Hebrews 12:28: Serve God or worship Him?
- alw6541
- Jul 31
- 12 min read
Updated: Aug 8
Hebrews 12:28 is one of those verses which can have very different meanings and implications, depending on which Bible translation you are using. We will examine the Greek word "latreuo" in this verse, and how it has been translated as both "serve" and "worship", and which is correct.
Why is this important? Well, since this verse says that latreuo is pleasing to God, we need to understand what latreuo is, so we can know/understand what pleases God, don't you think?
Many modern translations of Hebrews 12:28-29, such as the ESV, say this:
"let us offer to God acceptable worship (latreuo), with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire."
Even though this translation and others like it are very popular (especially within the church of Christ because of our strong beliefs about "worshiping" God the right way", I need to point out that prior to mid-20th century, all Bible translations in every language - translated latrueo in verse 28 as serve:
let us serve (latreuo) God well-pleasingly, with reverence and fear.
In 1885, The Revised Version translated “latrueo” as “service” and added in the word “offer” to make "offer service". Then the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of 1946/1952 was the first major English Bible version to translate “latrueo” in this verse as “worship”. It also retained the word ”offer” like the Revised Version of 1885, so Hebrews 12:28 in the RSV is this:
let us offer to God acceptable worship to God
Many other modern versions (NASB, NIV, ESV) followed suit, and now there are at least 35 English Bibles that have "worship" instead of "serve" in this verse!
So why was the word for serve replaced with the word worship? There was a movement in the mid-20th century called the “dynamic equivalence movement”. This was a movement to change Bible translating from word-for-word (formal equivalence) into something more modern by focusing on conveying ideas and impacting the reader. I’ve been a Christian for my entire life, and I am just learning this!
I understand that yes, words can change in nuance over time, but I am of the opinion that God's word shouldn't be changed to fit ever-changing cultural definitions.
If all Christians for the first 1,950 years of Christianity believed and understood that Hebrews 12:28 was instructing us to serve God in a way that pleased Him, that’s important. For those of us in the church of Christ ( who want to be like and believe like the 1st century Christians), this is especially important, because this means that it’s only in the last 70 years that Christians have believed that this verse it teaching that “worship offered” to God is what is acceptable or pleasing to Him! I urge all of my brethren in the churches of Christ to take note of this!
What's also important to note is how the English word "worship" has changed over time. “Worthship” used to be just a title when it was first invented in the 900’s A.D, then it evolved to mean “honor” (like in the first English translation of the Bible by Wycliffe in 1382, which says to worship your father and mother (Mat. 19:19), and any man who serves God, God will worship him (John 12:26).
Currently, the word worship means many different things, and you can define it however you want to, but truly, the word isn’t even in the Bible! (You can find a link about how there is no Greek or Hebrew word that means “worship” at the end of this article).
So back to Hebrews 12:28 and also verse 29 that mentions God being a fire. I grew up using the NIV version (dynamic translation) which says “worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for God is a consuming fire”. The ESV (which is a formal translation) similarly says “let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” - and I really wasn’t aware that other versions said anything different than "worship". For those of us in the church of Christ, this matches up very well with our belief that John 4 is about worshiping God in Spirit and in truth, which we have interpreted as worshiping God without using musical instruments.
Serving God as a slave
The Greek word "douleuo" is also often translated as "serve", and a "doulos" is a slave, so this is serving in the manner of a slave or being in bondage, whether by choice or involuntarily.
This is also a word that has been translated differently as well due to changing cultural definitions, because "slave" has a negative connotation, so it was been changed to the less offensive "servant" in many versions. But in the New Testament we read about a kind of "spiritual" slavery.
Paul identifies himself and Timothy as slaves of Christ (Rom. 1:1, Phl. 1:1,) and Epaphrus (Col. 4:12), Jesus took the form of a slave (Phl. 2:7), James identifies himself as a slave of God and of Christ (Jam. 1:1), and Peter and Jude both introduce themselves as slaves of Christ (2 Pet. 1:1, Jude 1:1)
Paul says in Titus 3:3 that at one time were were foolish and disobedient, serving (douleou - as obedient slaves) our own lusts and pleasures. But even though we once were slaves to sin that leads to death, we can be slaves to righteousness that leads to life (Rom. 6)
We can think of slavery to God and Christ in a good way. We are slaves to God in that we are obedient to him, right? And he owns us, because he bought us and purchased us: we do not own ourselves, we were bought with a price, so we must glorify God with our bodies. (1 Cor. 6:19-20, Acts 20:28, Rom. 6:19).
It is the purpose of a servant, slave or employee to please their master, boss, or whoever owns them, or whoever they work for, in what they do for their master/boss/employer. This is something that is true for all cultures and has not changed.
Just as Paul tells Titus that slaves (doulos) should be obedient and well-pleasing (euarestos) to their masters, (Tit. 2:9), he also says that he who serves (douleuo) Christ (obediently, as one owned by Christ) in righteousness, peace and joy is well-pleasing (euarestos) to God. (Rom. 14:18).
This word for being well pleasing (euarostos) is also found in Romans 12:1, in which Paul says the offering of our bodies as living sacrifices is what is pleasing to God, for this is our logical service (latreia, a word related to latreuo) to God - but this word service has also been replaced by worship in many translations. Do you see a pattern here? I do, and I don't like words being replaced by other words! I think our serving of God as living sacrifices is an important concept that has been eroded over time and many of us believe our "service" to God is done during the one hour that we go to church. (For more on that, you can read my related article on Romans 12:1)
So for those of us believing that we are serving God by going to a worship service, after we have finished worshiping God, aka, at the end of our “worship services” (“worship service” being another phrase that’s not in the Bible, btw) I have heard so many prayers go like this:
“Dear God, we pray that what we have done in our worship service here this morning will have been pleasing to You” Some add “because you are a consuming fire”.
And is not the implication of that “we hope we have pleased you with how we worshiped you in this 1 hour worship service, so that you won’t send fire down on us as punishment”??? I would humbly assume that we all pretty much believe that, because in every sermon I’ve heard about the importance of worshiping God without musical instruments, the story of Nadab and Abihu is almost always brought up.
In Leviticus 10, these men offered ‘strange fire’ to God, fire that he did not authorize, and they were burned up, so we have somehow concluded that if we don’t worship God the right way on Sunday morning, that we could also be burned up, if we offer "strange fire" (aka, worship with instrumental music) to God, because God didn't authorize it.
*Now, although it is true that no churches has any instruments of music in their assemblies for at least the first 600 years (first one introduced by Pope Vitalian), and they hadn't caught on even in the 12th century (the Eastern Orthodox church that split from the Catholic church did not and still does not use musical instruments, either), and they weren't fully accepted into Christian churches until the 1800's in the United States - we must ask, is this what the writer of Hebrews is referring to? Is the ‘offering’ of worship and the ‘offering’ of fire related in these 2 verses?
The answer honestly is no, because again, the word “offering” was added in to this verse for the first time in the English Revised Version (ERV) in 1885. There is no word that correlates to “offering” there in the original Greek text, so it was added for clarification on the part of the translators. I personally think it takes away from the original meaning of the verse rather than clarifying it, though, and we need to be aware that some Bible translations focus on translating word-for-word, others focus on translating idea-for-idea, and some are a mixture of both - so that’s why examining the original words will always be important!
But as for how “God being a consuming fire” correlates with how we serve him, there is another passage in the Old Testament that matches up with these words, much better than the Nadab and Abihu story that we commonly hear.
Earlier in Hebrews 12:18-27,The writer of Hebrews is directly quoting from Exodus 19:12-13, in reference to when God came down in smoke and fire on top of Mount Sinai (aka Mount Horeb) to give the Israelites the commandments that they were to follow.
The first commandment that God gives the people of Israel in Exodus 20:3-5, is not to have any other God besides Him, to not bow down to or serve (Hebrew: abad Greek: latreuo) any other gods, because God is a jealous God”.
Most good English translations translate the word "abad" as “serve” here, because that is what the Hebrew word “ʿāḇaḏ” means.
The Hebrew word for serve, “abad”, is in the Old Testament 290 times. In Exo. 21, God says if someone buys a Hebrew servant (ebed), they will serve (abad) for 6 years then be set free.
Jacob served (abad) Laban for 7 years so he could marry his daughter Rachel in Gen. 19. The Egyptians made the Hebrews serve (ʿāḇaḏ) them in Exodus 1:19, and we know that Jacob did not ‘worship’ Laban, nor did the Israelites ‘worship’ the Egyptians, not does a servant worship the one who buys him, he serves him.
In Deut. 4:10, Moses reminds the people about how they stood at the foot of Mount Horeb (aka Mount Sinai) and God gave them his commandments. Moses repeats the commandment God gave them in Exodus and says be careful, don’t make for yourselves any images to bow down to them or serve (ʿāḇaḏ) them.
Moses tells the people he is going to die and will not be going into the promised land with them, and again warns them in verse 23 not to forget the covenant they made with God by making any kind of carved image that the Lord has forbidden them to make, continuing in verse 24:
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Deut. 4:24
The rest of Deuteronomy chapter 4 explains what Moses means by this. If the people do any kind of evil thing and act corruptly by making any kind of image, God will be provoked to anger and will destroy most of them and send the rest into captivity.
(By the way, if you have not ever sat down and read Deuteronomy chapter 4, it really is an amazing chapter, and it will really deepen your understanding of Hebrews 12.)
In the Greek, the phrase “pyr katanalisko”, (fire consuming) which is found in Hebrews 12:29 is only found a total of 3 times in the Greek Old Testament, and one of those times is the verse above, Deuteronomy 4:24. "
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire (pyr katanalisko), a jealous God.
Verses 35-36 and 39 of Deut. 4 are very striking, especially in comparison with Hebrews 12.
To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him. Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire…Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
So the above passage in Deuteronomy is explaining how God spoke from the great fire on the mountain, and said that he is alone is the only God - there is no other.
What the writer of Hebrews is warning us about in the last section of chapter 12 is not about acceptable or unacceptable ‘worship’ - but that this is the only God and we should serve only Him.
But our serving of God is still of our choosing, as Joshua in Joshua 24 chose to serve (abad) God and told the people to choose whether they would serve (abad) the gods their fathers served or whether they would serve (abad) the one true God -and if they forsook the Lord and served other gods, that God would destroy them. And what is it that the author of Hebrews warns us about in Hebrews 12:25? He is warning us not to reject or refuse the one who speaks from heaven and refuse to obey his commands about serving anyone besides him. Why? Because our God is a consuming fire - AKA he is a jealous God.
The most accurate translation of Hebrews 12:28-29 is this:
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be grateful, and serve (latrueo) God well-pleasingly, with reverence and fear. For our God is a consuming fire.
I wish that the author of Hebrews had finished out his reference of Deut. 4:24 that “ our God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” or a footnote that this is what he’s referring to, but now you can know for yourself.
As members of the church of Christ, we really need to know that this verse does not mention 'worship' or 'offering acceptable worship' to God, as has been taught for many years by very sincere and well-meaning people!
While, yes, there is the word “fire” and the related word translated as “consume” in this passage, as well as in the story about Nadab and Abihu, I think the exact phrase used by both the author of Hebrews and the Greek translation of Deut. 4 (pyr katanalisko) is significant, don't you?
Hebrews 12:28 says to “serve (latrueo) God well-pleasingly.” And serving God is not something limited to - or completely defined - by what you do in a building for an hour on Sundays. That’s assembly. An assembly of God’s servants - those who serve God. So I ask myself, do I serve God? How? "Because I go to church" was the answer I used to think was correct. Now I'm rethinking what it means to be a servant of God - (not just a "worshipper").
*Please see related article on Romans 12:1 at the end of this article for more on this important topic and article on how the word worship isn't even in the Bible at all).
God is jealous for us - and that's ok
The last scripture I will add is one about jealousy, as we think about jealousy in a bad way, but concerning God and his people, Paul explains it this way in 2 Cor. 11:1-3. Marriage is a commitment and a covenant, and being unfaithful is hurtful.
I feel a divine (Godly) jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Under the first covenant, God's covenant was between himself and Israel - God saw himself as the husband and Israel as his wife. (Ezekiel 16:8, 16:32)
There are many times in the Old Testament where the Israelites forsook God - like a wife who departed from her husband (Jer. 3:20) and went and bowed down to other gods and served them and did evil things that God told them not to do, and this is described as adultery and prostitution. (Jer. 3:6-20, Eze. 16, Hosea 4, Isa. 1:21)
When you think about you and Christ having a relationship like he being the groom and you being the bride, think about how hurt you would be if one of you cheated and went off and made a covenant with someone else. Paul says in Eph. 5:25 that Christ loved the church like a husband loves his wife. This is the kind of jealousy God has for his people, we choose him and he chooses us, it's special, we are devoted to each other. We know how we feel about the special people in our lives, don't we?
So, with this New Covenant relationship we have with God through Christ, let us serve God well-pleasingly, with gratitude. There is no other God, and we are blessed to be able to choose to serve him. Let us not refuse him or reject him, for what a kingdom we will receive if we are his sincere and devoted servants.
Thankyou for reading this. I welcome all comments and questions!
To my brethren in the churches of Christ: I know many of us are sincerely attached to the word "worship", and it probably feels challenging to think that the word "worship" isn't actually in the Bible at all, but it's true! And also, we really need to examine this whole "Nadab/Abihu" thing that we have taught and believed for many years - that it's attached to "offering worship", which it is not, and that God will send fire down on us if we don't worship him in a way that pleases him, when this verse actually says that it's how we SERVE God that is important.
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