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Why You Should Worship Jesus as YHWH God

The Deceptive Double Standard on "Worship"

The argument is made that because the Hebrew word shachah and the Greek
word proskuneo can refer to bowing down before human superiors as an act
of civil respect, the same words applied to Jesus denote only civil
respect or "obeisance," not religious worship.

This argument collapses upon simple examination.

The Hebrew word shachah and the Greek word proskuneo are the primary
words used throughout the entire Bible for the supreme adoration
rendered to Almighty God. When these words are directed toward the
Father, opponents readily translate and define them as "worship." Yet,
when the identical Greek word proskuneo is directed toward Jesus Christ
in an explicitly religious and spiritual context, the claim is made that
it suddenly loses its meaning and denotes mere political or social courtesy.

This is an arbitrary and inconsistent handling of language. Let us
examine what the Bible itself teaches concerning the worship given to creatures versus the worship accepted by Jesus Christ.

Men and Angels Refuse Worship; Jesus Accepts It

(1) Acts 10:25-26
"When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and
worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, 'Stand up; I too am a
man.'" (Acts 10:25-26, ESV)

Peter was a ruler in the church and an apostle of Jesus Christ. If
proskuneo offered to a religious figure were permissible as mere human
honor or respect, Peter could have accepted it. Instead, Peter forbade
it immediately, stating plainly: "Stand up; I too am a man."

(2) Revelation 22:8-9
"I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard
and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed
them to me, but he said to me, 'You must not do that! I am a fellow
servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep
the words of this book. Worship God.'" (Revelation 22:8-9, ESV)

John did not mistake the angel for God Almighty. John knew he was an
angel. Yet when John prostrated himself to offer religious honor
(proskuneo), the angel commanded him to cease at once: "You must not do that!... Worship God."

(3) Matthew 4:9-10
"And he said to him, 'All these I will give you, if you will fall down
and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Be gone, Satan! For it is
written, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you
serve."'" (Matthew 4:9-10, ESV)

Jesus laid down the universal divine law: worship (proskuneo) in a
spiritual and religious sense belongs exclusively to God.

Now observe the conduct of Jesus Christ:

(4) Matthew 14:33
"And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of
God.'" (Matthew 14:33, ESV)

The disciples did not offer Jesus civil honor as an earthly prince. They witnessed His sovereign power over the sea and worshiped Him as the
divine Son of God. Jesus did not rebuke them. He did not say, "Stand up,
I too am a man." He accepted their worship.

(5) Matthew 28:9
"And behold, Jesus met them and said, 'Greetings!' And they came up and
took hold of his feet and worshiped him." (Matthew 28:9, ESV)

The women fell at His feet and worshiped Him. Jesus did not refuse their adoration.

(6) Luke 24:51-52
"While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into
heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great
joy." (Luke 24:51-52, ESV)

After Jesus had ascended to heaven, the disciples worshiped Him. This
was not a physical greeting to an earthly ruler, for Jesus was no longer visibly standing among them. It was direct religious worship directed
toward Jesus in heaven.

(7) John 9:38
"He said, 'Lord, I believe,' and he worshiped him." (John 9:38, ESV)

The healed blind man confessed his faith in the Son of Man and
immediately worshiped Him. Jesus accepted it without correction.

(8) John 20:28-29
"Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet have believed.'" (John 20:28-29, ESV)

Thomas addressed Jesus as his Lord and his God. Jesus did not correct
Thomas for blasphemy. He commended him for believing it, and declared a blessing on all who believe the same truth.

Proposition: While holy men and angels refused proskuneo with horror
because it belongs only to God, Jesus Christ accepted proskuneo
continually, without hesitation or rebuke, confirming His divine nature.

The Father Commands the Angels to Worship Jesus

Hebrews 1:6
"And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, 'Let
all God's angels worship him.'" (Hebrews 1:6, ESV)

God the Father does not command angels to commit idolatry. God the
Father does not command angels to give mere earthly politeness to His
Son. God commands all the heavenly angels to worship (proskuneo) the
Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a direct quotation of the Old Testament where Jehovah is
worshiped. Compare:

Deuteronomy 32:43 (Septuagint) and Psalm 97:7
"Worship him, all you gods!" (Psalm 97:7, ESV)

In Psalm 97, it is Jehovah whom all gods and angels are commanded to
worship. In Hebrews 1:6, the inspired writer applies this direct command
to Jesus Christ.

Proposition: The Father Himself commands all the holy angels to render
divine worship to Jesus Christ.

Universal Worship Given to the Father and the Son Together

The assertion is made that in the book of Revelation, worship is
withheld from Jesus and given solely to the Father. A single reading of
the text refutes this completely.

(1) Revelation 5:13-14
"And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth
and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever
and ever!' And the four living creatures said, 'Amen!' and the elders
fell down and worshiped." (Revelation 5:13-14, ESV)

Note three undeniable facts from this passage:
First, the Lamb (Jesus Christ) is distinguished from "every creature."
He is not part of the creation; He receives praise from every creature.
Second, identical praise, blessing, honor, glory, and might are ascribed
to the Father and to the Lamb in the very same breath.
Third, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fall down
and worship before both the Father and the Lamb.

(2) John 5:22-23
"For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,
that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does
not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him." (John
5:22-23, ESV)

Jesus Himself states that the Son must receive the exact same honor that
is given to the Father ("just as they honor the Father"). If the Father receives divine worship, the Son must receive divine worship. To
withhold divine worship from the Son is to dishonor the Father.

(3) Philippians 2:10-11
"So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10-11, ESV)

Compare this with Isaiah 45:21-23:

"There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there
is none besides me... To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall
swear allegiance." (Isaiah 45:21, 23, ESV)

In Isaiah, Jehovah swears by Himself that every knee shall bow to Him
alone. In Philippians, the Holy Spirit declares that every knee in
heaven, on earth, and under the earth shall bow at the name of Jesus.

Proposition: The Bible places the Son alongside the Father as the
recipient of universal, eternal, divine adoration.

Old Testament YHWH Passages Applied Directly to Jesus

Jesus declared: "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall
you serve." (Matthew 4:10, ESV)

Since religious worship belongs solely to the Lord God (YHWH), the fact
that Jesus accepted worship without rebuke proves He is the Lord. In
Greek translation (the Septuagint), the covenant name YHWH was rendered
as Lord (Kurios). The inspired writers of the New Testament repeatedly
took statements spoken uniquely and exclusively of Jehovah (YHWH) in the
Old Testament and applied them directly to Jesus Christ as Lord (Kurios).

(1) The Eternal Creator

Old Testament:

"I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the
heavens, who spread out the earth by myself." (Isaiah 44:24, ESV)
"Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
work of your hands." (Psalm 102:25, ESV)

New Testament:

"All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing
made that was made." (John 1:3, ESV)

"You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the
heavens are the work of your hands." (Hebrews 1:10, ESV)

In Psalm 102, Jehovah alone laid the foundations of the earth. In
Hebrews 1:10, the Father addresses this very passage to the Son,
identifying Jesus as the uncreated Creator.

(2) The First and the Last

Old Testament:

"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of
hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.'" (Isaiah 44:6, ESV)

New Testament:

"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his
right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and
the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore.'" (Revelation 1:17-18, ESV)

In Isaiah, Jehovah states that besides the First and the Last there is
no God. In Revelation, Jesus explicitly declares Himself to be the First
and the Last who died and is alive forevermore.

(3) The One Pierced by Israel

Old Testament:

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look
on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him."
(Zechariah 12:10, ESV)

New Testament:

"Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even
those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account
of him." (Revelation 1:7, ESV; compare John 19:37)
In Zechariah, Jehovah affirms: "they look on me, on him whom they have pierced." In the New Testament, this refers directly to the crucifixion
of Jesus Christ.

(4) The Name on Which Believers Call for Salvation

Old Testament:

"And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the
LORD shall be saved." (Joel 2:32, ESV)

New Testament:

"For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"
(Romans 10:13, ESV)

Paul cites this text regarding YHWH and applies it directly to Jesus
Christ, having just stated: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus
is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
will be saved." (Romans 10:9, ESV)

(5) Universal Submission and Homage

Old Testament:

"To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance."
(Isaiah 45:23, ESV)

New Testament:

"So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10-11, ESV)

In Isaiah, Jehovah declares that every knee must bow to Him alone. In Philippians, Paul applies this universal divine reverence to Jesus as Lord.

(6) Included in the Divine Identity of the Shema

Old Testament:

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4, ESV)

New Testament:

"Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and
for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all
things and through whom we exist." (1 Corinthians 8:6, ESV)

Paul takes the foundational declaration of biblical monotheism and
places Jesus Christ as the "one Lord" (Kurios) right within the unique
divine identity of God.

(7) The Lord Who Is Tasted and Known as Good

Old Testament:

"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!" (Psalm 34:8, ESV)
New Testament:

"If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a
living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and
precious." (1 Peter 2:3-4, ESV)

Peter quotes David's psalm regarding Jehovah and directs it immediately
to Jesus Christ, the living stone.

(8) The Holy Sanctuary and Stone of Stumbling

Old Testament:

"But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your
fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a
stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel."
(Isaiah 8:13-14, ESV)

New Testament:

"But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy." (1 Peter 3:15, ESV)
"A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." (Romans 9:33, ESV;
compare 1 Peter 2:8)

In Isaiah, it is Jehovah of hosts who is honored as holy and who becomes
the stone of stumbling. In the New Testament, Christ is honored as Lord
in the heart and is the stone over which the disobedient stumble.

(9) The Lord of Lords

Old Testament:

"For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God." (Deuteronomy 10:17, ESV)

New Testament:

"On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and
Lord of lords." (Revelation 19:16, ESV)

The supreme title belonging exclusively to Jehovah in Deuteronomy is
worn by the victorious Jesus Christ in Revelation.

Proposition: The inspired New Testament writers systematically took
passages spoken exclusively of Jehovah (YHWH) and applied them directly
to Jesus Christ as Lord (Kurios). Therefore, to worship Jesus is to
worship the one true God revealed in Scripture.

Historical Shift in Watchtower Doctrine Concerning the Worship of Jesus

The claim that Christians must never worship Jesus Christ is not only unscriptural; it contradicts the original and historical teachings of
the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society itself. For over seventy years,
the Watchtower taught that Jesus must be worshiped, that to refuse to
worship Him was sin, and they even embedded the worship of Jesus into
their legal charter.

Notice the historical record from their own publications:

(1) The Early Watchtower Taught That Jesus Must Be Worshiped
In 1880, Charles Taze Russell published:
"To worship Christ in any form cannot be wrong, for the Father says,
'Let all the angels of God worship him;' and again, 'that all men should
honor the Son even as they honor the Father.'" (Zion's Watch Tower,
March 1880, 83)

In 1898, the Watchtower affirmed:
"Yes, we believe our Lord Jesus while on earth was really worshiped, and properly so... It was proper for our Lord to receive worship in view of
his having been the only begotten of the Father and his agent in the
creation of all things, including man." (Zion's Watch Tower, 15 July
1898, 216)

(2) The 1930s and 1940s Continued to Demand Worship for Jesus
Under J. F. Rutherford, the Watchtower published:
"Jehovah God commands all to worship Christ Jesus because Christ Jesus
is the express image of his Father, Jehovah, and because he is the
Executive Officer of Jehovah always carrying out Jehovah's purpose."
(The Watchtower, 15 Nov. 1939, 339)

Under N. H. Knorr, the Watchtower declared:
"Since Jehovah God now reigns as King by means of his capital
organization Zion, then whosoever would worship Him must also worship
and bow down to Jehovah's Chief One in that capital organization,
namely, Christ Jesus, his Co-regent on the throne of The Theocracy."
(The Watchtower, 15 Oct. 1945, 313)

In 1945, the Watch Tower Society amended its official corporate Charter
in Pennsylvania, legally defining its purpose as:
"The purposes of this Society are: To act as the servant of and the
legal world-wide governing agency for that body of Christian persons
known as Jehovah's Witnesses; to preach the gospel of God's kingdom
under Christ Jesus unto all nations as a witness to the name, word and supremacy of Almighty God JEHOVAH; for public Christian worship of
Almighty God and Christ Jesus..." (1945 Watch Tower Charter Amendment,
Article II; quoted in 1945 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, 32)

(3) The Doctrinal Reversal in 1954
Despite having proclaimed for seven decades that worshiping Jesus was commanded by God, the Watchtower abruptly reversed its position in 1954: "Consequently, since the Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ is not a trinitarian co-person with God the Father, but is a distinct person, the
Son of God, the answer to the above question must be that no distinct
worship is to be rendered to Jesus Christ now glorified in heaven. Our
worship is to go to Jehovah God." (The Watchtower, 1 Jan. 1954, 31)

(4) Altering the Bible Translation to Fit the New Doctrine
To enforce this reversal, the Watchtower systematically altered the
rendering of proskuneo in their New World Translation. Wherever
proskuneo applies to the Father, they translate it "worship." Wherever
it applies to Jesus, they deliberately translate it "do obeisance."

Remarkably, in the early editions of their own New World Translation
(1950, 1961, 1970), Hebrews 1:6 was still translated:
"And let all God's angels worship him." (Hebrews 1:6, New World
Translation, 1950 and 1961 editions)

Only in later revisions did they change Hebrews 1:6 from "worship him"
to "do obeisance to him," removing the plain biblical command that
exposed their new doctrine.

Proposition: The doctrine forbidding the worship of Jesus is not an
ancient truth of the Bible, but a modern innovation invented by an organization that previously commanded the worship of Jesus for more
than half a century.

Conclusion

The Bible uses the word worship (proskuneo) of the Father and of the Son without difference in kind when offered in a religious sense.

Holy men and angels sternly rejected such worship because it belongs
solely to God.

Jesus Christ willingly and repeatedly received this worship from His disciples, both on earth and after His ascension to heaven.

God the Father explicitly commands the angels of heaven to worship the Son.

In heaven, every creature renders identical adoration, blessing, honor,
and worship to the Father and to the Lamb.

The human organization claiming that worshiping Jesus is improper taught
for over seventy years that Jesus must be worshiped, changing their
doctrine only in 1954 and altering their translation to match.

The testimony of the Scriptures is clear, consistent, and decisive:
Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, the Son of God, and our Lord and God, is worthy of our full and unconditional worship.

Works Cited

1945 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses. Watch Tower Bible and Tract
Society, 1945.
New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Watch Tower
Bible and Tract Society, 1950.
"Questions From Readers." The Watchtower, 1 Jan. 1954, p. 31.
"Questions From Readers." Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's
Presence, 15 July 1898, p. 216.
Russell, Charles Taze. "The Word of God." Zion's Watch Tower and Herald
of Christ's Presence, Mar. 1880, p. 83.
Rutherford, Joseph F. "His Name." The Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 15 Nov. 1939, p. 339.
"The Royal Priesthood." The Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence,
15 Oct. 1945, p. 313.
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