Many people point to
Revelation 22:8-9,
καγω ιωαννης ο ακουων και βλεπων ταυτα
και οτε ηκουσα και εβλεψα επεσα προσκυνησαι εμπροσθεν των ποδων του αγγελου του
δεικνυοντος μοι ταυτα
και λεγει μοι ορα μη συνδουλος σου ειμι
και των αδελφων σου των προφητων και των τηρουντων τους λογους του βιβλιου τουτου
τω θεω προσκυνησον
“And I John saw these
things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship
before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then
saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy
brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship
God.”
Then they point to
all of the verses where Jesus receives worship and say that he must be God.
The word translated as worship in all of these passages is προσκυνέω. Προσκυνέω does not actually mean
worship. It means obeisance, or bowing
down to. In Revelation, Jesus says that
he will make the synagogue of Satan worship (προσκυνέω) the people in the
church of Philadelphia. If we followed
this argument to its logical conclusion, then we must say that the people
represented by the church of Philadelphia are gods.
Revelation 3:9,
ιδου διδω εκ της συναγωγης
του σατανα των λεγοντων εαυτους ιουδαιους ειναι και ουκ εισιν αλλα ψευδονται
ιδου ποιησω αυτους ινα ηξουσιν και προσκυνησουσιν ενωπιον των ποδων σου και
γνωσιν οτι εγω ηγαπησα σε
“Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they
are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and (προσκυνέω) worship before thy
feet, and to know that I have loved thee.”
The Septuagint (the Ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament)
gives good insight into the Bible writers’ understanding of προσκυνέω. It is useful because it was used by the Greek
speaking Jews and Christians in the First Century. Naturally, the New Testament authors, who
were writing in Ancient Greek, often directly copied the Septuagint when
quoting the Old Testament rather than making their own translation. If we look at how Greek words were used in
the Septuagint, it will help us see what the New Testament authors and the
original readers understood those words to mean.
Here are a couple of the many passages where προσκυνέω is used in
the Septuagint.
Genesis 19:1,
῏Ηλθον
δὲ οἱ δύο ἄγγελοι εἰς Σοδομα ἑσπέρας· Λωτ δὲ ἐκάθητο παρὰ τὴν πύλην Σοδομων.
ἰδὼν δὲ Λωτ ἐξανέστη εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτοῖς καὶ προσεκύνησεν τῷ προσώπῳ
ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν
“And the two angels
came to Sodom at evening. And Lot sat by the gate of Sodom, and Lot having seen
them, rose up to meet them, and he
worshipped (προσεκύνησεν which is a form of προσκυνέω) with his face to the
ground, and said,”
Genesis 23:7,
ἀναστὰς δὲ Αβρααμ προσεκύνησεν τῷ λαῷ τῆς
γῆς, τοῖς υἱοῖς Χετ,
“And Abraam rose up and did
obeisance (προσεκύνησεν which is a form of προσκυνέω) to the people of the land, to the sons
of Chet.”
In the first verse we see Lot doing προσκυνέω to the angels, with
no objections. In the second verse we
see Abraham doing προσκυνέω to the people of the land.
This isn’t just a quirk of the Ancient Greek. It is in the original Hebrew also. In the above passages, and most anywhere you
see worship or bowing down in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word is שָׁחָה
(shachah), the very same word in Exodus 20:5 that forbids bowing down to
idols.
So,
the προσκυνέω Jesus received cannot prove divinity one way or
the other. It is the intent of the
person doing προσκυνέω that determines if it is an act of worship or
respect. The angel stopped John from
doing προσκυνέω to him because of John’s
intent. It does not mean worship if you
don’t intend for it to be an act of worship.
The translators simply chose to translate it as worship whenever Jesus
received it.
The Trinitarian logic goes like this:
