Gospels

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.

Covenant Worship in the New Testament

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In the New Testament, the concept of covenant is often subsumed under other metaphors that describe the relationship between the Lord and his people. The most important of these is the “kingdom of God,” which was the primary theme of Jesus’ teaching and preaching. The new Israel is also called God’s temple (Eph. 2:21; 1 Cor. 3:16–17), Christ’s body (Rom. 12:4; 1 Cor. 10:17; 12:12–27; Eph. 2:16; 4:15–16), and the city of God (Matt. 5:14; Rev. 21–22). The numerous references to God as Father, to believers as brothers, and to the church as a household portray the church in terms of a family. There are, however, many references to the covenant itself. The brief covenant formulary of the Old Testament—I will be their God and they shall be my people—is applied to the church by several New Testament writers (Heb. 11:16; 1 Pet. 2:10; Rev. 21:3).

Covenant in the Gospels and Acts

The Gospels narrate the coming of the Servant. In some cases they explicitly state that the stories they tell verify Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecy; at other times, they simply recount events that make it obvious. In his teaching, Jesus appears as a spokesman for the covenant in much the same way as Moses is portrayed in the Pentateuch. For example, in response to a questioner he states the basic requirements of the covenant in language borrowed from Moses (Deut. 6:4; Lev. 19:18); the stipulations to love the Lord with one’s entire being and to be loyal to one’s brother servant of the Lord lie at the heart of the concept of the treaty-covenant (Mark 12:30–31).

The Gospels present the events of Jesus’ passion and crucifixion in order to make the point that he fulfills the old covenant and institutes a new one. On the night of his arrest, Jesus offers the new covenant to his disciples in the upper room. The Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist, is the Christian “Passover,” or covenant meal (Matt. 26:26–29); it calls to the remembrance of the new Israel its deliverance by the sacrifice of Christ, the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7). As Christians eat the body and drink the blood of the sacrifice, they reaffirm their covenant relationship with the Lord in an act of worship.

At Jesus’ death on the cross, the rending of the temple veil discloses the absence of the ark of the covenant in the temple; the Lord of hosts is no longer with the old institutions but with his new people of the kingdom. Clearly, the Gospel writers intend to emphasize that Jesus fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies that relate to the coming of the Messiah, or anointed Servant, in whom the covenant of the great King is fully realized. This theme is continued in the preaching of the apostolic church. In his sermon after the healing of the lame man, Peter tells the Jews gathered at the temple that all the prophecies from that of Samuel onward were fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Servant of God (Acts 3:24).

Covenant in the Epistles of Paul

Paul’s letters are replete with references to the covenant; indeed, his working out of the theology of salvation through Jesus Christ cannot be adequately understood apart from an understanding of covenant terminology.

Romans. From the outset, Paul’s letter to the Romans has the covenant as its underlying theme. Worship, the acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty over all things, is a requirement laid upon all people; those who refuse to give thanks to God are given up, or excluded from the covenant, becoming subject to its curses (Rom. 1:21–24). Paul picks up the imagery of marriage with Yahweh, which the Israelite prophets used as an analogy to the covenant, in order to explain the end of the old economy and the onset of the new. A marriage, he tells the Romans, is in force only as long as both partners are alive. If one dies, the other is free from his covenant and can legitimately marry another. A person who has acknowledged Jesus as Lord has identified with him in his death, becoming, as it were, dead along with Christ, in order to be raised with him into a new life. Thus Christian baptism, as an act of worship, has profound covenantal foundations. The death of the believer with Christ renders him free from the old covenant and places him within the new covenant nation, or bride of Christ (Rom. 7:4). The old covenant was not able to produce righteousness, being only a picture of the new, in which Jesus Christ, who embodies the covenant, becomes righteousness for the believer. This righteousness, the life that embodies the covenant, shines through the church to the world, as God’s people “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4 kjv).

Paul uses the olive tree as a figure for the blending of the old and new covenants in Jesus. Gentiles who acknowledge Jesus as Lord are grafted into the tree alongside believing Jews. Together they make up the people of God under the new covenant. Blindness has come upon part of the Jewish people until the full proportion of Gentiles can be grafted into the olive tree. “And so [that is, ‘in this way’] all Israel [both Jews and Gentiles] will be saved” (Rom. 11:26, italics added). Using an image taken from Old Testament symbolism of the exchange of clothing in a covenant, Paul urges his readers to “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,” as one wears a garment (Rom. 13:14). He summarizes by admonishing both groups to receive one another and be like-minded in order to glorify God as one people (Rom. 15:5–12).

Corinthians. The remarkable passage in 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1, which appears to break the continuity of thought in its context, may be a fragment from an earlier letter of Paul’s, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:9. The thrust of this passage is that Christians are to separate from unbelievers. Paul presents this admonition in the form of a prophetic declaration of the covenant, in the name of “the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:16–18), which makes use of a chain of quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures. Here the Lord declares that he will dwell among his people, citing the covenant formulary—I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Lev. 26:12; Ezek. 37:27). He then summons his people to separate from uncleanness and to be gathered to him (Isa. 52:11). Extending the language of the Davidic covenant to all his people, the Lord declares that he will be their Father (2 Sam. 7:14), and they shall be his sons (Hos. 1:10) and daughters. Paul’s Corinthian readers would have understood the covenant terminology underlying this passage, for (contrary to what is often said) the Corinthian church was mainly a Jewish congregation (cf. Acts 18:1–17).

Galatians. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul makes a particularly strong statement about the old and new covenants. Certain teachers who would require Christians to return to the old covenant were creating problems in Galatia, and Paul writes to address the subject. He uses the terms “the Law” and “Book of the Law” to refer to the old covenant and says that it cannot bring people into relationship with God. Even those who are born Jews, he asserts, cannot come to the Father except through Christ; how much less those who are Gentiles to begin with (Gal. 2:15–16).

Paul goes on to refer to Abraham, who was justified, or placed in a covenant relationship with the Lord, through faith and not through observing regulations. The law that came later could not invalidate God’s covenant with Abraham, which promised that in him all nations of the earth would be blessed (Gal. 3:17). The promise was made, Paul explains, to Abraham’s “seed” and not his “seeds,” and that “seed” (singular) is Jesus Christ. The old covenant was to serve only until the Seed came (Gal. 3:19), but it was not the promised blessing. The Seed comes to both Jews and Gentiles, because both are under sin and need the anointed Servant to be the covenant on their behalf. When a person is baptized into Christ, he or she is clothed with Christ (Gal. 3:27); here Paul again refers to the exchange of clothing in the enactment of a covenant. As a result of being clothed with Christ in the new relationship, no physical distinctions remain, whether of race, gender, or social status (Gal. 3:28–29). Paul uses the analogy of Hagar and Sarah to illustrate that the children of the promise are those who are born into the covenant relationship through faith, while the earthly Jerusalem and its old covenant inhabitants are children of the slave girl and will not inherit the promises (Gal. 4:21–31).

Ephesians and Colossians. Writing to the church in Ephesus, Paul adopts the style of the Hebraic blessing, a form of worship ascribing honor to the Lord; the hymnic quality of the opening passage is marked by the recurring refrain “to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:12, 14; cf. 1:6). He reminds the Ephesians that the people God has chosen to create and adopt are those redeemed by Jesus Christ, both Jews and Gentiles together. Both groups are in need of God’s life-giving power. Jesus Christ himself has broken down the wall between Jew and Gentile and united them in a new creation. This created people is the mystery that Paul has been commissioned to make known; this was God’s plan from the beginning, “his eternal purpose which [God] accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph. 3:11). The church, or “new man,” is the culmination and crown of the new creation, just as mankind was in the old. It represents God’s ultimate and eternal purpose in the earth. As he concludes, Paul uses the image of the exchange of weaponry between covenant partners; he presents his readers with a listing of the armor of God and admonishes them to wear it in their battles against the enemy (Eph. 6:10–17).

Paul assures the Colossians that they exhibit the sign of the covenant, a spiritual circumcision made evident by water baptism (Col. 2:11–15). They should not submit to the regulations of the old covenant, which is only a shadow of the reality that is Christ (Col. 2:16–23).

Covenant in Hebrews

The letter to the Hebrews is dedicated almost entirely to a discussion of the new covenant (see especially Heb. 8:1–13). The writer identifies Jesus as the one who has appeared “in these last days” (Heb. 1:2) and has been appointed heir of all things. He is the “firstborn,” or King (Heb. 1:6, 8), who has “provided purification for sins” (Heb. 1:3) as the covenant sacrifice and is the anointed Servant (Heb. 1:9) who was promised. He calls those in the new covenant “brothers” (Heb. 2:11–18); he is the seed of Abraham (Heb. 2:16) and the builder of God’s house (Heb. 3:1–6). He embodies the Sabbath, the rest that is promised to God’s people (Heb. 3:18–4:11). Jesus is our high priest (Heb. 5:1–8:6) who administers the new covenant (Heb. 8:6ff.). This new covenant is the one of which the prophets spoke, wherein all its adherents would know the Lord (Heb. 8:8–12). It takes the place of the old covenant, completely absorbing and superseding it (Heb. 8:13ff.). Christ is the covenant sacrifice (Heb. 9:24–28), removing by his death the need for animal sacrifices under the law (Heb. 10:1–22). Again and again the writer of Hebrews contrasts the two covenants, emphasizing that the new is far superior to the old and has taken its place; by it one enters “Mount Zion,” the “heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God,” to an assembly of angels and of one “firstborn,” to God the judge, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant (Heb. 12:18–24). Neither are the sacrificial ceremonies of the Jewish sanctuary relevant (Heb. 13:10–14); in place of animals, new covenant people are to “offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name” (Heb. 13:15).

Covenant in the Revelation

The Revelation to John is a covenant document of the first magnitude, a dramatic portrayal of the enactment of the curses inherent in the covenant against the unfaithful. The proliferation of sevens is a clue to the book’s covenant content, a reminder of the taking of a covenant oath, which in Hebrew is literally “to seven oneself.” The Revelation is also a picture of covenant worship in the response of God’s new people to his mighty acts of deliverance on their behalf. John has given the church a pattern to follow in his descriptions of the twenty-four elders falling down before the Lamb, the white-robed saints playing harps, and the great congregation shouting, “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!” (Rev. 19:6–7). In the worshiping church, “the holy city, new Jerusalem,” the covenant finds fulfillment: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them” (Rev. 21:3).

Jesus Is the Covenant

Summarizing the witness of the New Testament authors, we see that Jesus himself takes on all the elements of the covenant in order to keep it for those who are “in him.” He is Servant (Phil. 2:7), Lord (Phil. 2:11), and Shepherd (Heb. 13:20–21). He is the witness to the covenant (Rev. 1:4–5). He is the covenant sanctions, the blessing (Eph. 1:3) and the curse (Gal. 3:13). He is the Word made flesh (John 1:1, 14), the text of the new covenant in a language able to be understood, now deposited in the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:19–22). He is the sacrifice (1 Cor. 5:7) and the covenant meal (John 6:48–54), which enact the covenant. He is the garment put on in token of the covenant (Gal. 3:27). He is the sign (Luke 2:34), our peace (Eph. 2:14), and our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). He has formed his people (Eph. 2:10) and named them in order to establish ownership (Eph. 3:15). In grateful recognition of God’s covenant blessing in the person of Jesus Christ, the church as his royal priesthood is commanded to demonstrate loyalty to the covenant through worship that brings glory to the Lord (1 Pet. 2:9–10).

The Covenants Compared

From Genesis to Revelation, the covenant theme shines through the Bible, sending out a clear light for the believer’s walk with God. The covenant is the basis of God’s dealings with creation in general and with his created people in particular. The old covenant with its regulations was a guardian over God’s chosen people until Jesus came. Christ, the “last Adam,” entered into covenant with the Father and keeps it on behalf of those who trust in him. All who are identified with him are also in covenant with God, having Jesus’ righteousness imputed to them.

Under the Israelite covenant it was Moses’ faithfulness through which Israel had access to Yahweh. Moses was the one who entered the presence of God, spoke with him face to face, and interceded for his rebellious and unfaithful nation (Exod. 32:1–14). This picture is fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus as mediator of the new covenant. His faithfulness ensures the covenant for those who remain in him. As Moses interceded for Israel, so Jesus intercedes for his church, he himself being the sacrifice that makes the intercession acceptable (Heb. 10:1–10).

Response to the Covenant

The covenant people are called to acknowledge God’s kingship and to respond with worship. When Israel violated the covenant by abandoning the worship of Yahweh and turning to idols, God rejected his treaty with them and abandoned them to defeat and captivity. Covenant blessings were withdrawn, and curses were released on the people (Ps. 78:21–22, 58–64). When they worshiped in song and dance before the Lord, he brought prosperity and victory over their enemies (2 Chron. 20:18–22).

In giving the covenant, the Lord delivered instructions for worship, which was to have been the chosen people’s special ministry to him. In fact, it was his original intention that the whole nation and not the tribe of Levi alone be a worshiping priesthood (Exod. 19:3–6). Although they drew back out of fear (Exod. 20:18–21; Deut. 5:23–27), the Lord instituted for Israel a system of worship by which they maintained their identity as his covenant people and through which they were to reflect his glory to the nations.

As in the covenant of Israel, so in the Christian covenant it is incumbent upon the recipients of God’s covenant love to worship him. In describing life under the new covenant, Isaiah declares, “For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations” (Isa. 61:11). The first act of the newborn church on the day of Pentecost was a spontaneous outpouring of praise, with the disciples “declaring the wonders of God” (Acts 2:11). Jesus told the Samaritan woman that God seeks worshipers (John 4:23). As the people of Israel expressed their praise and thanksgiving to God through joyous festivals, the church celebrates in the Christian Eucharist, or “thanksgiving” feast. Peter writes that the body of believers has been made into a people for the express purpose of “[declaring] the praises of him who called [them] out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9). The worship of the covenant people delights the Lord, as the psalmist writes:

Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. (Ps. 149:1–4)

Establishment of the Gospels

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Christians did not depend first on written sources for their faith. They accepted the Old Testament as sacred, but the New Testament was created and collected gradually. For four or five decades after the death of Jesus, the story of his life and message was transmitted orally. The earliest written Gospel was Mark, which told the basic details of the life of Jesus. A few years later came the Gospel of Matthew, whose story is fuller. Because of the high regard in which it was held, it was placed as the first of the Gospels at the very beginning of the New Testament collection. These Gospels were supplemented by the Greek account of Luke. Here Gentile Christians had a sketch of the events and the teachings of Jesus. The Gospel according to John interpreted the mind and character of Jesus in language familiar to the religious thinkers of the Hellenistic age.

Impact: As soon as the first written Gospels were available they were read in the churches. Every church had its own collection of manuscript rolls, which were highly prized.