[Power of the Word] Christ Worshiped as God
Daniel Brady
“And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” --Matthew 8:1 (NKJV)
In establishing the case for the Deity of Jesus Christ, there are several arguments that can be made, and many evidences that can be given. I do not intend to discuss all of them. It would take a very long time. And as I said before, my hope is that I do not need to convince you that Jesus Christ is God. My purpose is simply to remind you of the fact, so that as we get into the Gospels and view His life as a Man, we do not lose sight of His true identity (Not that Jesus wasn’t fully human, but you get my point). In addition, my aim is to give you some information you can share with others when they come to you, denying the Deity of Jesus Christ.
The first piece of evidence I will submit in building my case (to use legal terms) is quite compelling in its own right. However, there may be reasons why some may regard it as circumstantial evidence. This evidence is the fact that Jesus was worshiped by other people.
As we see in the verse cited above, the man who sought cleansing from his leprosy “came and worshiped” Jesus Christ. Likewise, in Matthew’s account of when Jesus walked on the water, we are told that when He and Peter climbed back into the boat, “…those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.” The wise men who came bearing gifts at His birth also worshiped Him (Matt. 2:11).
This is extremely significant, because we are commanded, in the Old Testament, several times, to worship only God. In fact, this is the essence of the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).
That being the case, then if Jesus was not God, then it would be a sin to worship Him. However, we are not told that those who worshiped Christ were sinning. In fact, a brief perusal of the passages that speak of people worshiping Christ will demonstrate that He received their worship. If He were merely a good man, then He would have rebuked them for trying to worship Him. But He does not. Rather, He receives their worship.
Furthermore, as we read the New Testament, we find that God commands us to worship Jesus. According to Hebrews 1:6, “And again, when He [God] brings the firstborn [Christ] into the world, He [God] says, “let all God’s angels worship Him [Christ].” Now, we know that the Bible does not contradict itself. Therefore, we must conclude that Jesus Christ is God.
Unfortunately, those who deny the deity of Jesus Christ claim that He was not worshiped by those around Him. I recently exchanged a few e-mails with one such person. After I had sent him an e-mail citing the verses above, he responded by chiding me for being selective in the translation of the Bible I was using. He stated that in some translations, the word “worship” is used in verses such as Matthew 8:1. In other translations, we are told that the leper merely “bowed down” to Jesus. Or, as the ESV words it, the leper “knelt before” Jesus.
He went on to say that the Greek word Matthew uses means to bow down before someone, paying respect or homage to him/her. It is reminiscent of a subject of a kingdom bowing down before the king. He bows down to pay respect and homage to the king, but he does not worship him. My critic claimed that the word is indicative of obeisance, but does not mean worship.
Is this a valid argument? Does the word Matthew uses simply mean “obeisance”, or does it mean “worship”? And is there any real difference between the two? I have filled my one-page quota for the day. So we will take this up next time.
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