[Power of the Word] Obeisance or Worship?
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)
Those who deny the deity of Jesus Christ claim that He was never worshiped by those around Him. When confronted with verses like Matthew 8:1, the claim that the Greek verb Matthew uses means to bow down to someone out of respect, or to pay homage. The example of a king’s subject bowing down before the king is used. But they claim that the word does not mean “worship.”
So has the New King James (among others) have it wrong? Is this a mistranslation of the word?
Thinking I would write another response to the critic who made this argument, I sought to do my due diligence. For the sake of academia, I looked up the meaning of the Greek word Matthew uses. According to Strong’s Dictionary, the word means, “to fawn or crouch to, that is, (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore): - worship.”
My critic was correct in saying that the word means to pay respect or homage to someone. However, did you notice the last word that is part of that definition? Worship. The word means, or at least can mean, “worship.”
My next step was to discover how else the word is used in the New Testament. Is it ever used in relation to people worshiping God? As I learned from my concordance, the answer is yes. There are several places in the New Testament where the same word found in Matthew 8:1 are translated “worship”, most of them in reference to believers worshiping God.
The most notable example of this is found in John 4, which describes Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Here, Jesus Himself uses the word as He says, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (vv. 23-24).
Here, Jesus uses the verb, “worship”, four times. And each time, it is the same Greek word Matthew uses in 8:1—the same word that my critic said does not mean worship.
Now, as I contemplated writing another response back to him, I thought better of it. One reason is that he had used an argumentative tone throughout his correspondence (something I’d hoped to avoid). But more than that, I realized that this person was not interested in the truth. He was interested only in justifying ways he could claim Jesus is not God. This was apparent to me as I saw his lack of intellectual integrity, claiming that the word being discussed does not mean something that it clearly does. For I am sure he would not say that, in John 4, Jesus is telling us that we simply need to pay homage to God, but not that we must worship God.
As I said before, the fact that people worshiped Jesus may be seen as circumstantial evidence. Had I written my response to this person, I do not doubt that he would have acknowledged that this Greek word can mean “worship” when used in reference to God, but that it means “obeisance” when used in reference to Christ.
Therefore, in order to more solidly establish the deity of Jesus Christ, we must turn our attention to more concrete evidence found within the Word of God. And I will begin to present this evidence next time.
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