the jw's dance around the idea that jesus was worshiped. no mere angel ever received worship.or that jesus claimed what the YHWH had.
“Worship”
(from one of my studies on my own blog)
The Greek word
proskuneo (or
proskyneo) is defined in the 1971 trinitarian United Bible Societies’
A Concise Greek-
English Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 154: “[
Proskuneo] worship; fall down and worship,
kneel, bow low, fall at another’s feet.”
Even the trinitarian W. E. Vine writes in his
An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, p. 1247:
“PROSKUNEO ... to make
obeisance, do reverence to (from
pros, towards, and
kuneo, to kiss), is the most frequent word rendered ‘to worship’. It is used for an act of homage or reverence (a)
to God ...; (b)
to Christ ...; (c) to
a man, Matt. 18:26.”
“Obeisance,” of course, shows “
respect,
submission, or reverence” -
Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1961.
Noted Bible scholar J. H. Thayer defines
proskuneo:
“prop. to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence ... hence in the N. T. by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make
obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication. It is used a. of homage shown to
men of superior rank [position] ... Rev. 3:9 .... b. of homage rendered to God
and the ascended Christ, to
heavenly beings [angels]” - p. 548,
Thayer’s Greek-
English Lexicon of the New Testament, Baker Book House Publ., 1977.
Hasting’s
A Dictionary of the Bible also tells us:
“Worship, both as [noun] and verb, was formerly used of reverence or honour done to
men as well as to God …” - p. 941, vol. 4.
The Hebrew word most often translated “worship” in the OT is
shachah, and it is usually rendered as
proskuneo in the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament. Unger and White say of this word: “Shachah ... ‘to worship,
prostrate oneself, bow down.’” And,
“The act of bowing down in homage done before a
superior [in rank] or a
ruler. Thus David ‘bowed’ himself [
shachah] before Saul (1 Sam. 24:8). Sometimes it is a social or economic superior to whom one bows, as when Ruth ‘bowed’ [
shachah] to the ground before Boaz (Ruth 2:10).” -
Nelson’s Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament, 1980, Thomas Nelson Publ., p. 482.
Perhaps the most famous Biblical Hebrew scholar of all, Gesenius, tells us in
Gesenius’ Hebrew-
Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, p. 813, (#7812), ‘Shachah’:
“(1) to
prostrate oneself before
anyone out of
honor .... Those who used this mode of
salutation fell on their knees and touched the ground with the forehead ..., and this honor was not only shown to superiors, such as kings and princes, 2 Sam. 9:8; but also to equals; Gen. 23:7.”
The act described by
proskuneo (or
shachah) was of bowing or kneeling, and it generally indicated an act of respect and a display of one’s willingness to submit to or
serve another person who occupied a superior
position, regardless of his nature (somewhat similar to a salute in the military today). It was done, of course, in its very
highest sense to God alone, but it was also done, in a lower sense of the same word, to kings, angels, prophets, etc. That is why
proskuneo is translated “prostrated himself before” at Matt. 18:26
NASB, even though the
KJV uses “worship” there. Notice how other trinitarian translations render that verse (
RSV and
NIV for example) where a servant “worships” [
proskuneo] his master. And that is why, in the account of the man blind from birth whom Jesus healed, we see that man giving
proskuneo to Jesus at John 9:38. The
ASV, in a footnote for John 9:38, says,
“The Greek word [
proskuneo] denotes an act of reverence, whether paid to a
creature,
as here [Jesus],
or to the Creator.”
At Rev. 3:9 Jesus shows the position of authority he will give to some of his human followers when he says he will make people “
worship before thy feet.” -
KJV. The word used there is
proskuneo! The
ASV again adds this footnote:
“The Greek word [
proskuneo] denotes an act of reverence whether paid to a
creature, or the Creator.”
