Worshipping Christ

1/4/2009

In recent discussions with a Jehovah's Witness, the subject of the deity of Christ has continued to be the focus. JWs are careful not to admit to worshipping Jesus. In their belief system, Jesus was the first creation of God, not God himself. According to them, as God's creation, he is not to be worshipped. Of course, I and most of the conscious Christian community emphatically disagree. What follows is my proof texts. In an effort to avoid a circular argument of semantics, I have chosen not to use any of the over 200 references to Christ as Lord unless they are confirmed by OT accounts. This way we don't get entangled in the interpretation of the word Lord. But when it comes to worship, there can be no dispute. God is very clear in Exodus when He says " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;" Therefore, if Jesus is not God, but is in heaven above and we bow down to him, we have clearly broken this command. However, if Jesus is God, then worshipping Him should be part of our natural expression of belief.

SO the logic goes like this. If the Bible tells us to worship Jesus

    And if the Bible is the Word of God

        Then Jesus must be God

Otherwise, we are left with two choices. Either God's word is flawed in which case God is flawed. The Bible is the biggest hoax in the history of man and it never was God's Word and therefore is null and void. Or finally, Jesus is God and meant to be worshipped.

1. Matthew 2:2 the Magi came to worship Jesus when he was born. While this hardly proof that Christ is God, it is the beginning of a series of passages that display man worshipping Jesus in God's inspired Word (2Tim. 3:16) without any indication that this practice is improper. In fact, they clearly brought gifts in an act of worship Mat. 2:11.
   
2. Herod's deception- In Matthew 2, Herod attempts to deceive the Magi into reporting to him the location of Jesus so that he may kill the newborn. In his deception he told the Magi that he wanted to worship Christ. No king would risk being accused of blasphemy if worship of the Christ wasn't acceptable.
   
3. Jesus says in John 5 that "He who does not honor the Son, does not honor the father." That reference in verse 23 doesn't use the word worship. But if God "the father" is the only God, why would he permit honoring anyone but himself unless he is both the father and the son. What other passage can be found in God's word where man is asked to honor an angel?
   
4. Jesus is not an angel- Perhaps the most compelling argument comes at the beginning of the letter to the Hebrews which in itself is significant. Because the Jews would be the first ones to cry "foul" if someone tried to alter the accepted order of worship, what it said to them directly falls under extraordinary scrutiny. It is one thing to preach the good news to a Corinthian pagan and far another to preach Jesus to the Jews. But look at all of chapter one. Clearly, God's Word does not declare that Jesus is the first angel.
   
   1. v.3 "the son is the radiance of God's glory."
      
   2. V. 5 "for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son; today I have become your father. This is a rhetorical statement.
      
   3. V. 6b. Let all God's angels worship him. " Here we have angels worshipping Jesus. Why would God allow worship to anything that was not God?
      
   4. V.8 "But about the Son, he says, "Your throne, oh God, will last for ever and ever,…" The JW version has been altered to "But with reference to the Son: "God is your throne forever and ever," How would God be a throne. The throne is subject to the ruler.
      
   5. V. 10 "In the beginning, Oh Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands." This is God referring to Jesus using a reference to Psalm 102:24,25 "I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years [are] throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens [are] the work of thy hands. One says the Lord laid the foundations of the earth, the other God. The only way to reconcile this is that they are one and the same. Unless you take the long road by trying to explain that God is taking credit for Jesus work in the Psalms. Why would he do that? Here's the JW versions
      

      v. 10 NWT And: "You at [the] beginning, O Lord, laid the foundations of the earth itself, and the heavens are [the] works of your hands
      

   PSA 102:24.25 NWT I proceeded to say: "O my God, Do not take me off at the half of my days; Your years are throughout all generations.
   25
   Long ago you laid the foundations of the earth itself,
   And the heavens are the work of your hands. Even the JW version declares that Jesus is God. I'm sure this will be corrected in future versions.
   

   1. Any attempt to misinterpret v. 9 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory…" to mean that Jesus was created misses the point that. This verse is clearly indicating that Jesus left the glory of heaven to put on flesh to pay the price for our sins. In doing so, He humbled himself on our behalf.
      
   2. A glimpse of heaven- In Revelation chapter 4 we see John getting the lay of the land of heaven. In it, there is a throne with a figure seated on it. Around it are 24 other thrones (elders), four living creatures also were around the throne. These creatures worship the figure on the throne without ceasing (v. 8,9). The elders also worship the figure. Next in chapter five there is a scroll that cannot be opened. And then we see the Lamb of God "in the midst" ) of the throne and He is the only one who can open the scroll. Not only that but this lamb had seven horns (the number of completion) representing the seven spirits of God. Now in verse 8 after the Lamb had taken the scroll from the right hand of God, the elders and creatures worshipped the Lamb. Why would God allow worship to anything that wasn't God? Right after that countless angels worshipped Christ v.11. If there is any doubt look at the praise they say in v. 13 "to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, [be] unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. Clearly, John was meant to understand that the elders and creatures were worshipping and giving praise to God and the lamb!
      
   3. Rev. ch 7 verse nine has the "great multitude worshipping the one on the throne and the Lamb.
      
   4. Rev. 14:7 an angel commands those who live on the earth"…worship him wh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and the springs of water.
      
   5. Rev. 20:6 claims that those who are resurrected in the first resurrection will be priests of God and of Christ. Either Christ is a second god or he is God.
      
   6. Rev. 21:22 describes the millennial city as having no temple. God and the Lamb are its temple. Again, Jesus is either a god or God.
      
   7. Rev. 21:23 the light of the city is from God AND the Lamb. How can that be unless they are one.
      
   8. Rev. 22:1 the river of the water of life flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the entire book of Revelation, the throne is only discussed in two contexts: the throne of God and the twenty four thrones of the elders surrounding the throne of God. Jesus has to be on God's throne.
      
   9. Rev. 22:3 and 4 Look at the wording of this verse: And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name [shall be] in their foreheads. God and the Lamb are referred to in the singular. In the beginning of Genesis, God refers to himself as we indicating his triune state. At the other end in revelation, John refers to God and Jesus as the personal pronoun he indicating exactly who makes up the Godhead.
      
   10. Rev. 22:12-16 is the spoken word of Jesus. He tells us so in verse 16. He calls himself the Alpha and the Omega. If there is any argument left as to whether Jesus sits on the throne, look back at 21:5,6. Notice the first person there when the speaker says "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." SO we have Jesus calling himself the Alpha and Omega and the one sitting on the throne calling himself the Alpha and Omega. Either Jesus is committing the same sin as Satan by proclaiming to be first or he is God.
       
   11. Matthew 28:9 the women grabbed Jesus feet and worshipped him. Jesus made no mention not to. He only told them not to be afraid.
       
   12. Matthew 28:17 when the disciples saw Jesus, they worshipped him. Jesus did not stop them. JW trades the word worship for obesience whenever they don't want to discuss Jesus being worshipped. This word obesience (worship) comes from the greek word prŏscuněō(Strong's 4352). The word is used 59 times. When it is used to describe worshiping God or something other than Jesus (idols, the beast, satan), the JW Bible translates the word "Worship"
       

Mat. 4:9	1Cor. 14:25	Rev. 14:7	John 4:22	Rev. 9:20	Rev. 19:4	Acts 8:27
Mat. 4:10	Hebrews 11:21	Rev. 14:9	John 4:23	Rev. 11:1	Rev. 19:10	Acts 24:11
Luke 4:8	Rev. 4:10	Rev. 14:11	John 4:24	Rev. 11:16	Rev. 19:20	Rev. 13:12
John 4:20	Rev. 5:14	Rev. 15:4	John 12:20	Rev. 13:4	Rev. 20:4	Rev. 13:15
John 4:21	Rev. 7:11	Rev. 16:2	Acts 7:43	Rev. 13:8	Rev. 22:8	Rev. 22:9

 

Curiously, EVERY TIME the exact same Greek word is used to describe worshiping Jesus, the JW Bible translates the word "do obesience".

Mat. 2:2	Mat. 20:20	Mat. 9:18	Mark 15:19
Mat. 2:8	Mat. 28:9	Mat. 14:33	Luke 24:52
Mat. 2:11	Mat. 28:17	Mat. 15:25	John 9:38
Mat. 8:2	Mark 5:6	Mat. 18:26	Acts 10:25
		Rev. 3:9	Hebrews 1:6

This cannot possibly be determined to be a matter of grammatical interpretation. This is a systematic rewriting of the scriptures not for the sake of accuracy. If it were, we would see worship to God sometimes being translated "obesience" and worship to Jesus sometimes translated "worship."