Many Christians today sincerely believe they’re doing the right thing by worshipping Jesus. Should we worship Jesus?

There are some verses that are often translated as though people actually “worshipped” Jesus. However, as mentioned above, accurate translations do not reflect that idea.

ACCURATE BIBLE TRANSLATION IS IMPORTANT

“On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage”—Matthew 2:11 NRSV

“Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, ‘Truly, you are the Son of God'”—Matthew 14:33 NAB “And the men in the boat fell at his feet, exclaiming, ‘You must be the Son of God'”—-Matthew 14:33 REB

Matthew 28:9 – “Jesus met them on their way, and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage” (NAB). Many translations use “worship” instead of “homage” here, due to Trinitarian bias. However, “did him homage” is the correct rendering of the Greek “proskynesan” used here in the Greek text, since Jesus said, “the true worshippers will worship the Father” (John 4:24). Christians are never directed to worship anyone else but God the Father, including Jesus. Therefore, “did him homage”, “kneeling before him” (REB), “bowing to the ground before Him” (Weymouth), “fell down before”, or “bowed down before”, are the accurate renderings according to the Greek text, in both the local and remote contexts.

Matthew 28:17 —“When they saw him they fell down before him, though some doubted” (NJB). “There they saw him and bowed down before him” (AAT). “There they saw Him and prostrated themselves before Him. Yet some doubted” (Weymouth). These three translations have the most accurate rendering of the Greek “proskynesan” here, since Jesus said, “the true worshippers will worship the Father” (John 4:23), and are never directed to worship anyone else, including Jesus.

However, many translations render the Greek “proskynesan” as  “worship him”,  due to Trinitarian bias, to make it appear as though Jesus’ disciples worshipped Jesus. Since “the true worshippers will worship the Father”, and “him” isn’t in the Greek text as a predicate after “proskynesan”, most translations of Matthew 28:17 are not only inaccurate, they are actually misleading. 

Matthew 28:17 —“When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted” (CSB; NAB; HCSB). “And having seen Him, they worshiped; but some doubted” (BLB). Some translations  render the Greek “proskynesan” as “worship” here instead of “fell down before him”, omitting “him” as the object of worship, since “him” isn’t in the Greek text as a predicate after proskynesan”. These translations, while not quite as accurate as NJB; AAT and Weymouth, are acceptable, because in the wider context of the Bible, “the true worshippers will worship the Father” (John 4:23) and “him” isn’t in the Greek text as a predicate after “proskynesan”.

Matthew 28:17 —“And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted” (LSB: NASB). These translations italicize their adding  “Him” to their text, since “Him” isn’t in the Greek text. Therefore, readers are alerted to this important fact.

Luke 24:52 – “They did him homage” (NAB). – Many translations render the Greek word as “worship” rather than “homage,” but “to crouch down,” or “bow down”, is what the word Greek word here, “proskyneo”, basically means. Since Jesus said, “The true worshippers will worship the Father” (John 4:24), we can be confident that “homage” is the accurate renderng of Luke 24:52.

John 9:38 – “Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshipped him” (NIV). The way the the Greek word “proskyneo” is translated in most English translations (“worship”) makes it look like Jesus may be God, especially since Jesus did not correct the man. However, “proskyneo” is often accurately translated another way, as in Matthew 8:2: “a man with leprosy came, and knelt before him” (NIV). John 9:38 is more accurately translated as, “The man bowed in front of Jesus and said, ‘I believe, Lord'” (GWT), and, “‘Lord, I believe,’ he said, and fell down on his knees before him” (REB). If this healed man had actually “worshipped” Jesus, there is no doubt that Jesus would have corrected him. Why? Because Jesus himself said, “the true worshippers will worship the Father” (John 4:24).

Let’s look at another use of how “proskyneo” is translated: “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you” (Revelation 3:9 New King James Version). Many Christians, including theologians and pastors, today sincerely believe they’re doing the right thing by worshipping Jesus. Most translations render “proskyneo” as “worship” at Matthew 2:11; 14:33; 28:9,17; Luke 24:52 and John 9:38, but they render the same Greek word as “bow down to” here at Revelation 3:9. Regardless of the accuracy, however, the point is that Jesus wasn’t predicting that Christians would actually be “worshipped”. He was predicting the future exaltation of Christians, and the humiliation of Christian opposers. Neither is there any scriptural basis for worshipping Jesus.

The use of “proskyneo” at John 9:38 is similar, kneeling down is what happened, not worship.

DID EARLY CHRISTIANS WORSHIP JESUS? 

When we look at the historical accounts of the early church, Acts through Revelation, do we find any valid instances of anyone worshipping Jesus? No, we don’t! Here are some examples of what we do find:

“A worshipper of God”—Acts 16:14 NASB; 18:7 NASB

“Worship God”—1 Corinthians 14:25; Revelation 19:10; 22:9

“Worshipped God”—Revelation 7:11 NASB; 11:16 NASB; 19:4 NASB

A survey of the entire New Testament finds evidence of God alone being worshipped, and no evidence of Jesus being worshipped.

WHO DID JESUS SAY “TRUE WORSHIPPERS WILL WORSHIP”?

John 4:23 — “the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (LSB). Trinitarians have turned God’s Son into a false God, an idol, by worshipping him. How atrocious that is! Who did Jesus say should be worshipped? Himself? No, Jesus identifies God as the Father who is to be worshipped. Jesus also said, “YOU SHALL WORSHIP Yahweh YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY” (Matthew 4:10 LSB margin). Jesus thus identifies Yahweh as God, who is to worshipped exclusively. The scriptures confirm that “Yahweh” is “God” the “Father” (Malachi 2:10,12 LSB; NASB). Neither Jesus, nor his apostles, ever said the true worshippers would worship the Son, the holy Spirit, or the Trinity, but only the Father. The apostle Paul didn’t recognize any other God than the God of Israel. He wrote that Gentiles were being “grafted” into the “Israel of God” (Romans 11:24; Galatians 6:15,16), and were worshipping the same God. “Is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also” (Romans 3:29 LSB). The Jews knew nothing of any Trinity, or any worshipping Jesus. Jesus was “human” (John 1:14 NLT; 1 John 4:2), so he could not be Almighty God (Numbers 23:19)!

IS JESUS GOD?

John 10:30 – “I and the Father are one”. Trinitarians often equivocate the meaning of John 10:30, and claim this means Jesus is God. Notice that Jesus said ‘he and his Father are one.’ The Greek word translated “one” here is “hen”, is in the neuter gender, which means it represents unity, and it’s not the Greek word “heis”, which is the numerical one. Thus, we read, “I and the Father are of one accord” (John 10:30 Lamsa). Jesus’ prayer for the unity of his disciples shows that the oneness, or union, between Jesus and his Father was not as to the identity of person, but rather, as to purpose and action.

Notice the frank admission by a scholarly Trinitarian, “The Father and the Son are in perfect unity in their natures and actions, but the neuter form of ‘one’ rules out the meaning that they are one person” (Ryrie Study Bible note). John 11:52 says that Christ was to die that he might make all of God’s “children” into “one”. Does that mean Christians would become “one being”? In John 17:11,21,22 Jesus prays that all his followers would become “one” just as he and his Father are “one”. Does that mean they would also become “one substance”, “one essence”, “one nature”, or “one being”, as Trinitarians claim that three members of their Trinity are? How foolish it would be to think so!

In 1 Corinthians 3:8, “he who plants and he who waters are one [“hen”]” (NKJV]. This verse is also accurately translated as, “The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose” (NIV). This shows that the Greek word “hen” means “one purpose”.

An example of how Jesus used “heis” is in John 8:17,18 — “In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me” (NIV). ‘I’m one (“heis”) and my Father who sent me is the other,’ he says.  Obviously, Jesus and his Father are two separate and distinct people. The numeral “one” (“heis”), Jesus says, stands for himself, and his “other witness” is his “Father“. Obviously, 1 + 1 =2.

CONCLUSION

Thus, the scriptures themselves undermine the very foundation of the Trinity doctrine. Should we worship Jesus? Not according to the scriptures!

For more information on this website, please see the following article on this website:

“Is Worshipping Jesus Like Worshipping Nehushtan?” – https://bibleauthenticity.com/is-worshipping-jesus-like-worshipping-nehushtan/