Today, I’m providing a summary of David Peterson’s book, Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship
Peterson formerly served as the principal at Oak Hill College in London and as lecturer in New Testament at Moore College. In this book, Peterson tackles the controversial subject of worship by cutting through the rhetoric of the “worship wars” and by bringing his readers back to the biblical teaching that should inform these debates over worship.
Peterson’s book is designed to take the reader chronologically through the entire Bible, so that the overarching biblical picture of worship will become clear. As he walks us through the relevant biblical passages on worship, he seeks to prove that “the worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the terms that he proposes and in the way that he alone makes possible,” (20).
Peterson avoids the temptation to begin his book on Christian worship by looking at the early church’s methods. He instead traces the roots of Christian worship back to Israel’s patriarchs and then embarks on a journey through the Old Testament history of worship.
In order to understand the Old Testament view of worship, Peterson insists that we must recognize the God of Israel who has made himself known to his people through his word and deeds. The system of worship manifested through the tabernacle and temple acknowledged the living presence of God in the midst of his chosen people. The Jews were required to live in acknowledgement of this presence in everyday life, not only in the religious ceremonies of the temple (49).
Before turning to the New Testament witness, Peterson analyzes the Hebrew and Greek words used to denote “worship,” and he places them in three broad categories:
- worship as homage or grateful submission (57-63)
- worship as service (64-70) a
- worship as reverence or respect (70-72).
Peterson makes the case that these broad categories prove his hypothesis that the biblical idea of worship, or “engagement with God,” actually refers to the whole of a person’s life and not merely the cultic regulations that God requires (73).
From here, Peterson launches into the New Testament witness to Jesus, and specifically, how Jesus represents the “new temple,” the presence of God. He consults the Gospels of Matthew and John to back up this understanding of God’s presence among his people, pointing to Jesus’ speech about the temple’s destruction in Matthew 24 (91), and John’s description of Jesus attending the Jewish festivals (100). God has acted significantly within human history, and in the person and work of Jesus Christ, he has accomplished all that the temple intended to do for Israel and the nations (102).
Peterson shifts to the “new covenant” established by Jesus and writes of Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law of Moses and how his sacrificial death is to be understood within the Jewish concept of Passover. By offering himself as a perfect sacrifice, Jesus fulfills the Old Testament sacrificial system (129).
The rest of the book sifts through the teaching on worship found in the remaining books of the New Testament. Peterson starts with Acts, by mapping out the steady inclusion of Gentiles within the nascent Christian communities, by describing the worship gatherings that Luke records, and by recording how the early Christian churches saw Jesus as the replacement of the Jewish temple. Peterson does not make the descriptions of early Christian worship binding on all believers today. The principles found in Acts are to remain in practice, but the specific descriptions of worship gatherings may or may not translate equally into every context (160).
When describing Paul’s teaching on worship, Peterson emphasizes Jesus’ sacrificial death that makes possible the offering up of our lives as living sacrifices (173). It is because of Jesus’ work on the cross that true worship is possible, and a new kind of service to God can take place through the preaching of the gospel.
Peterson goes into great detail to describe how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament Law by analyzing the theme of worship in Hebrews. The Old Testament themes of worship must now be reinterpreted in light of Christ’s atoning death. Obedience to God in gratitude for what he has done for us in his Son is the sacrifice that God desires (254).
Peterson closes the book by taking up the theme of worship in Revelation, specifically how worship takes place in the heavenly realm and how our knowledge of this worship must influence our worship today that takes place in anticipation of the future (270).
Tomorrow, I’ll provide some personal thoughts on Engaging With God.
