"Worship" as a False Friend

What is a "False Friend"?

As a Bible nerd, I have spent a lot time watching videos from a Protestant podcaster by the name of Mark Ward, who spent several years doing videos about "false friends" in the King James Bible. A "false friend" is a word you think you know, but that actually means something different. You find this phenomenon when the same word in one language means something completely different in another, such as "Burro," which in Spanish means "donkey," but in Italian means "butter." But you also encounter this over time within a language, when a word changes meaning. For example, the word "villain" once meant "villager," but now has a very different meaning.

False Friends in the King James Version

You find many examples of such false friends in the King James Bible, for example, "conversation," which in contemporary English means "to have a discussion," but in the King James Bible, usually means "conduct" or "behavior." When we read in Philippians 1:27, "...let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ," this does not just mean we should speak to each other in a Christian way, it means we need to live and act in a way that becomes the Gospel. There are many editions of the King James Version that have notes that explain what these words actually mean in contemporary English, and of course we have many more contemporary translations that eliminate these known false friends altogether. But one word which even these contemporary translations generally continue to use is "worship," as a translation for words in Hebrew and Greek which literally mean "to bow." In contemporary English, when we speak of "worship," most people immediately think of the worship which is due to God only, but these words in the original languages of the Bible do not have this limited meaning.

With My Body, I Thee Worship

It is a fact that the word "worship" in English had a broader meaning than is usually understood today. For example, in the old Anglican wedding service, the groom said to his bride, as he placed the ring on her finger: "With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." Even though I was married in a Chinese Baptist Church, I said these words too, because this Anglican service was often used as the standard Protestant wedding service, though you are unlikely to hear these words used in a wedding these days. It was obviously not the intent of those who composed this service that the groom was to render to the wife the worship which was due to God alone. What this actually meant at the time it was composed was "with my body, I honor you." So what the word used to mean in English is "to honor," or "to reverence," or "to venerate," and often it was in reference to bowing to someone or something to show reverence, such as in Matthew 9:18, when we are told that Jairus came to Christ and "worshipped him...." More contemporary translations translate this as saying he "knelt before him," or "bowed low before him." The key word in Greek here is a form of the word "proskuneo." Obviously, at that time, Jairus would have not had reason to believe that Christ was God, and so he was not offering to him that worship which was due to God only. 

Worshiping the LORD and the King

Another clear example of this is found in 1 Chronicles 29:20, which speaks of the people of Israel, in response to King David, "bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD, and the king." Here, the same verb, "shachah" is used with two objects, the LORD and King David. This clearly did not mean that the people were rendering to King David the worship that was due to God alone. Many modern translations translate this verse as saying that the people "paid homage" or "prostrated themselves" before the LORD and the King.

Worshiping the Ark of the Covenant

We also see in Scripture that we are to bow to (or "worship") holy things. The Ark of the Covenant, for example, is referred to as "the Footstool" of God's feet:

"Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building" (1 Chronicles 28:2).

And in the Psalms, the people of Israel were commanded to bow to it:

"We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength" (131[132]:7-8).

"Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship the footstool of His feet; for He is holy" (Psalm 98[99]:5).

Now, in the first verse we have the phrase "worship [or "bow"] at his footstool," and in the second "worship [or "bow to"] the footstool." In both cases, there is a preposition ["ל" which is the Hebrew letter lamed] which is translated as "at" in the first case, and not translated in the second. But we find the same construction in Psalm 28[29]:2 where we have the command "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." The primary meaning of this Hebrew preposition in these contexts is "to" or "toward," not merely "in the general vicinity," and so indicates the object of the bowing.

The Second Commandment

The second commandment in the King James Version reads: 

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them...." (Exodus 20:4-5a).

There are several things that need to be understood about what this commandment is really saying, and it is not saying. First off, what does the word translated "graven images" mean? The Hebrew word is "pesel" (פּסל), which is only used in reference to images of false gods, and never of the images that God commanded the Israelites to make (such as the images of Cherubim on the Ark, which God commanded the Israelites to make only five chapters later in Exodus 25:10-22), and so it simply cannot be understood as referring to images in general. Our best guide, however, to what Hebrew words mean, is what they meant to Hebrews—and when the Hebrews translated the Bible into Greek, they translated this word simply as "eidoloi", i.e. "idols." So clearly the reference here is to pagan images rather than to images in general.

Secondly, the second commandment says that you cannot make these images in the first place, and so if this commandment was speaking of images in general, the Ark of the Covenant would be the first of many examples of God contradicting Himself on the same issue.

Thirdly, we find the King James translating the word "shachah" as "bow" here, which is the word "proskuneo" in the Septuagint. And the word translated as "serve" here is "‛abad" in Hebrew and "latreuo" in the Septuagint, and this refers to sacrificial worship, which is true worship due to God alone. 

So this commandment says you cannot make idols, you cannot bow to idols, and you cannot offer sacrifices to idols. It obviously does not say you cannot make any images of any kind, and it also does not say that you cannot bow to any images of any kind.

The Temptation of Christ by the Devil

In the Gospels, we are told that Christ responded to Satan's offer to give Him all the kingdoms of the world, if he would "worship" (or "prostrate") him, by saying: "Get thee hence, Satan [or "Away with you, Satan!"]: for it is written, Thou shalt worship ["proskuneo"] the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve ["latreuo"]" (Matthew 4:10). So while "proskynesis" can be offered to persons or things other than God (though obviously not to the Devil, or to false gods), "latreia" is true worship, which can only be offered to God.

Conclusion

So why do we continue, even in modern translations, to use the "worship" to translate words that mean "to bow" or "to prostrate" or "to honor," except when God is not the object? I think it is because many of these translations are so deeply imbedded in our culture. For example, we have the Psalm verse: "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel [the LXX and Vulgate read "weep" rather than kneel here] before the Lord our maker (Psalm 94[95]:6). This could more precisely translated as "Come, let us prostrate ourselves and fall down..." but that doesn't quite have the same ring as the older translations, and when the word "worship" is used in reference to God, it causes no problems for Protestant sensibilities, and Protestants are generally the ones producing most of these translations, and Protestants are also the primary audience.

There are some instances in which "worship" is probably still the best way to translate "proskynesis" into English. For example, in John 4:20-24, where Christ is speaking to the Samaritan woman about whether proper worship was to be offered in Jerusalem (as the Jews did) or in Mount Gerizim (as the Samaritans did), the word is being used in the broad sense of the totality of the religious worship of the two respective religions, and so to translate it here as "to bow," or to translate the closely related word "proskunetes" ("worshipers") as "bowers" would not only be awkward, but too limiting, given the way it is used in this context.

I am not proposing that we should never use the word "worship" in these translations, because I generally prefer using traditional forms of English, especially with texts that are going to be used liturgically, but I do think we need to educate people to understand what these words actually mean, and do not mean.

For More Information, See:

The Icon FAQ

Old Testament Exegesis on the Hebrew Terms for Prostration and Worship, by Edwin Yamauchi

Stump the Priest: The Veneration of the Cross

Getting Started with Franklin Covey Planners

When I hear the confessions of many people, I often see that many of the problems they are having spiritually are the result of them not balancing their priorities very well, and as a result, they spend their time in ways that are not focused on what is really important, and so I often suggest that they need to look into using a good planner. The best one that I know of is the Franklin Covey planner.

I had developed a system of keeping track of things that needed to be done while in college, but I only discovered the Franklin Covey planner when I was a supervisor, working for the Texas Department of Human Services (which is now the Texas Health and Human Services Commission). I had to spend a day in training in which the system was explained, and I got my first planner for free in that training. I came away from that training, not very impressed by it. I thought it was "a bunch of crap" and a waste of time. However, since I had a free planner out of the deal, I thought I would give it a try, and soon discovered that it was amazingly helpful... both in terms of keeping on top of my job as a supervisor, but also, in terms of keeping focused on my spiritual and family life. I then bought a CD set that covered the same ground as the training that I was initially unimpressed with, and listened to it repeatedly, first weekly, and then ever few months, for about a year or so. Once I had the system down, I found it indispensable, and began telling others about it. To my surprise, I found many people were already using it. I thought, "Why didn't you tell me about it sooner?"

Unfortunately, the Franklin Covey website doesn't have a "Here's what you need to get started" page that would make it easy for someone who wants to get started to figure out what to get, but here is what I would recommend. For everything listed, make sure you select the "Classic" size:

Starter Pack

Original Two Page Per Day Ring-bound Planner (pay attention to the start dates of the calendar, before you order, you can select a start date at the beginning of any of the four quarters in a year).

Storage Binder (if the binder you carry, you keep the previous month (for reference), the current month, and the next month, to facilitate planning in the near future, but the storage binders are for archiving past months, and storing future months you are not ready to use yet).

Simulated Leather Zipper Binder (There are a lot of good options, but this is what I would recommend).

Metal Hole Punch (this is crucial for being able to add things to your planner).

Clear Zipper Pouch (you can put things like band aids and postage stamps in this).

One big advantage to the classic size planner is that each page is exactly one half of a standard letter size page, which makes adding things to your planner easy. One thing I do is take the Church wall calendar, fold them in half, punch holes, and then I stick each month behind the Franklin Covey monthly tabs. This makes your planner an Orthodox Planner as well.

For how to use the planner, I would recommend the same CD set I used, but there may be better options out there that I am not familiar with:

Focus : Achieving Your Highest Priorities

The Franklin Covey system was produced by people who are not Orthodox, but it is a great tool. It has you identify what is important to you, and what roles you fill in life, and then to prioritize things accordingly. You could be an atheist who wants to get rich, and use this tool for that. But if you are an Orthodox Christian, your priorities should reflect that, and this system can help you to be more focused on what is truly important.

There is a completely electronic version of the planner. I personally prefer to use the paper planner for various reasons. In the training, they speak of the Core Four things you need to be organized: 1. Tasks, 2. Scheduling, 3. Notes, and 4. Contacts. For scheduling, I primarily use Google Calendar, and for contacts, I primarily use Google Contacts and my parish directory, but for Tasks and Notes, I have found nothing that works as well as the paper versions.

In the Tasks section, I put things like morning prayer, evening prayer, pre-communion prayer, my morning walks, Bible reading, various other reading, and then plug in anything else that I need to get done. Anything I didn't get to on one day, gets moved to another day... however things like morning prayers are either done on a day or not, and you keep yourself accountable by either being able to check it off, or to "X" it out, because you failed to do it.

There are also extra tabs that can be used to organize various things. For example, I keep all of my passwords in my planner (written in a code only I know). When I worked for the State of Texas, I used to have instructions on how to do anything that was complicated enough to warrant writing them down. I also kept the floor plan of my office, and the office directory in my planner. Essentially, any important information I might need to access, I keep in my planner, and so I don't have to hunt for that information.

No two people use Franklin Covey planners the same way. You can watch countless videos from different people showing how they use it, to get good ideas. For examples, see: Franklin 2022 Preliminary Setup/Flip-Through and 2020 Franklin Planner Setup and Flip Through.

See also: Stump the Priest: Time Management