"Jesus is Worshipped, so He Must Be God" Really?

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The claim "Jesus must be God, because he is worshipped" is:

1. biblically misinformed, or biblically ignorant. What are the Hebrew and Greek words translated as “worship”? Who is properly worshipped?  Is it correct to say “only God can be worshipped”?

 

2. ironically, the claim that “Jesus is worshipped, he must be God” is anti-Christ, since it is a denial that Jesus Christ is a man. Those making the claim insist they will only worship God. They won’t worship a man. They refuse to bow before God's appointed human Messiah.

 

“Deity of Christ” believers contradict themselves. They want to insist that Jesus is “fully man”. If Jesus is “fully man” as Trinitarians claim, then they themselves are worshiping a man. But then they turn around and deny that they are worshipping a man. Deity of Christ believer: are you worshipping someone who is fully man, or not? Make up your mind.

 

Let’s look at these two points a bit closer.

 

Biblically Ignorant

First, the claim "Jesus must be God, because he is worshipped" is biblically ignorant. A lot depends on how we interpret the term "worship". We don’t want to just make up our own definition. How is the word “worship” used in the Bible, and who is worshipped? And here is an important question: Why are they worshipped? Can they be rightly worshipped and not be God? Can they be worshipped for different reasons? Can God’s Messiah, for example, be worshipped not because he is God, but because he is God’s Messiah? Is it correct biblically to claim: “only God can be worshipped”?

 

I have to say, this claim that “Jesus is God because he is worshipped” frustrates me a bit because the claim is so obviously, biblically, wrong. OK, because of the ambiguity of the term “worship” in English, and the presuppositions of English Bible translations, we have to give some slack to the average person who has heard this claim and is just repeating what they have heard.

 

But to claim “Jesus is God because he is worshipped” is inexcusable for a pastor or Bible teacher who knows a little bit of Greek or Hebrew. And unfortunately, I’ve had seminary students and pastors who have finished seminary tell me that “If Jesus is worshipped, he must be God.”  My reaction is a head scratching, “Really? Just do a little Bible study. Find out what Hebrew and Greek words are translated as “worship” in the Bible, and see to whom those words are applied. Is there anyone else in the Bible who is rightly worshipped and is not God?”.

 

The answer to that question is “YES, MANY people”.  There are many people, human beings, that are rightly bowed down to, yes, “worshipped” in the Bible. So, it is patently false, one can even say a lie, to claim that “Jesus is worshiped so he must be God”.

 

So let’s take a look at the word for “worship” in the Bible that is applied to Jesus. Is this word translated “worship” applied appropriately to any other human beings? It doesn’t take much Bible study to see that the words in Hebrew and Greek for “worship” are rightly applied to human beings in many contexts.

The main word involved in the claim “Jesus is God because he is worshipped" is the Hebrew word shahah [1]הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה and its Greek counterpart, proskyneō προσκυνέω .

shahah שחה הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה

(BDB): “bow down, prostrate oneself, before a monarch or superior, in homage”

 

(HALOT): Bow down 1. before a higher person: a beggar 1S 2:36, supplicants before someone in authority Gn 33:7, Absalom 2 Sam. 14:33 before David, bride before the king Ps 45:12, woman before man 1 Sam. 25:23, before prophet 2K 4:37; the nations before Israel Gn 27:29; Bow down in worship: before the stars Dt 4:19, before ls,P, Ex 20:5; before Rimon in the temple 2 Ki. 5:18, before the holy mountain Ps 99:9, generally as attitude of prayer 

 

proskyneō προσκυνέω

(Gingrich New Testament Lexicon) (fall down and) worship, do obeisance to, prostrate oneself before, do reverence to, welcome respectfully

 

In general, these Hebrew and Greek terms mean "to bow down" and “pay homage” to a superior whether the superior is human or divine.

 

A few examples:

 

Genesis 22:5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you." (Gen 22:5 ESV)

  נִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֖ה   προσκυνέω

 

Genesis 23:7 Abraham got up and bowed down to the local people, the sons of Heth. (Gen 23:7, 12)  וַיִּשְׁתַּ֥חוּ   προσκυνέω

 

Abraham is performing the same act both before YHVH and before the sons of Heth. Now of course the sons of Heth and Yahweh are worshipped for different reasons. Abraham worshipped the sons of Heth because of who they were.  Abraham worshipped YHVH because YHVH is God. But the same verb applies.

 

I think this is one reason I was a bit surprised when friends wrote me and said “Jesus is God because he is worshipped”.  I had been reading the Bible in Hebrew for over 30 years by then, and that kind of claim was very strange, even foreign to me, because I could see that the word often translated as “worship” was rightly applied to others, not just God.

 

There are many other examples of people who are rightly worshipped in the Bible (Joseph’s brothers worshipped him, e.g.), but I’m going to jump to David. Do you know that David worshipped Saul?

 

1 Samuel 24:8 Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, "My lord the king!" And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage.”

 

The “paid homage” is וַיִּשְׁתָּֽחוּ. Of course the Bible isn’t saying that David worshipped Saul as God. Rather, David is honoring Saul because Saul is God’s Messiah.

 

Many people worshipped David in the Bible. They better have, since David was God’s appointed Messiah King.

 

Abigail is one example, 1 Samuel 25:23 “When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground.” ESV

The phrase translated “bowed to the ground” is our word shahah, proskyneō. Also, I like to note that Abigail called David “Lord” 13x in that one chapter.  She was a wise woman. She called King David “Lord” and she worshipped him.

 

Here is a kicker. King David was worshipped along with YHVH in 1 Chronicles 29:20.

 

“Then David said to all the assembly, "Bless YHVH your God." And all the assembly blessed YHVH, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and worshipped YHVH and the king”

 

The Hebrew word, וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ applies to both YHVH and King David.

 

It’s funny, actually tragic, to see what the English translations do to this verse. All the other times where shahah, proskyneō apply to Yahweh, translators use “worship”. But all of a sudden, in this verse,

 

ESV they “bowed their heads and paid homage to the LORD and to the king.”

 

NET they “bowed down and stretched out flat on the ground before the LORD and the king.”

 

NIV “they bowed low and fell prostrate before the LORD and the king.

 

This is not being truthful in translation. This is being deceitful in translation. No worship here?

 

RSV even adds another verb: “worshiped the LORD, and did obeisance to the king.”

 

If you have to hide behind a curtain of translation to keep your pet theology propped up, your pet theology will eventually crumble, and you will be found out.

Then how about Psalm 72, which is a coronation Psalm for King Solomon. In Psalm 72:11 the Psalmist says of Solomon, “Yea, all kings will bow down before him: all nations will serve him”. The Hebrew word for “bow down” is the same word שחה that is translated “worship”.

 Interestingly, the second word applied to Solomon, translated “serve” ,עבד can have a deep religious sense of “worship” to it, as it is often the word used for service in the tabernacle or temple to God. But let’s leave it: it is obvious that Solomon was worshipped.

Speaking about the people of Israel, Isaiah 45:14, “This is what Yahweh says "The profit of Egypt and the revenue of Ethiopia, along with the Sabeans, those tall men, will be brought to you and become yours. They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. They will יִשְׁתַּחֲווּ bow down to you and יִתְפַּלָּלוּ pray to you: 'Truly God is with you; there is no other, there is no other God!'"

There are 10s, probably hundreds of examples of people being rightly worshipped in the Old Testament. How about the New Testament? Is the Greek word proskyneō confined only to the worship of God?

 The answer: No.

 Matthew 2:8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him."

 Matthew 8:2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean."

 Matthew 9:18 While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live."

 Matthew 18:25-26   And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.  26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'

 In the Book of Revelation, believers in Jesus are worshipped. To the the Church in Philadelphia, Jesus said: " Revelation 3:8-9 "I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.  9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie- behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you."

 KJV: “I will make them to come and worship before thy feet”

 But don’t both the Old Testament and Jesus say “only worship God”?

 Deut. 8:19 (cf. Exo. 20:2-5): “If you forget YHVH your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.”

 Jesus: “…it is written, "' You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve'" (Matt. 4:10). If deity of Christ, Trinitarians are consistent, then we are not allowed to SERVE anyone else. 

But the truth is, this commandment (worshipping and serving only God) occurs in contexts where the worship or service is of other gods as God is in focus. The point is: only worship, honor and serve YHVH as God. No one else.

 Ironically, to worship Jesus, or the Trinity as God is the idolatry.  YHVH said to worship none other than him as God.  How many persons are in the pronoun “him”? If the Trinity is not YHVH, and you worship the Trinity as God, you decide - are you committing idolatry?

 There is a different Greek word translated as worship or serve, λατρεύω latreuo which is reserved for God in the New Testament. It is not applied to Jesus. This is the word Jesus used when he said of God “him only shall you serve” (Matt. 4:10). Again, this is in the context of serving God as God, and no one else.

 To worship and serve a master, a lord, or the king does not break this commandment because these are not being worshipped as God. The reason I am bowing down before someone makes all the difference. If I bow down before, yes, worship the king because he is king, then I am not breaking the commandment to worship only YHVH as God.

 Jesus is honored and worshipped, not as God which would break the commandment, but as the one who has been designated by God as the King and Priest Messiah. Jesus is honored and worshipped as the one who died for us and to whom all authority in heaven and earth is given.

 The paradigm of honor/worship given to God's Messiah is clear from verses like 1 Chron. 29:20 (of God and David) and Psalm 72:11 (of Solomon). We honor God by honoring God's Son, God's appointed King (1 Sam. 25:24-25, 30 and Phil. 2:9). If people worshipped God’s anointed kings David and Solomon, all the more so the greater Son of David (Psa. 110:1) “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father.

 The man Jesus is not only honored and worshipped as Lord Messiah before his death and resurrection, but especially because of the exalted position that God the Father has given the raised, exalted Jesus. Philippians 2:9-11: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 All humanity will bow the knee and proclaim that the human Jesus is Lord (not God), to the glory of God the Father (the only God).

 “Despite the overwhelming wealth of Scriptural facts which show the word proskyneō was not confined to "worship" of God, Trinitarians continue to ignore the facts and perpetuate this particular lie which they manufactured for the sake of Trinitarian propaganda.” Brother Kel

Denying the Humanity of Jesus

To say that if Jesus is worship, he must be God, is to deny that Jesus is a human being. This is the spirit of anti-Christ.

 

Will we bow down before God’s human Messiah King, or are we ashamed of God’s human Messiah? Do we refuse to bow down before God’s Anointed human King, saying in our heart, “No God, we don’t accept this human Messiah, this man Jesus of Nazareth. You need to provide a different Messiah. God, you die”?

 

If what the Trinitarians claim is correct, that “only God can be worshipped’, and Jesus is worshipped, then Jesus is not a human being.

 

Jesus is worshipped, so according to the deity of Christ claim, he can’t be man.  He can’t be a human person, nor could he even have the abstract “human nature”. If a human person should not be worshipped, certainly non-personal human nature shouldn’t be worshipped.  The deity of Christ claim denies that Jesus the Messiah came as flesh, and that Jesus the Messiah is flesh, since neither a human person nor abstract human flesh would be worthy of worship.

 

Said in another way, if you claim that no one should bow down or worship a human, you are saying that Jesus is not a human.

 

As much as Trinitarians want to insist that Jesus is fully man and fully God, this claim “Jesus must be God because he is worshipped” denies the humanity of Jesus.

 

It’s pretty simple. If Trinitarians say they cannot and are not bowing down to a human, they deny the humanity of Jesus. Once again, deity of Christ believers speak from both sides of their mouths. They want to say that Jesus is “fully man” but then they turn around and say that you can’t bow down and worship a man. Make up your mind. Is Jesus fully man? If he is, you are worshipping a man.

 

Not a Biblical Claim, but rather a claim of Tradition

It must be emphasized that this claim “Jesus is God because he is worshipped” is only an inference. This idea is not a claim the Bible makes for Jesus. Neither Jesus, nor any New Testament author makes this “argument”, saying “Jesus must be God since he is worshipped”. It is a claim from after New Testament times made by later commentators. It is a claim set up on a false philosophical premise and ambiguity of language. The claim really amounts to this: “worshipping Jesus breaks my false unbiblical theological premise.”

 

What about the two times in the Book of Revelation that John is going to bow down before his angel guide, and the angel says, “Don’t do that, I am a fellow servant”?  If John the Revelator thought like modern Trinitarians, he must have thought that the angel who guided him was God, since "only God can be worshipped". The truth is that John the Revelator bowed down to pay the angel homage. 

But the angel tells John that now, with the exalted man Jesus at God’s right hand, authority has been restructured. Jesus, a human, and as humankind’s representative has authority over all angels. “Let all God’s angels worship (bow down) before him.”

 

A Better Way

So here is a better biblical understanding of worship:

There is only one God, יהוה, The Father.

We worship God as God. We worship no one else as God other than יהוה, The Father.

 

We worship Jesus as the Messiah who gave his life for us, and the one to whom God has given all authority in heaven and on earth, not only in this age, but also in the age to come.

 

Summary

The claim "Jesus must be God, because he is worshipped" is:

 

1. biblically ignorant. There are many humans in the Bible that are properly worshipped.

2. anti-Christ, a denial that Jesus Christ is a man. The claim “Jesus must be God if he is worshipped” is in effect: "We will not have this one, this man, rule over us".

3. Contradictory: On the one hand: “Jesus is fully man” but on the other hand: “I’m not worshipping a man.”

4. Not a biblical claim. The Bible never says, “Jesus is worshipped so he must be God”. Rather the claim is based on a misunderstanding of word meanings and wrong philosophical speculation.

 

Podcast and notes/word study of “worship” by Sean Finnegan

http://restitutio.org/2016/03/04/should-we-worship-jesus/

 

Brother Kel article on the word “worship” in the Bible
https://www.angelfire.com/space/thegospeltruth/TTD/terms/worship1.html

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[1] Most take the root meaning of the word to be שחה which is related to “make oneself low” or “bow down”. It is not infrequently connected to a phrase like “with the face to the ground” “with the nose to the ground”.

But others (TWOT) take the root as חוה, exclusively in the Eshtaphal stem, hishtah¦wâ "to prostrate oneself "; "to worship"ת cognate with the Ugaritic hwy "to bow down".

 “The verb in its original sense meant to prostrate oneself on the ground…  Prostration was a common act of submission or self-abasement performed before relatives, strangers, superiors, and especially before royalty.”