He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. clearly indicates that while God the Father was, as He must be, the ultimate and principal object of worship, the heart and thought of God's New Testament people also rested with adoring love on Him who is "worthy .... to receive the power and riches and wisdom, and might, and glory, and honor and blessing."
Yet the full development of this must have been rather late in Paul's life. And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The texts cited also make of worship something far deeper than the human emotion or surrender of will; it is the response of God's Spirit in us to that Spirit in Him, whereby we answer "Abba, Father," deep calling unto deep. I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me. Quite naturally the form and practice of Christian liturgy changed over time. God merits worship because in his imminent presence he is able to answer those who call upon him and forgive their wrongdoings ( Psalm 99:8 ). 1 Corinthians gives rather full data for the worship in this free and enthusiastic church. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. For example, the Canaanites practiced ritual prostitution and infant sacrifice under the guise of worship to gods like Molech and Baal ( Lev 18:6-30 ; 20:1-5 ), while Paul found little had changed in the practice of idolatrous worship in Greek Corinth of the first century a.d. ( 1 Cor 6:12-20 ; 10:14-22 ). The Mosaic covenant enacted at Mount Sinai legislated the establishment of a formal Hebrew priesthood to serve God in worship. Similarities may also be identified in the functions of the ancient synagogue officers and the officers of the early Christian church. It had four principal parts: (1) the recitation of the shema`, composed of Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37-41, and beginning, "Hear (shema`), O Israel: (2) prayers, possibly following some set form, perhaps repeating some psalm; (3) the reading by male individuals of extracts from the Law and the Prophets selected by the "ruler of the synagogue," in later years following the fixed order of a lectionary, as may have been the case when Jesus "found the place"; (4) the targum or condensed explanation in the vernacular of the Scriptures read.
(5) The annual feasts, with their characteristic ceremonies. doxa, "glory" (Luke 14:10, King James Version: "Thou shalt have worship," is a survival of an old English use, rightly discarded in the Revised Version (British and American)). Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! Any male member was free to take part as the Spirit might prompt, especially in the line of his particular "spiritual gift" from God, although one individual might have several, as Paul himself. The principal Old Testament word is shachah, "depress," "bow down," "prostrate" (Hithpael), as in Exodus 4:31, "bowed their heads and worshipped"; so in 94 other places. For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”. The period of service for the priesthood was twenty years, from age thirty to age fifty ( Num 4:47 ). ( 1 Chron 16:36 ) or "Hallelujah!
Theological Implications. The Aaronic priests and Levites were denied territorial rights since the Lord God and service to Israel in his name was their inheritance ( Num 18:20 ; Deut 10:9-10 ). Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. The "private service" may have followed the other, but seems more likely to have been in the evening, the other in the morning. In fact, when Paul instructed the church at Corinth on the subject of spiritual gifts and orderly worship he specifically mentioned the hymn, a lesson from Scripture, a word of revelation, and a tongue and its interpretation as a few of the elements comprising Christian worship ( 1 Cor 14:26 ). The divinely ordained covenant prescriptions for holiness in Hebrew life extended beyond the Sabbath to the entire calendar. The Bible also warns of more insidious forms of false worship, namely, religious syncretism and religious hypocrisy. (7) The meeting closed with the benediction and with the "kiss of peace.". Rather, the patriarch or elder of the Hebrew family or clan officiated as the priest for that group ( Gen 35:2-5 ; Job 1:5 ).