Should we worship Jesus?

When the Son speaks of His eternal glory along with the Father, His personal dignity and worth in our eyes are not diminished, but enhanced beyond degree. We gladly worship the Son even as we worship the Father, knowing that the Incarnate Son is now glorified along with the Father with the glory He had in His Personal Being from everlasting.

As regards the question you put, it has exercised saints, and the case has been before us of old, but one would not accept a person who would not worship Christ. I took this same ground at Auburn, in Maine. There are certain vital truths connected with the Person of the Lord, which, when possessed, guard the soul from interpretations to which the soul who merely follows the words may be liable. Tell me I am not to worship Christ: you take away the only Christ I know. I have none other but one I do adore and worship with a thankful heart which owes all to Him. The object of John 16:27 is to give immediate confidence in the Father, in contrast with the spirit of Martha, John 11:22. Here the Lord says, "I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loves you." Further, the question is not of worship here at all, they should ask Him nothing (ἐρωτῶ) but were to beg (αἰτέω) the Father in His name. But all the angels of God are to worship Him, every knee to bow to Him. But more; calling on the name of the Lord is, so to speak, the definition of a Christian. Paul thrice besought the Lord to take away the thorn, and the Lord heard his cry and answered. Stephen was "invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Christ is the Adonai of the Old Testament, as Isaiah 6 and John 12 and indeed Psalm 110 and other places. The Sitter on the throne and the Lamb are associated in Revelation 5:13; indeed, it is a question if chapter 4 be not the Son in His divine Person. You cannot separate the Ancient of Days and Christ in Daniel 7, though as the Son of man, He is brought before Him; for in verse 22 the Ancient of Days comes. And judgment is committed to the Son "because he is the Son of man" - yet "that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father." I do not quote passages to prove His Deity - that He and the Father are one, the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Him bodily; that He was God, and created all things - as it is not called in question.

We also worship the Son. Although He became man, He ever was and is God. He is worthy to be worshipped. Even when on earth He accepted worship from men (Matt. 14:33; John 9:38). When He ascended to heaven the disciples still worshipped Him (Luke 24:52). Now that the Son has come, it is impossible truly to honour the Father unless due honour is given to the Son (John 5:23).

There are several points just touched which must be enlarged upon. There can be no question that God the Father is the object of Christian worship: "I have declared unto them Thy name" (John 17:26). "The Father seeketh such to worship Him" (John 4:23). Equally clear is it that the Son is the object of worship: "That all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him" (John 5:23). Surely in the face of such a scripture we could scarcely conceive of any one teaching that the Lord Jesus Christ is not the obj est of worship equally with the Father. And yet such doctrine has been taught — a direct insult to Him who in grace took a servant's form.

That there is but one God, and that worship may be offered to God alone, was taught among the Jews as concerning Jehovah. But to them the glory of the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost was not known. The Lord Jesus claimed to be God (John 5 and John 8:53-58; John 10:36), and as such never repudiated worship when offered to Him in the days of His humiliation (Matt. 8:2; Matt. 9:18; Matt. 18:26; Matt. 28:17; John 9:38, etc.) See in contrast with this Peter, Acts 10:26; the angel, Rev. 22:9, etc.

That there were those who worshipped the Lord Jesus when He was here on earth there can be no doubt. In Matthew 2 the wise men did so: they “fell down, and worshipped Him” (verse 11), and there were many other similar incidents (See Matt. 8:2; Matt. 9:18; Matt. 14:33; Matt. 15:25; John 9:38). It might be argued, however, that this was before the cross. Then we see in Matthew 28:9, 17 and Luke 24:52 instances when there were those who worshipped the Lord Jesus after His resurrection. Indeed, in John 20 we have one of the clearest addresses to the Lord Jesus: “Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God” (verse 28).

Yet some may still not be convinced that it is right and proper to worship the Lord Jesus. What about now that He is ascended into heaven? Let the book of Revelation answer. In Revelation 5 we read, “The … four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, … And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (verses 8-10). Further, for those who insist that priesthood is for God alone, in Revelation 20:6 we read: “They shall be priests of God and of Christ … ” If this be the proper order of service in heaven, why should it be considered inappropriate in the assembly now on earth? Are there any accounts of address to the Lord Jesus by His saints on earth after He ascended into heaven? Indeed there are.

A. A well-known version of the New Testament, which has had the respectful commendation of the best Biblical scholars in the Anglican body as well as outside it, was attacked by one not only incompetent but disposed to impute the worst motives for that which was beyond his own measure. The writer of the reply had not the least notion of its source, though he has since heard the name with regret. The aim was to show that the translator insinuated the inferiority of the Son to the Father by restricting "worship" to the latter and translating the same word by "homage" where the Son was concerned. It was shown that this was doubly false; and that the version assailed does speak of "worship" where the Son is spoken of, and gives "homage" where the obeisance is unquestionably rendered to God the Father or to God as such. It is admitted by all persons of real intelligence that the word "worship" has become narrowed in modern English, and that when the language was in an earlier stage it embraced all acts of obeisance, such as prostration, which were paid to kings or other superiors, as well as what was paid to a divine Being (or one regarded as divine). So it was in Greek; so it stands in the Authorized Version, because at that time the English word "worship" had a generic force as well as that special reference. But this is not so in present usage; and therefore a modern translator must exercise his judgment. Whether Mr. D. has in every instance succeeded in determining the different senses is more than I would say; but his principle is sound and certain. It is ignorance to suppose that, when Jews came to Jesus to heal their diseases, they meant by their homage to convey their conviction that He was God. That He was God and therefore worthy of honour as the Father is what every Christian rejoices to know, and to pay it; but the true meaning of πρ. in these cases throughout the gospels is another matter. In John 4 "worship" is clearly required. On the other hand, "doing homage" may be and is rightly used where God or the Father is in question.

(1) The first thing to be named is worship; for it is before Him as Lord we fall down in adoration. This is taught, in principle, in one of the psalms. "He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him" (Psalm 45:11). So also in the passage already cited from the Philippians — every knee is to bow, and every tongue confess that He is "Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:10-11). Theologians take pains to argue that Christ is to be worshipped equally with the Father, inasmuch as He is God as well as man. And this is true; but, at the same time, it misses the Scriptural teaching concerning His present position and the worship due to Him in it. He is God; but the wonder and the characteristic of His present place is that He occupies it as man. It was the same Jesus whom the Jews crucified who is now made both Lord and Christ; and He has taken up even the glory which He had with the Father before the world was as man. It is a great mistake to suppose that He was man down here, and God in heaven, as if the two natures could thus be divided. The truth is — if we may draw the distinction — when down here, while He was truly man, He was the presentation of God to us; whereas now, while He never loses His essential Divinity, He sits at the right hand of God as man. Hence, though it is perfectly true that we worship Him as God, and, indeed, all the adoration which ascends up to God of necessity is offered to Him — inasmuch as the term God includes all the persons of the Godhead — it is rather as the man who is in the glory of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, that we bow before Him in praise and worship.

Returning to John 5:20-22, we read of "greater works" shown by the Father to the Son, and these are raising the dead and judgement, greater works than the healing of the paralysed man. This leads us to v. 23 "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honours not the Son, honours not the Father which has sent him". These words call for equal honour to the Father and the Son, but we can reverently notice that the standard by which such honour is measured is the honour due to the Father. This, the honour due to the Father has primacy in the Lord's words. When the cloud received the Risen Lord, and He passed out of the eyes of men, He is seen by John sharing the honours of the divine throne, and receiving, together with Him that sits upon the throne, the honour due to God alone. In the previous chapter we have listened to the Son who said, "the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father seeks such to worship him", and our hearts are moved to desire to render this worship the Father is seeking. Now in our verse 23, we are moved to desire to give the response here set before us, to give equal honour to the Father and the Son.

Perhaps at this point reference should be made to those minor and subsidiary cases in which worship is addressed to men. In addressing the mayor as "Your Worship", we know very well that worship belongs to God alone. This is a minor, archaic, and exceptional usage. So it is in Scripture. Those cases in which it is doubtful whether the speaker in the Gospels really intended to attribute deity to Jesus are examples of this kind. In the parable of the two debtors, the first debtor "fell down and worshipped" the king. Here the expression is evidently equivalent to "did homage". The full New Testament significance is clear in the last chapter of the Revelation. John is twice moved to fall down and worship the angel who explained to him the vision. He is quite sternly forbidden, and the angel's injunction "Worship God" obviously means that worship is due to God alone.