First off, this will be an examination of Hebrews 12:28-29. The ESV and many other versions translate it this way:
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.”
If you are a member of the church of Christ, this verse is particularly scary for us. We have been taught that this verse means that if we don’t worship God correctly, that we should be very afraid, because God is a fire.
Many times people will lead prayers after church is over, praying that what we did today in this ‘worship service’ will have been pleasing in your sight. (AKA we are doing the best we can, we have sung to you without instruments and tried to teach your word, so please don’t send down fire upon us - now or in the future.)
We believe this is plausible, because often the Old Testament story in Leviticus 10 of Nadab and Abihu have been linked with this verse. These men offered ‘strange fire’ to God, fire that he did not authorize, and they were burned up.
Upon first glance, it seems like these 2 passages of Scripture are related, right? I mean, there’s the ‘offering’ of worship and the ‘offering’ of fire, and God being a consuming fire is present in both, so it matches up right?
There is actually another Old Testament event that this matches up with even better and more accurately.
Back up in Hebrews 12 to verses 18 -27. After you read this, go to Exodus chapter 19. The writer of Hebrews is directly quoting from Exodus 19:12-13 in verse 20, referencing 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.
In the next chapter, Exodus 20, what is the first commandment God gives?
“You shall have no other gods except me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God”
Most good English translations have the word “serve” here, because that is what the Hebrew word “ʿāḇaḏ” means, like in Genesis 29 where Jacob served (ʿāḇaḏ) Laban for 7 years so he could marry his daughter Rachel, and Exodus 1:19 where we read that the Egyptians made the Hebrews serve (ʿāḇaḏ) with much rigor.
But some translations, like the NIV, put the word “worship” here. The other Hebrew word for “bow down” is also sometimes translated as worship in this verse, so you have a conglomeration of instructions:
”bow down or serve” - CORRECT”
worship or serve” - INCORRECT”
bow down or worship” - INCORRECT
We know that Jacob did not ‘worship’ Laban, nor did the Israelites ‘worship’ the Egyptians. We find this word again in Joshua 24:14-16:
14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve (ʿāḇaḏ) him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served (ʿāḇaḏ) beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve (ʿāḇaḏ) the Lord…choose this day whom you will serve (ʿāḇaḏ), whether the gods your fathers served (ʿāḇaḏ) in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve (ʿāḇaḏ) the Lord.”16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve (ʿāḇaḏ) other gods”
He continues in verses 20 with more about serving, telling them that if they forsake the Lord and serve (ʿāḇaḏ) foreign gods, then God will turn and harm them and consume/finish them. The Israelites say that they understand that they are willingly choosing to serve God.
There are a few different Hebrew and Greek words translated as “consume" (i.e. burn up/finish). The Hebrew/Greek word there for “consume” is related to, but not exactly the word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament that correlates to the Greek phrase for “consuming fire” found in Hebrews 12:29.
For that we need to go Deuteronomy chapter 4.
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 says be careful, for you saw no form of the Lord when he was on top of the mountain, only smoke and fire, so don’t make for yourselves and images of anything on earth or in the skies above, to bow down to them and serve (ʿāḇaḏ) them.
(Again, Deuteronomy 4:20 is another one of those verses where either of the words for ‘bow down’ or ‘serve’ (ʿāḇaḏ) are sometimes translated as ‘worship’:)
”bow down and serve” - CORRECT”
worship and serve” - INCORRECT”
bow down and worship” - INCORRECT
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) found in Hebrews 12:29 is only found 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.
I think what the writer of Hebrews is warning us about in the last section of chapter 12 is not about acceptable or unacceptable ‘worship’. The Greek word “latreuo” is used in Hebrews 12:28, and just like the Hebrew word (ʿāḇaḏ), it means to serve, NOT to ‘worship’.
(BTW, I am working on a separate article about how the English word ‘worship’ is an interpretation of many different Hebrew and Greek words and there is no Hebrew or Greek word that means ‘worship’, which I know is in alarming concept to us Christians who have grown up using that word and believe in it’s importance, but please bear with me with an open mind and consider this article as a precursor to considering it.)
The earthly mountain that was shaken when God spoke from it to his people/the Jews at (Sinai/Horeb) is different than the mountain that his people (Jews that now also believe in Jesus) have now come to, a heavenly mountain, mount Zion. The kingdom we and they are receiving can not be shaken or removed, it will remain forever.
But our serving of God is still of our choosing, and what is it that the author of Hebrews warns us about in verse 25? Not to reject or refuse the one who speaks from heaven. Why? Because our God is a consuming fire - AKA he is a jealous God.
The best translation I have seen of Hebrews 12:28-29 is this:
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be grateful, and serve God well-pleasingly, with reverence and fear. For our God is a consuming fire.
I wish that the author had finished out his quote there of Deut. 4:24 that “For God is a jealous God” or a footnote that this is what he’s referring to, but now you can know for yourself.
Now, could it be that this is referencing Nadab and Abihu? Maybe, but I think it’s a stretch. The word “offer” is not even found in Hebrews 12:28, in some translations it’s added in, but the word “serving” doesn’t need extra explanation like that, unless you interpret it as ‘worship’… which has led so many to a large misunderstanding of the meaning of this passage and what it is that actually pleases God.
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 words translated as “consume” in this passage, as well as in the story about Nadab and Abihu, but I think the exact phrase used by author of Hebrews and it’s EXACT Greek parallel from Deut. 4 means something.
Additionally, the Greek word “latreuo” meaning “serve” is also found in both passages. The Greek verb “latreuo” comes from the Greek word for “latron” meaning “pay or hire” and the Greek word “latris” meaning “hired servant”.
This verse 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").
Side note 1: 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 Corinthians 11:1-3. Marriage is a commitment and a covenant, and being unfaithful is hurtful.
I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine 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.
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. This is the kind of jealousy God has for his people, we choose him and he chooses us, it's special. We know how we feel about the special people in our lives, don't we?
Side note 2: While yes, it is important to know that no churches had instruments in their assemblies for the first 900-1100 years of Christianity, and I totally agree with singing to God without them, there is MORE to serving God than 'not using musical instruments in our assemblies' (aka worship).
BTW, I honestly really despise the phrase “worship service” because it has made us equate assembling of ourselves with serving God, and that has become the extent of our definition of how we serve God. Being a “Living sacrifice” means something more than singing 5 songs without instruments and hearing a sermon. And we feel justified when we go home because we have 'pleased God'...and maybe we have, but is that ALL that it takes to please God, is that ALL God asks/commands of his servants?
So, 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 devoted servants.
Thankyou for reading this. I mean no disrespect those who still are very attached the word “worship” or those who are very attached to the Nadab/Abihu connection to pleasing God. Yes it’s something to remember, we should always obey God, but I don’t think that’s the purpose of Hebrews 12. I welcome comments, have a great day!
Comments