Should we worship Jesus?

Admin Nombre de messages : 25268 Date d'inscription : 17/05/2007

The answer to this question largely hinges on Jesus’ identity. If Jesus is regarded as deity in the same sense as His Father, then we should worship Jesus. If the New Testament documents identify Jesus with Yahweh, then we should worship Jesus. If He is merely a prophet of God, the worship of Jesus would not be appropriate. Given the Bible’s insistence that worship is to be directed to God alone, any God-fearing individual will need a satisfactory answer to this all important question.

The Apostle Paul called Jesus "our great God and Savior” (Titus 2:13), and points out that, prior to His incarnation, Jesus existed in the “form of God” (Philippians 2:5- Cool

. God the Father says regarding Jesus: “Your throne, O God will last forever and ever” (Hebrews 1: Cool

. The Apostle John says that “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word [Jesus] was God (John 1:1). Other passages identify Jesus as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2). Jesus receives worship several times in the gospels (Matthew 2:11, 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38, 20:28). Jesus is never said to reject such adoration. Rather, He accepts such worship as well placed. So does the Bible portray Jesus as fully deity? The answer is certainly “yes”.

With that being said, Christians need to recognize that the Bible also teaches the deity of the Father (John 6:27; Romans 1:7; 1 Peter 1:2) as well as the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 3:16). And yet the Scriptures teach that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:4). How can this be? The Christian church has historically taught that the Bible is clearly portraying God as one Being who exists in three persons. This doctrine is known as the Trinity. Dr. James White, author of The Forgotten Trinity, has provided what we believe to be a helpful definition of the Trinity. Here it is: Within the one Being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal and coeternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We contend that this is the clear teaching of Scripture and should be affirmed by any biblically faithful Christian.

These biblical distinctions go a long way in providing the proper balance in Christian worship. We must remain conscious to not overemphasize our adoration for any one Person in the Godhead at the expense of another. The Bible teaches that while the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit perform unique functions and have different roles, all three Persons of the Godhead are equal in power and majesty.

In summary, the Bible teaches that Jesus of Nazareth is nothing less than God the Son, the second Person of the Triune God (Trinity). In view of this, He is due our full worship and devotion. To fail to do so would be sinful.

Recommended Resources: How to Worship Jesus Christ by Joseph Carroll and Logos Bible Software.

While he is not the author of every article on GotQuestions.org, for citation purposes, you may reference our CEO, S. Michael Houdmann.

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/worship-Jesus.html#ixzz2tUxRRaJ9

Admin Nombre de messages : 25268 Date d'inscription : 17/05/2007

1 january 2009

Question Should We Worship Jesus As God?

I have a question about worshiping Jesus. Our pastor has said that God is primary and Jesus is secondary. In worship the name of Jesus is kept out of most of our songs on purpose because the leaders say that Jesus came to direct us to God and that we are to worship the Father. I'd appreciate it if you can help me understand. I know that this isn't correct, but how can I address this with the leadership?
Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
03-05-2009, 04:04 AM #2
SERay SERay is offline
Administrator
SERay's Avatar Join Date
Feb 2007
Posts
279
Send a message via ICQ to SERay Send a message via AIM to SERay Send a message via Yahoo to SERay
Confused Pastor
Your pastor has been either motivated by liberal theology, or potentially some Gnostic writings that flip the positional values regarding spiritual matters. He also may be following the teachings of Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille of the Way International that denies the trinity and rejects Christ’s deity. Your pastor may be taking out of context such passages as Matthew 4:10 where Jesus said, "You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve." or Revelation 9:20 “Idolatry is forbidden because it constitutes worship of someone other than God.” But ultimately what has happened, he has fallen under the spell of a anti-Trinitarian position that negates the positional kingship of Christ as equal to God the Father.

A passage I find the repudiates the denial of Christ as God is John 14:8-9 "Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.' Jesus answered: 'Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" Jesus was the self same as Father God!

The plain fact is, Jesus received the unique worship God deserves. He was often worshipped while He appeared on earth before His resurrection.
Matthew 8:2 - A leper came and worshipped Jesus. [9:18; 15:25; Mark 5:6]
Matthew 14:33 - After Jesus had calmed the storm, the disciples worshipped Him saying He was the Son of God.
John 9:38 - After Jesus had healed the blind man, He revealed Himself to be the Son of God (v35). The man said he believed, and he worshipped Jesus.

Note that such religious worship would have been blasphemy and should have been forbidden as it was in the case of Peter, the angel, etc., if Jesus had been just a man on earth. Acts 10:25,26 “Cornelius fell down to worship Peter. Peter forbade it saying that he himself was just a man. God deserves worship, but men do not.”

You can also read in scripture that created beings also worship Him after His resurrection.
Matthew 28:9,17 - After His resurrection, His disciples worshipped Him. [Cf. John 20:28,29]
Luke 24:52 - Even after He had ascended back to heaven, they worshipped Him.
Hebrews 1:6 - Angels are instructed by God to worship Jesus. Which is a powerful argument against ignoring Jesus in worship.

You may recall, that men were rebuked for worshipping men, angels, or created beings, but they were never rebuked for worshipping Jesus. Angels are even instructed by the Father to worship Jesus. The context of the above passages cannot fit the idea of obeisance to an earthly king or ruler. They refer to honoring Jesus as a religious authority - the very thing forbidden when offered to Peter, angels, etc.

Hence, Jesus accepted worship as an act of religious honor. The Scriptures, including Jesus' own teachings, would absolutely forbid this unless He possesses true Deity.

John 5:23 “ All men should honor the Son "just as" they honor the Father. To fail to give this honor to the Son is to fail to properly honor the Father.”
John 17:5 “Jesus prayed to the Father to ‘glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” Here, Jesus asks to be glorified together with the Father with the glory He possessed "with" the Father from eternity.

At the critical moment when His life was at stake, the high priest put the question to Him directly: "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. "You have heard the blasphemy" (Mark 14:61-64).

Hope this helps your enlighten your quest for truth

Admin Nombre de messages : 25268 Date d'inscription : 17/05/2007

The Watchtower Society’s position on who we should render worship to is clear. They teach that we must worship Jehovah and to give worship to anyone other than Him is erroneous. Certainly Christians all over the world accept this as biblical. Exodus 34:14 says, “For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (NKJV) and Jesus said, “It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service”. (Matthew 4:10 NWT)

But, what about Jesus? Does Jesus rank as One who is worthy to receive our worship? After all, Christians for thousands of years have worshiped Him. Are they in gross error? Are they to blame of a serious sin? The best way to find out is to approach the bible and see what it says about this topic.

Let’s start with some verses out of the New King James Version of the bible.

Matthew 2:2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

Matthew 2:11 “And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.”

Matthew 14:33 “Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God.”

Matthew 28:9 “And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, Rejoice! And they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.”

Matthew 28:17 “And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.”

John 9:38 “Then he said, ‘Lord, I believe!’ And he worshiped Him.”

Hebrews 1:6 “But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

The Greek word for worship that is used in all the above verses is proskuneo. Obviously, the NKJV chose to translate this word as worship. The New World Translation (NWT), however, chose to translate this word as obeisance (honor, respect) in all the above verses. What becomes interesting about the NWT, is that whenever the same Greek word, proskuneo, is used in relation to the Father, the translators translated it as worship, even though they rendered it differently in relation to Jesus. (This can be verified by looking in the Watchtower’s own Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures.) Is this a double standard? Is the NWT justified in translating this word 2 different ways; as obeisance to Jesus and as worship to the Father?

Peter’s Response

Let’s look in the NWT at what Peter did when he was given obeisance.

Acts 10:24-26 “On the day after that he entered into Caes·a·re'a. Cornelius, of course, was expecting them and had called together his relatives and intimate friends. As Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet and did obeisance to him. But Peter lifted him up, saying: “Rise; I myself am also a man.” (NWT)

Interestingly, Peter refused this act of obeisance. Why did Peter so strongly oppose this act if obeisance only means honor and respect? Because, according to Peter, this act is reserved for God only, not man. Note, however, that unlike Peter, Jesus never sought to correct His followers when they bowed down and gave him obeisance. Jesus considered this act perfectly appropriate.

Do the Angels Worship Jesus?

Hebrews 1:6 “But when he again brings his First-born into the inhabited earth, he says: “And let all God’s angels worship him.” NWT, 1970 edition

In the past, up to and including the 1970 edition, the NWT translated proskuneo as worship in Hebrews 1:6. What was their reasoning behind this?

“In the New World Translation we note that when this Greek verb pros·ky·ne'o is applied to Jesus as a man on earth or materializing as a man after his resurrection, it is translated “do obeisance.” However, when referring to the glorified Jesus in the invisible heavens in the presence of the holy angels, the New World Translation makes a change and renders pros·ky·ne'o as applied to him by the English word “worship.” (Heb. 1:6) This is properly and consistently done....Well, then, since the angels are commanded to worship the glorified Jesus at his second coming, should not we, who, as humans, are so much less than angels, likewise worship him? In answer we say, We must render to him what God’s Word says we must.” The Watchtower, May 15, 1954, p.318

Keep in mind that the Watchtower never taught it’s followers to worship Jesus as God, but they did teach that we should, in some confusing way, worship him. New World Translations published after 1970 made the change from worship to obeisance. Again, we see another puzzling doctrinal and textual change within the Watchtower Society. One has to wonder to what extent early Witnesses were bewildered about this issue. To read more on this topic see our article, Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

What About the Book of Revelation?

If we compare Revelation 4 with chapter 5, what do we learn about the object of our worship?

Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.”

Revelation 5:11-14 “And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘The Lamb that was slaughtered is worthy to receive the power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’ And every creature that is in heaven and on earth and underneath the earth and on the sea, and all the things in them, I heard saying: ‘To the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever’ And the four living creatures went saying: ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

1) In Revelation 4:11, Jehovah is said to be worthy of receiving glory, honor and power. By comparing this to Revelation 5:12, we see that Jesus is worthy to receive not only glory, honor and power, but riches, wisdom, strength and blessing. So, Jesus gets twice as much worship as Jehovah according to this verse! (Keep in mind that Revelation 4:11 is used in the booklet, What Does God Require of Us?, p. 4, as a proof text for worshipping the one true God.)

2) Revelation 5:13 goes on to say that every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth and on the sea gives worship to the One sitting on the throne and to the lamb. If every creature in existence is worshipping, this must mean that Jesus is not a creature. So, the only other option left is that Jesus is the Creator who is certainly worthy to receive all worship.

3) Revelation 5:13-14 make it obvious that the One sitting on the throne and the Lamb are both given equal worship by the heavenly occupants.

What does all this conclude about whether or not worshipping Jesus is appropriate? The testimony of the New Testament is clear: Jesus accepted worship. Obviously, this says a whole lot about His identity. If Jesus is not equal to the Father, like the Watchtower teaches, then He is guilty of blasphemy in the first degree. But, if He is God manifested in the flesh, He then rightly is laudable of all our praise and worship. No wonder why Jesus said, “ .... in order that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He that does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him”. (John 5:23)

Tower To Truth Ministries

top of page

Jehovah's Witnesses Main Page
printer friendly version

Site Meter

» JESUS ain't Creator 🐰 His Father is🐰worship Father not Son
» Jésus dit meurs pas pas pour Jésus =enfer éternel , peché ta
» end times visions , dreams from JESUS 💧 JESUS wants mankind
» Jésus dit tu meurs pas pas pour Jésus =enfer , peché
» n delivered by GOD + JESUS, from demons, seek GOD & JESUS