Worship Question: What does the Bible say about our posture in worship?

This brief article addresses a question that was asked of the Session. The following represents the response of the Session on August 5, 2025.

Question: According to Neh. 8:4 Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform while he read from the book of the law, and when he opened the book of the law to read, the people likewise stood to receive the reading of the law (Neb. 8:5). Is this narrative description prescriptive for the church according to the RPW (i.e., Regulative Principle of Worship)? In other words, is the congregation required to stand in corporate worship when the minister reads the Word from the pulpit?

Answer: Biblical evidence for one’s posture in worship varies. The Psalms portray worshippers standing (Ps. 134:1; 135:2), bowing (Ps. 5:7; 95:6; 138:2), and kneeling (Ps. 95:6). In the NT Jesus sat down in Matthew 5:1 before he began to preach. He stood to read from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue in Luke 4:16, though he sat down when he preached in Luke 4:20. This appears to be the pattern in synagogue worship (i.e., the Rabbi stands to read; sits to preach). As for the posture of the worshippers in Acts 20:7, while Paul preaches Eutychus is sitting (Acts 20:9), and Acts 13:14 may suggest that Paul and Barnabas sat down during the reading from the law and prophets in the synagogue (though there could be a gap in the text between their sitting and the conclusion of the reading that may leave room for an act of standing). 

In the Westminster Directory for the Publick Worship of God, the posture of the congregation is neither prescribed nor even mentioned at any point. This alone would suggest that posture was never seen as a critical component of worship. In the Westminster Confession of Faith we read in chapter 21 those elements that are prescribed in worship. Within the relevant sections on “elements” (i.e., those things that are required in worship) the only mention of posture is with reference to the posture of the heart (WCF 21.5). In WCF 21.6 posture is discussed with reference to the direction we worship (e.g., do we face east? Do we face west?) and this clearly falls under the category of “circumstances” of worship (i.e., those things that may change from culture to culture, congregation to congregation, generation to generation that must be decided, but do not make the worship more or less acceptable or glorifying in the eyes of God). 

For these reasons we conclude that standing or sitting for the reading of God’s word is a circumstance of worship. Some churches may request that congregants stand for the reading of God’s word out of reverence, and that is certainly permissible and there are Biblical examples of that practice. But posture is not Biblically prescribed in worship and therefore, as a circumstance, the Session, and by extension the presiding minister or elder, is free to request the congregation to stand or sit at their or his discretion.