” (Matthew 19:8).
God’s standard for marriage existed from the beginning. He did not invent it in response to human failure. The same is true of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20 was not the moment God decided that idolatry, Sabbath-breaking, or murder were wrong. These were always wrong. They reflect his character and are woven into creation itself.
That is true for marriage. It is true for the Sabbath. It is true for the moral law. And it is true for worship.
God held Cain accountable for unacceptable worship long before Moses because he already had a standard. We cannot argue that God cared about proper worship only during the era of the ceremonial law. The story of Cain and Abel shows that he cared and had a standard before the law of Moses.
The First Two Commandments and the Boundaries of Worship
Turn to Exodus 20 and consider what God says about worship in the Ten Commandments, particularly the first two:
And God spoke all these words, saying,
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:1–6)
These commands accomplish two things. First, they reveal who God is. Second, they instruct us how to think about him and how to worship him.
The first commandment teaches that there is only one God, and we must not divert our allegiance to another. “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). This one God has the authority to prescribe true worship. As his creatures, we do not have the authority to redefine it.
The second commandment sharpens this point, stating, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image” (Exodus 20:4). This includes not only images of false gods but images of the true God. Deuteronomy 4 explains why:
Watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves. (Deuteronomy 4:15–16)
They saw no form. God did not reveal his appearance, and he forbade them from inventing one. However sincere their motives, they were not to go beyond what he had revealed.
God gives creativity and certain liberties, but he also sets boundaries. The boundary is his revelation. If he has not revealed something—his form, his will, his commands—we are not free to supply it ourselves.
These commands belong to the moral law, not merely the ceremonial system tied to the tabernacle. They flow from God’s character. Because he is eternal and unchanging, the standard they establish predates the ceremonial law and remains binding after Christ fulfills it. This is why John ends his first epistle with the warning, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).
God is the only true and living God, and he is jealous for his worship. Idolatry was wrong before the tabernacle and remains wrong after it. Even making an image of God to worship him is condemned. Why? Because it treats what is holy as common. If God did not reveal his form, and we attempt to depict it anyway, we imply that his revelation is insufficient.
In effect, the idolmaker says, “God did not show us what he looks like, but we need to see him, so I will represent him in wood or stone.” And God replies, “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24). He warns of judgment for those who provoke him in this way.
Since idols exist for worship, these prohibitions relate directly to how God is to be worshiped. They show that worship is not a trivial matter.
Someone might object, “A Star Wars-themed worship service is not the same as idolatry.” Perhaps not in the same sense, but both must be evaluated by what God has revealed about himself and about how he is to be worshiped, and in light of the fact that he cares deeply about how he is worshiped.
