One of the most common arguments I hear for Jesus being God is that he accepted worship. To challenge this idea, I want to offer a Bible verse on this topic that highlights the importance of not leaning on our own understanding, but rather using Scripture to interpret Scripture, which should always be our standard. 1 Chronicles 29:20 reads, “David said to all the assembly, ‘Now bless Yahweh your God!’ All the assembly blessed Yahweh the God of their fathers and kneeled and worshiped Yahweh and the king.” In this verse, both Yahweh and King David are worshiped together, revealing that receiving worship does not mean you are the Most High God. Just like with many other topics, the understanding that we have of worship today is far from what the word meant when the Bible was being written.
Today, we view worship through the lens of our own culture and government, in societies that no longer operate under a monarchy, and collectively, no longer treat authority figures with reverence and honor. Due to these changes in culture and rulership, we have slowly come to associate worship with a mindset, attitude, or what is in the heart, rather than an action. In times past, however, simply laying down prostrate, kneeling, or bowing before someone was considered an act of worship, regardless of how you felt about it; and it was expected when in the presence of an authority figure, such as a king. Similar to how, today, we stand when a judge enters the courtroom, and wait to be seated until they signal. It does not matter how much you like the judge or not, you give them this honor or there could be repercussions. Likewise, in Biblical times, it did not matter how you felt about bowing to someone higher than you. You could bow down to your worst enemy, and this was considered “worship.” Throughout the Bible, people of a lower status would bow down in worship to someone of a higher status: a king or ruler, a man of God, an angel, a false god, or Yahweh God (Genesis 43:26, Joshua 5:14, 1 Chronicles 21:21, Ruth 2:10, 1 Sam. 20:41, 1 Sam. 25:41, Matt. 18:26, Acts 10:25). As we can see from these verses, and there are numerous others, bowing was an act that showed honor, reverence, or submission, rather than the modern definition of a mindset reserved for God alone. The bottom line is, it is important to stay consistent in our interpretation of Scripture. We cannot say that Jesus accepting worship makes him God, but David accepting worship does not make him God. We must be careful not to import today’s meaning of worship into the ancient use of the word. For if we do this, we run the risk of a verse taking on a meaning that is not in the Biblical text at all.
