In last week’s edition of Chimes, Professor Noe wrote a new article for his Reformation series in which he argued that one of the primary results of the Reformation was a restoration to the Biblical model of worship. This is certainly accurate in many ways; however, Professor Noe also claimed that the only appropriate practices in corporate worship are things that have been explicitly commanded in Scripture. I would like to suggest that this is an erroneous contention that is not beneficial to us as we participate in worship.

One of the sources Professor Noe cites is a passage from Leviticus 10 that refers to a “strange fire” of unauthorized worship in the form of incense offered by Nadab and Abihu. This citation is problematic for a couple of reasons.

First, Levitical laws for burnt offerings have never been a model by which Christians construct worship practices. The Levites were a tribe from whom priests were selected to mediate religious interactions between God and man. Part of this role included making sure sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins were done properly. An appropriate hermeneutic of the text would suggest that, because we have Christ, “a great high priest” (Hebrews 14:4), we no longer are required to follow these rigid instructions for worship and atonement of sins.

Second, throughout the OT, God is at least as offended by a lack of participation in certain acts of worship as he is by Nadab and Abihu’s additions. Would it not then follow–if we are to take this narrative as a source of contemporary worship practice–that we are required to do everything that God has ever commanded in our worship services? Surely this is not possible.

Jesus aids us with this dilemma when he says that the entirety of the law and prophets depend on two things: loving God and loving each other (Matthew 22:37-40). Any worship practice that helps us do these two things (particularly the former, but also the latter), is Biblical worship in the truest sense. This Christological idea of worship was at the very core of the Reformation and was what compelled the Lutherans to sing chorales in four-part harmony as well as lots of other wonderful things that aren’t explicitly authorized in Scripture, but are now commonplace in our worship services.

Professor Noe also says that, “Only the Scriptures, not anyone’s preferences nor the surrounding culture, control how Christians praise their God.”

Surely Scripture should be the primary source for determining how we should worship corporately, but culture and individual preference have always had a substantial impact on how the people of God worship. In fact, one of the primary distinguishers of Christianity is a plurality of style and practice across cultures and denominations.

It is not disobedient for Christians to develop new practices for usage in corporate worship.