WHO IS THE PROPER OBJECT OF WORSHIP?
An excerpt from yesterday's "What Does It Mean to Worship?"
An excerpt from yesterday's "What Does It Mean to Worship?"
Dr. Paul Manuel—2011
Contrary to the character of most hymns,1 the focus of our devotion should be on God the Father,2 rather than on Jesus3 or on the Holy Spirit (i.e., theocentric not christocentric or pneumocentric).4 This is the clear and consistent teaching of scripture, where “[t]he normal manner [is to worship] the Father, on the merits of the Son, in or through the Holy Spirit” (Thiessen 1979:304).5 As Paul says,6
Eph 2:18 …through him [Jesus] we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Eph 5:18b …be filled with the Spirit…. 20 …giving thanks to God the Father…in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.This order does not negate the deity of Jesus or of the Holy Spirit; it simply recognizes the hierarchy and respective responsibility that exists in the Godhead, that each member (though equal to the others) has a different role, and that it is the role of God the Father to receive worship.
For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.
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Jim Skaggs