Geoffrey W. Bromiley

Elements of New Testament Worship

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Though the New Testament does not give any detailed information on the structure of the first Christian services, it leaves little room for doubt concerning the basic elements of primitive worship: prayer, praise, confession of sin, confession of faith, Scripture reading and preaching, the Lord’s Supper, and the collection. Early descriptions of Christian worship, such as that in Justin’s Apology, reveal a close similarity to the practice of the synagogue. Even without the synagogue model, however, the fundamental elements would surely have found a place, and distinctive Christian features would have their own origin.

Prayer

Prayer, in the more specific sense of petition, is a constituent element of worship. The first duty of the church between the Ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit was to wait in prayerful expectancy. Persecution quickly forced the Jerusalem church to its knees in common prayer. The needs of Christians, the needs of apostles, and the needs of the world all provided constant material for intercession. Common concern produced common petition. One cannot say exactly how the church prayed. Perhaps a leader prayed for the whole, perhaps individuals prayed in course, perhaps there was the recitation of a form or forms of prayer. Rather surprisingly, there is no immediate reference to a congregational use of the Lord’s Prayer; its use in the Didachē, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (an early Christian manual) is an individual usage (see Chapter 8). The Amen, having acquired a new and even deeper meaning from its use by Jesus (cf. 2 Cor. 1:20), occurs frequently in the New Testament and probably served as a congregational response, as in synagogue worship (cf. Justin, Apology I, 65–67). Stock phrases like maranatha might have been used also (1 Cor. 16:22; cf. Rev. 22:20; Didachē 10, 7); otherwise, it is difficult to see why they should be preserved in Aramaic. Blessings, whether from the Old Testament or in the new Christian form of 2 Corinthians 13:14 or Revelation 22:21, probably came into rapid use. The Epistles especially testify to the emergence of the distinctive vocabulary of Christian worship in the New Testament period. Whatever the forms, however, the essential element of prayer belongs to worship from the very outset, and a genuine Christian service without it is almost unthinkable.

Praise

Closely related to prayer is praise, the confession of God’s nature and works. Indeed, prayer in the form of thanksgiving is itself praise. Almost all the prayers recorded in the New Testament contain an element of doxology. They recall God’s acts and thus sound a note of assurance and triumph. Quite apart from prayer, however, the praise of God has its own place in New Testament worship. The infancy stories show how the life of Christ began with angelic and human canticles that ultimately served as new songs in the congregation. The cry of jubilation uttered by the Lord took quasi-hymnic form. Jesus and the disciples sang a hymn—probably the customary Hallel—at the Last Supper. Paul refers to a psalm at worship in Corinth and to hymns and spiritual songs in Ephesians 5:19. Scholars have discerned possible fragments of early Christian hymns in such passages as Philippians 2:5–11 and 1 Timothy 3:16. The hymns of Revelation show that songs are sung in heavenly as well as earthly worship, though some expositors think Revelation 4–5 might be based on the worship of the congregation. In the earliest period, the Psalter was probably the hymnbook of the church, but if the reference in Pliny’s letter to Trajan (Letters X, 96) is to Christological hymns, it seems that quite early new and more specifically Christian hymns found a place in the confession of praise.

Confession of Sin

The confession of sin is at the heart of worship, for as the worthiness of God is exalted, the unworthiness of man demands acknowledgment. The prayers and psalms of the Old Testament are full of the recognition of guilt, which obviously goes hand in hand with a plea for forgiveness and restitution, and with praise and thanks for the divine mercy and pardon. In the New Testament, the gospel is by its very nature a divine word to sinners. The baptism of John is a summons to repentance and conversion. Jesus takes up the same call, followed by his apostles, in the first preaching of Acts. Peter, confronted by Jesus, confesses that he is a sinful man (Luke 5:8). The prayer God hears in the temple is the penitent prayer of the publican rather than the self-congratulatory prayer of the Pharisee (Luke 18:9–14). In the church’s worship, the great occasion for the confession of sin is at baptism, when the old life of sin is renounced and the new life of faith and obedience is begun. In post-apostolic days the public confession of specific faults was required when the excommunicated sought readmittance. It may be seen from 1 John 1:8–10, however, that confession of sins to God, whether individually or in concert, played a continuing role in the life of believers. Paul, in his letters, refers again and again to the utter dependence of himself and all believers on the divine mercy. Thus, although there is no great evidence of specific prayers of confession in New Testament worship, this element must be presupposed as the basis of all prayer and praise. Prayer itself has to be in the name of Jesus since there is nothing in oneself or in one’s own name that could constitute a valid ground of either access or answer (cf. the role of Jesus as high priest and intercessor in Heb. 7).

Confession of Faith (Baptism)

In the Old Testament the Shƒma‘, though primarily a commandment, served also as a confession of faith: “The Lord our God is one Lord.” As such it had found its way into the worship of the synagogue. Though the Lord gave it added attention, it was not adopted by the early church. The main reason was not that this basic confession was abandoned but rather that there had now been added the distinctive Christian confession “Jesus is Lord.” The faith of the primitive church is faith in Jesus as Savior and God. Peter makes this primary affirmation in Matthew 16:16. It is seen again in Thomas’s confession (John 20:28). John’s gospel was written with a view to the lordship of Jesus (John 20:31). The work of the Spirit is to induce in Christians the affirmation that Jesus is Lord (1 Cor. 12:3). All tongues will finally confess this (Phil. 2:11). On this belief rests the full confession of the triune God (Matt. 28:19). This confession is specifically made in the church at baptism, which is done in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38). The eunuch professes belief in the Lord (Acts 8:37). Cornelius is baptized in Jesus’ name (Acts 10:48). The Philippian jailer is baptized when he believes in the Lord and is saved (Acts 16:30–34). The evidence of the later church (Justin, Apology I, 61) is similar. The baptismal confession was often made in interrogatory form, and it was followed by baptism in the triune name (or triune immersion, as described in Didachē 7).

Whether there was also a specific confession of faith in ordinary worship is open to question; the New Testament offers no instance. Baptism itself, however, was also a normal part of the worship of the church. Taken over from John and continued and commanded by Jesus, it was required for admission to the church, and it included at its heart a confession of faith as well as repentance. Administered in various circumstances and with wide variations of wording, it retained its essential features through every change. The first service for the convert was of common concern to the whole congregation. Like the Lord’s Supper, it had a primary declarative aspect, for the ultimate baptismal confession is confession of the saving act of God in the death and resurrection of Christ. Nevertheless, it also provided an opportunity for the affirmation of faith, which was quickly seen to be a reaffirmation by existing believers. The later weekly confession is a fairly natural and not unbiblical development, which finds a regular place for this essential aspect of worship.

Reading of Scripture

Rather strangely, the New Testament does not refer to the reading of the Old Testament in the common worship of the church. Paul’s epistles are publicly read (1 Thess. 5:27), and this might have formed the beginning of the later New Testament readings (cf. Justin’s “Memoirs of the Apostles,” Apology I, 66). The traditional texts relating to the Lord’s Supper also seem to have been rehearsed (1 Cor. 11). In light of synagogue practice, the extensive use of the Old Testament in the New Testament, the later knowledge of the Old Testament displayed in the post-apostolic period, and the early patristic references to Old Testament reading, it is virtually impossible to suppose that the New Testament church did not include Old Testament readings in common worship. The fact that there were sermons (for example, Paul at Troas) supports this. A sermon in the synagogue was primarily exposition. Early Christian preaching was especially concerned with showing the fulfillment of the Old Testament in Christ. Furthermore, the mention of an interpretation seems to presuppose a reference to the Old Testament. The high estimation of Scripture (cf. 2 Tim. 3:15–17) is a further consideration. Great freedom was no doubt exercised—even the synagogue had, as yet, no prophetic lectionary. But the reading of God’s written Word, first in the Old Testament and then increasingly in the New Testament, was surely a constituent part of worship from the very first, as it patently was in both temple and synagogue, and then again in the church of the second century.

Preaching

In contrast to reading, preaching is solidly attested. Paul preached at Troas. The prophesyings at Corinth also seem to be forms of Christian exhortation. The needs of evangelism and education as well as edification made it essential that the ministry of the Word be included in the early services. The synagogue provided a partial parallel; the teaching of Jesus was an example. The apostles were specifically called to the ministry of the Word (Acts 6). At a later time bishops were to be apt teachers (1 Tim. 3:2). Preaching combined several aspects of “worship”: declaration of God’s work, confession of faith, underlying prayer, and the climax of praise. Early preaching was particularly related to the Old Testament on the one side and to the life and work of Christ (later the New Testament) on the other. While not restricted to formal exposition, it had a strong expository content, judging from the sermons in Acts. Among Gentile Christians in particular, a good deal of information would have to be passed on in preaching, for the same level of biblical knowledge could not always be assumed as among Jewish Christians or the early “god fearers.” Apollos, a man mighty in the Scriptures, exercised an important ministry in this field (Acts 18:24–28). Justin gives evidence of the secure position of preaching in the typical Christian service in the post-apostolic period.

The Lord’s Supper

If baptism was an addition to synagogue worship (though not without some parallel in proselyte baptism), this is even more true of the Lord’s Supper. Both biblical and patristic evidence supports the view that this was from the very first a constitutive part of weekly worship. Certainly, in Justin’s time, there is no disjunction between the ministry of word and ministry of the sacrament, and the examples of Troas and Corinth suggest that, with variations of time and structure, the same applies in the New Testament period as well. The one gathering embraces not only prayer, praise, reading, and preaching, but also the holy meal, which was probably accompanied by blessings (cf. Didachē 9–10) after the manner of the Passover. The Lord’s Supper took the place, not only of the Passover but also of the temple offerings. This is why sacrificial language soon came to be used in respect to the Lord’s Supper (cf. Mal. 1:11). Yet it was not strictly a replacement: the Lord’s Supper shows forth the one sacrifice for sins forever. Christ as high priest has made a mediatorial and sacrificial ministry at the human level redundant. Hence the ministers of the Lord’s Supper, whether apostles, bishops, presbyters, or deacons, are truly ministers, not priests. The focal point is a declaration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for mankind. This is the ground of the fellowship here enjoyed with God and with fellow believers. Ultimately, then, the Lord’s Supper, like all else, is Christological rather than, in the narrower Old Testament sense, liturgical. To describe it as quintessentially liturgical is misleading. It is also to hold in disregard its real place and significance within the church’s worship as a perpetual reminder that worship is possible only on the basis of the atonement that God himself has made by his self-offering in the Son.

The Collection

The reference to a weekly allocation in 1 Corinthians 16, the liturgical significance ascribed to alms in Philippians 4:18, and mention of an offering in patristic writings have lead to the view that a collection formed a basic element in Christian worship. Difficulties to this conclusion include the following: Paul does not speak of a church collection; like the Philippian gift, the Jerusalem collection was probably a special project (though rapidly succeeded by extensive relief for the poor); and Tertullian refers only to a chest for spontaneous gifts (Apology I, 39, 1–6). Furthermore, some scholars argue that Justin’s offertory (Apology I, 65) is that of bread and wine for communion, though this was not an obvious part of the original institution. On the other side, one should consider that almsgiving had a long Old Testament history and that the importance of liberality as part of serving God is beyond dispute. Thus, if it is too much to say that the collection is a constitutive part of the service, there are grounds for its later inclusion. The kiss of peace falls into a similar category.

Occasional Services

It has often been noted that there are no marriage or funeral services in the New Testament. It should be remembered, however, that such services are only an application of the basic elements of worship—prayer, praise, reading, exposition, and the Lord’s Supper, where appropriate to specific situations. In fact, the New Testament mentions certain occasions—for example, confirming by the apostles, ordaining, and perhaps the anointing of the sick—when biblical signs (laying on of hands, anointing) was used along with other liturgical elements. This does not mean that there were developed special services for confirmation and other biblical signs. It shows that the basic elements can be rapidly adapted to particular needs, sometimes with a particular sign. The consecration of Paul and Barnabas to missionary service at Antioch offers an instructive example (Acts 13:2–3). Whether any given service can find a precedent in the New Testament, it offers the materials from which a genuinely biblical service may be constructed, and the injunction that all things are to be done in the Lord means that the introduction of elements of worship is never a misplaced or unwarranted intrusion.

Worship in Acts and the Epistles

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The book of Acts and the Epistles reflect continuing involvement of Christians with the institutions of Jewish worship. However, with the Gentile mission and increasing separation from the temple and synagogues, the churches had to develop their own forms of common worship. Even Jewish Christians came under increasing pressure as persistent evangelism aroused the hostility of the ecclesiastical authorities.

The Temple and the Early Church

The temple figures prominently in the worship of the infant church. After the Ascension, the disciples were continually in the temple praising and blessing God (Luke 24:51–53). Part of the fellowship of the Jerusalem church was daily attendance in the temple (Acts 2:46). Peter and John healed the lame man on their way to the temple at the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1–10). Like Jesus, the apostles stood in the temple and taught the people (Acts 5:25). Later, Paul was anxious to be in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost (Acts 20:16). One of his first acts on reaching the city was to make his way to the temple and undergo ritual purification (Acts 21:23–26). When arrested and accused, Paul protested strongly that he had not offended in any way against either the law or the temple. The witness of Stephen shows that the early church had a strong sense of the transitoriness of the earthly temple (Acts 7:47–50). The problem of Judaizing was important at this very point, for those who attached greater importance to the temple naturally wanted the Gentiles to become Jews so they could worship there. The church, led by Stephen and Paul, came to see that this was neither possible nor right. Nevertheless, so long as the temple remained, it was for Jewish Christians a proper center of the true, divine worship, which is in faith, obedience, sincerity, and truth.

The Synagogue and the Early Church

The Christian’s relationship to the synagogue was equally strong, though the opportunity of exposition soon made the synagogue a place of contention and separation. Stephen seems to have engaged in synagogue evangelism (Acts 6:9–10). Paul made the synagogue the starting point of his missionary work in the various cities (Acts 13). He preached in the synagogues at Pisidian Antioch and Iconium and found a house of prayer at Philippi. It was Paul’s custom to attend the synagogue, and he reasoned for three Sabbaths in the synagogue at Thessalonica (Acts 17:1–2). As late as Acts 28:16 he called the Jewish leaders of Rome together—his detention probably prevented his worshiping at the synagogue—and sought to persuade them of the verity of the gospel. In most of the Pauline churches, the first converts came from the synagogues, though in no instance did a whole synagogue become a Christian congregation.

The division that took place in the synagogues through the preaching of the gospel meant that Christians were forced to hold their own gatherings. They had been prepared for this by the special times of fellowship the first disciples had enjoyed with their Lord, whether formally at meals or more informally. The first church in Jerusalem met together in the upper room for prayer (Acts 1:14; 4:31; 12:12). The breaking of bread, whether in the form of common meals, the Lord’s Supper, or both, played some part in the movement toward the church’s independent worship. Outside Jerusalem Paul (and Barnabas) apparently took steps to bring believers together for their own gatherings, which in some instances might have been supplementary to synagogue services, though there was a definite separation at Ephesus (Acts 19:9). The comparative ease with which synagogues could be formed, the pattern of worship already provided, and the conversion of leading members (cf. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue at Corinth, Acts 18:8) helped to make the formation of Christian congregations a smooth and simple process. Believers probably met in houses, due to the absence of church buildings, and so one reads of house churches (cf. Philem. 2). The apostles made provision for the supervision of the new assemblies (Acts 14:22). Somewhat after the pattern of the synagogue, the two chief ministers were the elder (bishop) and deacon, though it is perhaps a mistake to see too close an assimilation to synagogical forms.

What form of worship was pursued in the Christian assemblies? The New Testament gives little detailed information. From the first chapters of Acts, it may be gathered that prayer and the breaking of bread were primary. The only other detailed sources are in Acts 20 and 1 Corinthians 11 and 14. Acts 20:7 records a meeting on the first day of the week at which the disciples broke bread and Paul preached; the meeting seems to have been in the evening. First Corinthians 11 also speaks of a common meal, which is plainly the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:23–34), though probably in combination with an ordinary supper. First Corinthians 14 mentions a gathering at which members might contribute a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue, a revelation, or an interpretation, though with an emphasis on edifying and order. The injunction in 1 Corinthians 16:2 is perhaps a further hint that these assemblies were held on the first day of the week. Whether Corinth was typical cannot be decided, nor indeed whether the procedure in 1 Corinthians 14 is supplementary to more organized worship, such as at the Lord’s Supper. Perhaps the Corinthian emphasis on tongues carried with it a more-than-customary drive for freedom.

The sources do not indicate that a recognized structure had emerged at this period. Nevertheless, even at Corinth the constituent features of worship—prayer, praise, exposition and perhaps reading of the Scriptures, and the Lord’s Supper—are evident. The materials of the liturgy are also present. The Psalms would be the Old Testament Psalter, and readings involved a fixed form of words. Paul gives a simple order for the Lord’s Supper. Part of the general content of prayer is suggested in 1 Timothy 2:1–3. The prayer of Acts 4:24, though extemporaneous, uses liturgical phrases obviously drawn from the Old Testament. Even the sermons recorded in Acts are not without patent similarities of wording and structure. Since the primitive church is heir to the rich tradition of the Old Testament and Judaism, it would be strange if this were not so. The new spirit and power lie in the new understanding of the old forms, the fashioning of new forms out of the old, rather than in formlessness.

Personal Devotion and Piety of Early Christians

Individual piety finds no less expression in the life and teaching of the apostles than in that of the Lord. Paul is a good example. He practices (1 Thess. 2:1) and urges (1 Thess. 5:17) unceasing prayer. He calls for prayer in support of his ministry (Eph. 6:18). In many passages, he indicates the content of his own prayers, which in the Epistles at least are largely intercessory in character (Phil. 1:4–11; Col. 1:9–12), though a passage like Philippians 3:8–11 becomes almost a prayer of aspiration, and his first Christian prayer (Acts 9:11) was almost certainly a prayer for forgiveness and enlightenment. The indication of content is even more extended in Ephesians 3:14–21, which seems to have been dictated by the apostle quite literally on his knees in the gesture of individual prayer (Dan. 6:10). This prayer of petition characteristically moves to a doxological climax that expresses the confidence of faith and that sees in all God’s work fulfillment of the first request of the Lord’s Prayer. Steeped as he is in Old Testament and Jewish forms, Paul adopts quite naturally a liturgical language that is a free adaptation of existing phrases. The intensity of his faith and devotion, allied to extensive biblical knowledge, produces a perfect blend of dignity and fervor.

In addition to prayer, Paul commands a diligent study of the Scriptures, whether by reading or by committing to memory (cf. 2 Tim. 3:15–17; Eph. 6:17). He also calls for a life of self-discipline, which may include celibacy if this is the divine command (1 Cor. 7:1–8), but which certainly includes a subjection of the body for the sake of better service (1 Cor. 9:24). The discipline of fasting is not neglected (2 Cor. 11:27). Thanksgiving is also to be the constant attitude and exercise of the believer (1 Thess. 5:18). The grave and sober conduct expected of bishops and deacons (1 Tim. 3) do not specify a personal exercise of piety, but it is implied. Timothy, as a man of God, is exhorted to pursue godliness (1 Tim. 6:11). While the worship of the individual merges into that of the fellowship, and also into general uprightness of life and conduct, the personal exercise of religion is an important aspect of worship in the New Testament.

Worship in the Gospels

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The Gospels presuppose the forms of worship native to Palestinian Judaism in the early first century A.D. The Gospels record Jesus’ involvement with both the temple and the synagogue and his example of individual piety.

The Temple in the Gospels

The temple still occupied an important place in primitive New Testament worship. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, was a priest, and God’s revelation came to him as he fulfilled his ritual ministry in the temple (Luke 1:5ff.). Joseph and Mary were careful to keep the law of circumcision and the law of purification (Luke 2:21ff.). When Jesus reached the appropriate age, he went up to the temple for the Passover. It is significant that his conversation on this occasion—a preview of his later ministry—took place among the doctors of Israel in the temple and that he gave to his parents a reply that at least carries the suggestion that the temple, the house of God, was his proper place (Luke 2:42–51). A noteworthy feature in Luke is that the beginnings of the gospel are thus set very plainly in the framework of the life and practices of Israel.

The temple maintains its importance throughout the incarnate life and ministry of Jesus. He attends the feasts of Passover, Tabernacles, and the Dedication. He also weaves the feasts into the pattern of his ministry. Teaching in the temple court, he shows at the Feast of Tabernacles that he is the true water of life. The Passover is the setting both of the institution of the Lord’s Supper and also of the accomplishment of the new exodus by his self-offering on the cross as the Lamb that takes away the world’s sin. The promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit takes place significantly at Pentecost.

If Jesus has words of criticism for temple worship, they are directed against those who corrupt and defile it rather than against the worship itself. His driving out of the merchants and overturning of the tables is an act of defense of the temple (cf. John 2:17) which arouses the hostility only of ecclesiastics and profiteers. Jesus foresees the overthrow of the temple, but he does so with the sadness of the true worshiper, not with the crazy zeal of the revolutionary.

Nevertheless, Jesus recognized that the temple had to be knocked down and that it could not be replaced in its familiar form. God never agreed to have a permanent dwelling built for himself, and the various temples had to perish. God did promise that he would build a house for himself from the lineage of David. This promise had now come to fulfillment in Jesus, the One in whom God tabernacled, in living presence, among men. Hence the temple had reached its end and goal in the person of the incarnate Son. Jesus could appreciate it because it had served as a type of the true and final presence God was to manifest in him. But he could not preserve it in its existing form; he could only “fulfill” it (John 1:14; 2:19–22).

The sacrifices and sacrificial ministry of the temple also served as precursors, or types, of greater fulfillment. One may assume that as Joseph and Mary made their offerings, and as Jesus himself attended the feasts, so he and his disciples continued to participate in sacrificial worship. The life of Jesus, however, was oriented to making one sacrifice for sins forever (Heb. 10:12), which would fulfill the Passover, the regular offerings, and also the special ritual of the Day of Atonement. Hence, when the temple sacrifices ceased with the destruction of the sanctuary, there would be no need to restore them. They had already reached their consummation. The types had given way to the reality in the self-offering of the Lord. Similarly, Jesus accepted the ministry of the Aaronic priesthood during his incarnate life. Yet he came to fulfill the ministry of the eternal high priest after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:1–3). He was concerned neither to restore nor to replace the sacerdotal service of the destroyed temple. If a newer form of Passover was set up when the Last Supper became the Lord’s Supper, it should be noted that here, as in the Jewish modification, the core and center of the ancient ritual was removed with the necessary abandonment of the slaying of the Passover lamb. Jesus had offered himself as the final Passover (1 Cor. 5:7) of the new and definitive redemption.

The Synagogue in the Gospels

The synagogue is no less prominent than the temple in the Gospel records. The custom of Jesus was to attend the synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). In the synagogue at Nazareth he read the prophetic passage and in answer to the people’s expectation gave an (astonishing) exposition of it. In the first period of his ministry, he went about all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues (Matt. 4:23; 9:35). He cast out the unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum (Mark 1:21–28). He also faced the challenge of his opponents in the synagogue by healing the man with a withered arm on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1–5), and he warned his disciples that they would be scourged in the synagogues (Matt. 10:17). It seems that in the later stages of his ministry, although crowds still followed him (Matt. 19:2), he was no longer so welcome in the synagogues. Were not his followers put out of the synagogues (John 9:22; 12:42)? Nevertheless, there was no definitive break prior to the crucifixion, and even then the first Christian missionaries were apparently still received in synagogues of the Dispersion.

Personal Piety in the Gospels

The Gospels give evidence of individual as well as public piety. One may refer again to saintly figures such as Anna and Simeon, whose lives were devoted to prayer and praise and expectation. John the Baptist continues an earlier stream; he is the dedicated prophet of the desert, pursuing a life of asceticism. The Lord himself, for all the contrast he draws between himself and John (Matt. 11:16–19), both commands and also practices an assiduous life of prayer. He wants no outward show (Matt. 6:1–5), but his disciples are told to engage in secret almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. He warns them that prayer and fasting are needed to perform certain works (Matt. 17:21). He insists that the disciples must live in an attitude of watchfulness (Matt. 24:42). He asks Peter, James, and John to watch with him in Gethsemane (Matt. 26:38). He tells them to watch and pray lest they enter into temptation (Matt. 26:41). He himself engages in a forty-day fast in the desert (Matt. 4:1–11). Time and again the Gospels record that he spent the early morning (Mark 1:35) or the evening (Mark 6:47) in solitary mediation and prayer. Before the final crisis, he retired to the garden to find strength for obedience to the Father’s will, which now meant such cruel pain and loss for himself. The prayers on the cross, from the cry of dereliction to the petition for his tormentors and the final committal, are a culminating testimony to the Savior’s relationship with God. This is reflected also in his longer prayers, the cry of jubilation and thanksgiving (Luke 10:21), the beautiful high-priestly prayer (John 17), and the prayer he taught his disciples (Matt. 6:9–13). He refers, perhaps incidentally, to the Shƒma‘ in basing the first and great commandment on the familiar passage from the Law (Mark 12:28–31).

In the true prophetic tradition, Jesus does not tolerate the perverting of true piety into empty formalism. He censures not only the display of prayer but also the prayer that is merely vain repetition (Matt. 6:7). He also condemns the exaggerated emphasis on ritual practice that makes this a substitute for genuine righteousness (Mark 7:6–8). Nevertheless, he does not reject either form (cf. the Lord’s Prayer and the new ritual of the Lord’s Supper) or ritual observances (Matt. 23:23) as such. His call is the prophetic call for the inner walk, the true consecration, and the right conduct, which will naturally find expression in religious exercises and which alone give substance, reality, and power to the external motions.