Worshiping Jesus
Dear Bro. Don,
I read with great interest your November editorial entitled “Worshiping Jesus,” as I am the brother you mentioned whose question sparked the article. Having in the interim studied the question myself, I felt that I should offer some clarifications.
It is obvious that Jesus is worshiped in scripture (14 times in the KJV) and deserves worship. However, the English word worship has changed in meaning since the 16th century and its Biblical meaning needs to be properly understood. The modern meaning of the word implies by definition that the object of worship is divine, leading to the misuse of this concept by Trinitarians as proof that Jesus is God. The older meaning of the English word means to bow down to, prostrate before, fall down before, do obeisance, do homage, reverence or honor, treat with respect. It can appropriately be given to a human king, lord, noble or magistrate, as well as to God. It is in that older sense that worship is used of Jesus in the KJV. The modern meaning (divine worship) is not intended by the Biblical use of the word with respect to Jesus. In fact, the New English Bible, apparently recognizing the change in English meaning, never uses the word worship in regard to Jesus, and the other modern translations (e.g. NIV, RSV, NASB) reduce the number of times the English word worship is used of Jesus by about half.
It is important to distinguish between the different Greek words that are translated worship. Of the approximately ten such Greek words, only proskuneo is ever applied to Jesus. Proskuneo is quite similar to the older meaning of the English word worship cited above, meaning to bow or kneel, and is also closely equivalent to the Hebrew shachah. The use of worship that you cite in Matthew 15:9 however, is from the Greek sebomai, which is entirely different from proskuneo, and is never used in regard to Jesus. Honor may be given to almost anyone, but sebomai refers to divine worship, which is never given to Jesus or to anyone but God. Honor is, as you note, a component of worship. Worship always includes honor, but honor does not necessarily imply worship.
Of the 14 times that Jesus is worshiped in the KJV, all but one are prior to or at his ascension. The single subsequent case of the worship of Jesus is by the angels (Heb. 1:6). There is no statement in the Acts or Epistles that Jesus is an object of worship by believers in a sense similar to the worship of God. Honor, yes. Submission, yes. Praise, yes. We bow to Jesus (Phil. 2:10) as Lord and King in homage, reverence, obedience and praise. But the use of the word worship could mislead or confuse the reader into thinking that a religious or divine worship is being referred to. Jesus is held in higher honor after his exaltation to the right hand of God than before, yet all the examples of his being worshiped by humans are before that, not afterwards. We need to differentiate between the special kind of worship that is due to God alone, and the kind of worship that is due to Jesus and others. If you look closely at the times that worship is used of Jesus in the KJV, it is apparent in most cases that what is implied is kneeling, begging, falling down in fright or awe, or the worship that is due a king.
Although there are a few scriptural examples of men or angels rejecting worship, there are many more examples of them legitimately accepting worship. A few examples of the acceptable “worship” of men and angels in the KJV include:
Matt. 18:25-26: The debtor in the parable of the two debtors, worshiped his (human) lord.
Rev. 3:9: The false Jews will worship the ecclesia at Philadelphia.
Heb. 11:21: Jacob worshiped Joseph (cited from Gen. 47:31 “bowed”).
Jos. 5:14: Joshua worshiped the angel (“man”), the “captain of the Lord’s host.”
Chron. 29:20: The people worship the LORD and the king (David)
Dan. 2:46: Nebuchadnezzer worshiped Daniel (Heb. Segad).
There are many other examples of shachah, the primary Hebrew word for worship, being applied acceptably to men, though translated differently into English. See Gen. 19:1; 23:7; 37:7,9; 42:6; 48:12; Num. 22:31; Ruth 2:10; I Sam. 20:41; 24:8; 25:23; II Sam. 15:5; 24:20.
Much of the confusion on the issue of worship stems from the few cases where worship is rejected as inappropriate. The worship of angels is condemned in Colossians 2:18, but a different Greek word is used there, threeskia, which should be translated religion. The angel in Revelation 19 and 22, as you point out, rejected John’s attempt to worship him, however this is the only case of an angel rejecting worship. In that case, the angel appears to be representing and speaking for Jesus (22:7,12 “Behold I come quickly”), and he redirects John’s worship to God rather than to Jesus. We should recognize that this is in context of a symbolic vision. Also, angels in Revelation are not always heavenly angels, as for example the angels of the seven ecclesias to whom the seven letters are addressed, where angels appear to refer to what we might call the recording brothers of those ecclesias. Likewise, although Peter rejected Cornelius’ worship, many other faithful men accepted being bowed down to, for example the Philippian jailer fell at Paul’s feet in Acts 16:29 without rebuke. Jesus refused to worship the tempter in the wilderness, citing a command against idolatry, because the tempter, like false gods, did not deserve worship. It is quite true that we are to worship Jesus, but it is important to recognize that worship in this sense is not something that is uniquely due to God and Jesus. John MacDougall, Verdugo Hills CA
Allowing Differences
To my beloved brethren and sisters, Greetings in the saving name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a letter that contains both my hopes for and my sadness at the state of the Brotherhood in the year 2000. On the eve of our Lord’s return it is sad indeed that I feel the need to share these feelings and to seek for a reason to hope that we can recover from the place we are in.
A movement has been growing in the Brotherhood for a number of years that I have always seen as disturbing, but it has now become so pervasive (at least in Southern Ontario) that it has become what I see to be a significant point of division among us. And it goes to the very core of what it means to be a Christadelphian.
Our pioneer Brethren, John Thomas and Robert Roberts, opened a wonderful portal for so many of us who have learned the Truth through their writings and influence. I myself was introduced to the Truth by my wife Valerie, and after 2 years of our young relationship (two years before we were married); I decided that I had better figure out once and for all who was right — “me” and my Roman Catholic heritage or “her” and this strange group called the Christadelphians! Val’s Grandmother, Sis. Dorothy Roberts, kindly gave me her late husband’s copy of Christendom Astray, with the encouraging words: “Maybe this will help you to find your way.”
That very night, I left my beloved’s side to read this mysterious gift and decide once and for all if this silly religious affection of hers had any merit. I was 19 at the time and upon arriving at home with my contraband, I went straight to my room and started to read. I was up all night!!! The force and the power of Bro. Robert’s reasoning was devastating. The Bible came alive to me for the first time. Val and her family had spoken to me on so many occasions about all of the things written in this book and had laid such a thorough groundwork, that this book now brought everything together in a marvellous summary.
Within months I was baptised. That was 30 years ago and I have been blessed ever since with a Sister wife in the Truth, three beautiful children (now young adults — 2 baptised, one to go!), a wonderful family of faith in the Truth and daily guidance and care from my Father in heaven.
So, you must be asking, what’s my problem?
Simply put it is this: Those wonderful pioneers are now being increasingly held up as being infallible! They are now being viewed, not as our founding forefathers, but as our inspired sages. Are these words too strong? Unfortunately they are not. It is my absolute conviction that if they knew how their names were being used today, they would be horrified.
The most compelling example is that of Bible prophecy. In my little part of the world, there is an extremely reactionary element of the Brotherhood that will not tolerate any view of prophecy that is not squarely founded on the footings of Eureka, Elpis Israel or Thirteen Lectures. Any attempt to reason for ourselves is met with an almost violent response. It is the most devastating blow to the Christadelphian principle of being the people of the Book (the Bible, of course) that I have ever seen. Now we are no longer people of the Book, we are people of Elpis Israel, Eureka and adherents of the writings of Dr. Thomas.
Where we as a community have ALWAYS told our interested friends to search the Scriptures for themselves, we will not allow our own brothers and sisters to study the Scriptures on matters of prophecyfor themselves — they MUST adhere to “Christadelphian tradition,” or not be welcome to share fully in the fellowship of the saints! In fact threats of disfellowship are not far beneath the surface of this assault on the brotherhood.
Strong’s Concordance