What the Bible says
What does the Bible say about worship?
God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is to be worshipped, and he must be worshipped in spirit and truth (John 4:24) in the ways he has appointed, not by images or human invention (Exodus 20:4-5; Deuteronomy 12:32). Worship includes prayer, the reading and preaching of Scripture and singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Colossians 3:16), and it reaches into all of life as believers offer themselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1).
Key Bible verses about worship
- John 4:23-24
But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
- Romans 12:1
Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
- Psalm 95:6-7
Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before the LORD, our Maker, for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
- Psalm 29:2
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name. Worship the LORD in holy array.
- Psalm 100:1-5
A Psalm of thanksgiving. Shout for joy to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that the LORD, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations.
- Hebrews 12:28-29
Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
- Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
- Exodus 20:3-5
“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
- Deuteronomy 12:32
Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
- Matthew 4:10
Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”
- Revelation 4:11
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed and were created!”
Scripture: World English Bible (public domain). Short quotations in the introduction are from the ESV. Read each passage in its chapter for the full context.
From the Baptist Catechism
- Q52. What is required in the first commandment?
The first commandment requires us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God, and to worship and glorify Him accordingly.
- Q56. What is required in the second commandment?
The second commandment requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances, as God has appointed in His Word.
- Q57. What is forbidden in the second commandment?
The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in His Word.
In the 1689 Baptist Confession
The Second London Baptist Confession of 1689 is our confessional standard. See what we believe.