“Latreuō” is translated as “serve” or “worship.” It conveys serving, but it refers to a specific religious service rather than worship or serving as a slave. Worship is giving credit for who a person is and for what they have done. One who is a slave is bound to obey his master. Religious service denotes actions that relate to services performed in service to God.
When Satan tempted Jesus, his final offering was the kingdoms of the world system he had built. To obtain these, all Christ needed to do was worship him (Matthew 4:8–9). In response, Jesus rebuked Satan, sent him away, and stated that worship is given only to the LORD and that religious service will be rendered only to Him (Matthew 4:10).
In Paul’s letter to the saints in Rome, he expresses his strong desire to come to them. Using God as his witness—whom he religiously serves in the gospel of His Son—Paul declares how he continually remembers them (Romans 1:9). As a servant of Jesus Christ, he was appointed to the gospel of God, which He promised before through His prophets and holy Scriptures concerning His Son (Romans 1:1). This message of good news does not bring shame, but has an inherent ability to save (Romans 1:16). Paul serves God in this manner with a clean conscience, for what he speaks and does is based upon truth (2 Timothy 1:3).
Rendering religious service is not a term restricted to Judaism or Christianity. Those who reject God exchange the truth of God for the lie: independence from God. These ones hold in reverential awe and religiously serve creation, rejecting the true Creator (Romans 1:25). The reality of God’s eternal power, seen through creation, is undeniable. Therefore, those who reject God do so by changing a proper opinion of who He is into that of corruptible man, beast, and even creeping things. While professing themselves to be wise, they display their foolishness by worshiping creation while rejecting the Creator.
Those of the Church belong to the circumcised in spirit, who render religious service to God in the spirit, while having no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3). This religious service involves our bodies and how we conduct our lives. It is our reasonable religious service to present our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). Thus, we all should know how to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor as children of God (1 Thessalonians 4:4).
The religious service offered under the Levitical order did not have the ability to send away sins or cleanse the conscience because it used the blood of bulls and goats for the purifying of the flesh. However, Christ is the mediator of a better covenant, built upon better promises (Hebrews 9:15). Therefore, His blood cleanses even our conscience from dead works so that we may religiously serve the living God apart from the works of the flesh (Hebrews 9:14). Therefore, our religious service is not based upon works of the law; rather, we religiously serve God in our spirit in truth, giving Him credit for who He is and what He has done.
