Biblical worshipers reverenced the name of the Lord, but the terminology they used varied depending on the worshipers’ needs, preference, or customary usage within the community. Included here are some of the major names or titles applied to God the Father in worship.
In addition to the vocabulary of worship actually being offered in the church, the New Testament contains references to worship that may be described as “visionary”; that is, worship is described in images that seem to transcend the actual practice of the nascent church and which place its worship in an eternal and glorious context.
The New Testament also contains a vocabulary of terms that reflect the worship of the new covenant community, a worship that was anticipated before the formation of the Christian church by the awed and worshipful response of many to the person of Jesus himself and by Jesus’ own worship of the Father.
The New Testament records a number of occasions on which Jesus, the apostles, or the early Christians are found taking part in Jewish festivals or other acts of worship. The accounts of these events involve terminology descriptive of Jewish worship.