What does the word ‘worship’ mean? What does the use of the word say about the one ‘worshipped’? The question arises immediately for us since we are concerned with the worship of Jesus. If the first Christians did ‘worship’ Jesus what does that tell us about the status that they accorded to him? One way of defining ‘worship’ would be to confine its application to deity – worship as religious devotion paid to a god, or in the words of The Concise Oxford Dictionary, as ‘reverence paid to God or god’. To ‘worship’ someone or some being would be to affirm their deity, to recognize that the someone or some being is God or a god. The problem, however, is that the term ‘worship’ is also used more widely. In the British legal system judges have regularly been addressed as ‘Your Worship’. In the marriage service in the Book of Common Prayer the words are to be used, ‘With my body I thee worship’. Everyday speech uses phrases like ‘hero worship’. In these cases the language of course signals respect for someone regarded as of higher status and/or worthy of such respect. But such language does not indicate the deity of the one being thus ‘worshipped’.
So we must reflect on the language of worship to help clarify what our central question means, or what its use in relation to Jesus expresses of Jesus’ status or of the worshippers’ regard for him. Both Hurtado and Bauckham marshal a good deal of the evidence regarding the language of worship used in relation to Jesus. But a more extensive and detailed study of the range of meaning of the word(s) usually translated as ‘worship’ in the New Testament seems to be called for, and this should help us to define what the first Christians understood by ‘worship’ more accurately and more fully.
We also need to take account of the range of near synonyms or alternatives to ‘worship’ – reverence, venerate, praise, glorify, adore, express devotion to, and so on. Here we run into a similar quandary. For just as a judge may be addressed as ‘Your Worship’, so in the history of Christianity, members of the clergy have often been addressed as ‘Your reverence’. So too in the Church of England archdeacons have the title ‘Venerable’, and in Roman Catholic tradition ‘venerable’ is used of those whose sanctity is thereby recognized but who have still to be canonized, or recognized as ‘saints’. We must also take note of the earlier debates within Christianity as to whether certain of these near synonyms or alternatives to ‘worship’ could be used in reference to the saints or the Virgin Mary. The clarification required to answer our question satisfactorily would seem to be more extensive than was first apparent.
The word most often translated as ‘worship’ in the New Testament is the Greek term proskynein. In turn, in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament) proskynein is the regular translation of the Hebrew shachah. Shachah in the Hebrew Bible has the basic meaning of ‘bow down, prostrate oneself, make obeisance before’. It denotes the act of homage before a monarch or a superior, or prostration before God in worship. For example, Jacob prostrates himself before his brother Esau (Gen. 33.3); Joseph’s brothers do obeisance to Joseph, governor of Egypt (Gen. 42.6; 43.28); and various individuals make obeisance before King David.1 In 1 Chronicles 29.20 the whole assembly (ekklēsia) ‘worshipped (prosekynēsan) the Lord and the king’.2 Obeisance is made before angelic beings;3 and above all, obeisance is made before God.4 Repeatedly, particularly in Deuteronomy and Isaiah, Israel is forbidden to make obeisance to any other gods or idols;5 the Lord God alone was to be worshipped (Deut. 10.20).6
Similarly in the New Testament, Bauer-Danker defines proskynein as ‘to express in attitude or gesture one’s complete dependence on or submission to a high authority figure, so “(fall down and) worship, do obeisance to, prostrate oneself before, do reverence to, welcome respectfully”’.7 The Greek term too is used in reference to human beings, the proskynēsis (the matching noun) signifying the acknowledgment of the person’s sovereign power in relation to the one making the proskynēsis. So in Jesus’ parable of the king settling his accounts with his slaves (Matt. 18.23–34) the slave falls down, prostrating himself before the king (18.26). Notably, two verses later, when the forgiven slave then threatens a fellow slave in his debt, the fellow slave ‘falls down’ but does not offer proskynēsis (18.29). In Mark’s account of Jesus’ humiliation by the Roman soldiers, ‘they fell on their knees in homage (prosekynoun) to him’, mocking the reverence that could have been his as ‘king of the Jews’ (Mark 15.18–20).8 Strikingly, in his account of the conversion of the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10), Luke writes, ‘falling at his [Peter’s] feet, he [Cornelius] worshipped (proskynēsen) him’. Peter’s response was to lift Cornelius to his feet and gently rebuke him: ‘Stand up; I am only a human being’ (10.25–26). In the letter to Philadelphia in Revelation 3, the promise is made that their opponents will prostrate (proskynēsousin) themselves before the Philadelphians’ feet (Rev. 3.9). The probability is that we should read the accounts of various individuals coming and prostrating themselves before Jesus during his mission in Galilee in the same light: the leper coming to Jesus for his help, prostrating himself (proskynei) before Jesus (Matt. 8.2); the ruler of the synagogue (Jairus) similarly bowing down before Jesus (proskynei) to ask for his help (Matt. 9.18); the Syrophoenician woman making similar appeal on behalf of her daughter (again proskynei) (Matt. 15.25); and the mother of the disciples James and John similarly falling before Jesus (proskynousa) to petition him on behalf of her sons (Matt. 20.20).9
In all these cases proskynein clearly implies the appropriate mode for making a petition to one of high authority who could exercise power to benefit the petitioner. That the power could be and probably was thought of as heavenly power in most of the cases cited did not carry with it the implication that the one who exercised the power was divine (note again Peter’s gentle rebuke of Cornelius). But the authority and power was due the deepest respect, the petitioners evidently regarded themselves as wholly dependent on the favour of the one petitioned, and the obeisance expressed that depth of respect and sense of complete dependence.
More typically in the New Testament, proskynein is used of the worship (prostration) due to God, and to God alone. We should recall once again the rebuke of Jesus to the tempter: ‘(You shall) worship (proskynēseis) the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve’ (Matt. 4.10/Luke 4.8).10 In John’s Gospel Jesus looks for a time when people will worship (proskynēsousin) God, the Father, in Spirit and in truth (John 4.21–24). In Acts we hear of the Ethiopian eunuch who had come to Jerusalem to worship (proskynēsōn) the God of Israel (Acts 8.27). Paul looks for incomers to the assembly of believers to ‘fall on their faces and worship God’ (1 Cor. 14.25). And in the Revelation of John, God is regularly the focus of worship (proskynein).11 Moreover, it is not only false worship of the beast that is rebuked,12 but also any worship of other than God: the interpreting angel explicitly rebukes proskynēsis offered to him by the seer, and says emphatically, ‘Worship (proskynēson) God’ (Rev. 19.10; 22.8–9).
There are a few other occasions in the New Testament where proskynein is used with Jesus as the object. Curiously, though, these seem to move well beyond the sense of someone acknowledging the authority of someone of higher status. Very striking is the way Hebrews takes Moses’ summons, ‘Let all God’s angels worship (proskynēsatōsan) him’ (Deut. 32.43), and refers it to Christ (Heb. 1.6). Otherwise all the New Testament references to worshipping (proskynein) Jesus appear in the Gospels, principally Matthew, though only at Jesus’ birth and after Jesus’ resurrection. Matthew, we recall, was the writer who used the term proskynein most frequently in reference to several of Jesus’ encounters. But he also uses the term to denote the worship or homage that the wise men brought to the recently born Jesus (Matt. 2.2, 8, 11). And he uses the same term in describing how the women who first encountered the risen Jesus took hold of his feet and worshipped (proskynēsan) him (Matt. 28.9). In the closing scene he similarly recounts that the remaining eleven disciples, when they saw Jesus in Galilee, ‘worshipped (prosekynēsan) him, though some doubted’ (28.17).13 Luke had used the term only in his account of Jesus’ temptations (Luke 4.7–8), and his use of it in the final sentence of his Gospel is slightly odd; there is some uncertainty as to what Luke actually wrote (NRSV margin),14 and, as it stands, the text describes Jesus as carried up to heaven before ‘they [the disciples] worshipped (proskynēsantes) him and returned to Jerusalem . . .’ (Luke 24.52). Finally, even though the book of Revelation is consistent in talking of worship (proskynein) of God, we should add that in Revelation 5.14 the Lamb is surely included in the worship offered to ‘the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb’.15
This is indeed intriguing. The number of references to Jesus being worshipped (proskynein) is surprisingly few. The clearest example is of worship offered to Jesus after his resurrection. And although the book of Revelation clearly envisions Jesus (the Lamb) being worshipped (Rev. 5), even the seer prefers to limit his use of proskynein to false worship of the beast and to the worship that should be given to God. Should we say to God alone? Presumably not, given the status of the Lamb. But this is an issue to which we will have to return. In any event, the use of proskynein in the sense of offering worship to Jesus seems to be rather limited. And there is a hint of uncertainty or hesitation as to whether this is the appropriate way to speak of the reverence due to Jesus.
However, this is only the beginning of our inquiry.
Other Greek words are sometimes translated as ‘worship’.
(a) A close parallel to proskynein is the phrase ‘to fall down’, sometimes with the added phrases ‘on one’s face’ or ‘at the feet of’. The phrase sometimes accompanies proskynein, as in Matthew 2.11 (the wise men ‘fell down and worshipped him [the infant Jesus]’) and Revelation 5.8, 14 (in the seer’s vision ‘the elders fell down’, or ‘fell down and worshipped’ the Lamb).16 In Matthew 17.6 the disciples fall to the ground on the mount of transfiguration when the heavenly voice declares, ‘This is my Son, the beloved.’ Various individuals fall at Jesus’ feet in appealing to him or thanking him (Mark 5.22/Luke 8.41; Luke 5.12; 17.16). In John 11.32 Mary (of Bethany) fell at Jesus’ feet. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus throws himself to the ground in prayer (Mark 14.35/Matt. 26.39). In short, the action of ‘falling at one’s feet’ denotes an appeal or submission to a higher power, as when the slave falls down before his king (Matt. 18.26), more than worship as such (which is why the word ‘worship’ is so often added). The phrase adds little or nothing to the use of proskynein.17
(b) The most common of the other near synonyms is latreuein, which basically means ‘to serve’. In biblical literature, however, the reference is always to religious service, the carrying out of religious duties, ‘to render cultic service’. So it is not surprising that it appears in conjunction with proskynein in (once again) Jesus’ reply to the temptation to worship other than God: ‘(You shall) worship the Lord your God and (shall) serve (latreuseis) only him’ (Matt. 4.10/Luke 4.8). And in several passages latreuein is translated ‘worship’ in English translations.18 It is noticeable that in each case the object of the verb, the one who is (to be) served/worshipped, is God. Apart from one or two references to false worship,19 the reference is always to the cultic service/worship of God.20 In no case in the New Testament is there talk of offering cultic worship (latreuein) to Jesus. In this connection, the two references in the early Pauline letters are of some interest. In Romans 1.9 Paul calls on ‘God as my witness whom I serve/worship (latreud) with my spirit in the gospel of his Son’. And in Philippians 3.3 he speaks of Christians generally ‘worshipping (latreuontes) by the Spirit of God and boasting in Christ Jesus’.
As with latreuein, so also with the matching noun, latreia, ‘(cultic) service, worship’. It refers always to the worship of God.21 The most interesting example for us is again from Paul: ‘I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (latreian).’ The verse is of considerable interest and we will have to return to it. Here we need simply note that the number of latreia references is very limited, and here too the ‘service/worship’ is never thought of as offered to Jesus.
Here we should also mention the infrequent leitourgein, ‘to render cultic worship’ (as in Heb. 10.11, and in a variant reading of Titus 1.9),22 but also ‘to render material service’, as in the giving to the collection that Paul was making for the poor in Jerusalem (Rom. 15.27).23 But most interesting for us is Acts 13.2, where Luke describes the church in Antioch ‘worshipping (leitourgountDn) the Lord’. Is ‘the Lord’ here Jesus (as frequently in Acts)?24 Or does Luke speak of the worship of the Lord God?25 It is difficult to decide, although, as in the other ‘Lord’ = God references in Acts, the influence of Old Testament usage suggests that Luke was thinking of worship of God.26
Thrēskeia, defined as the ‘expression of devotion to transcendent beings, esp. as it expresses itself in cultic rites, [so] “worship”’,27 likewise denotes service offered to God – explicitly in James 1.26–27, by implication in Acts 26.5, and probably in Colossians 2.18.28
Bearing in mind that the latreuein word group is the nearest expression for the offering of ‘cultic worship’, the fact that it is never used for the ‘cultic devotion’ of Christ in the New Testament is somewhat surprising for Hurtado’s main thesis and should be given some attention.29
(c) A significant term is epikaleisthai, ‘to call upon’. It could be regarded as primarily a term for prayer (and so treated more appropriately in Chapter 2). But in its wide usage it signifies in effect worship as ‘calling upon God’. In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) qārā’ is regularly used ‘to denote the establishment of a relation between a human individual and God . . . it is the verbal appeal for the deity’s presence that is foundational to all acts of prayer and worship’.30 In common Greek too epikaleisthai is regularly used of calling upon a deity.31 So it is not surprising that the Septuagint uses the phrase frequently, epikaleisthai to onoma kyriou (‘to call upon the name of the Lord’), that is in prayer.32 The same usage naturally reappears in the New Testament, where invocation of God is in view.33 More striking, however, is the fact that it is the Lord Jesus who is ‘called upon’ on several occasions.34 And even more striking is the fact that believers can be denoted simply as ‘those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 1.2).35 The defining feature of these early Christians (‘those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ’ is almost a definition, equivalent to ‘Christians’) marked them out from others who ‘called upon (the name of)’ some other deity or heavenly being.36 Moreover, in a still more striking passage, Paul refers Joel 3.5 (in the Septuagint) to Jesus: ‘everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved’ (Rom. 10.13), where it is clear from the context that ‘the Lord’ is the Lord Jesus (10.9).37 We will have to return to this passage in Chapter 4. Here we need simply note that the same language, calling upon a deity, calling upon the Lord God, is used of Christ, and as a distinguishing characteristic of the earliest believers.
(d) Another term widely used in the ancient world with the meaning ‘to worship’ was sebein. So in Acts 19.27 it is used of the worship universally offered to ‘the great goddess Artemis’. The word occurs once in the Gospels, when Jesus quotes God rebuking Israel through Isaiah the prophet (Isa. 29.13): ‘In vain do they worship (sebontai) me, teaching human precepts as doctrines’ (Matt. 15.9/Mark 7.7). In Acts it is mostly used of pious Gentiles who worshipped God, that is Gentiles who had been attracted by the religion of the Jews and who had attached themselves in some measure to the Jewish synagogue community. In current literature on the subject they are usually referred to as ‘God-worshippers’ or ‘God-fearers’.38 The most interesting reference for us, however, is Acts 18.13, where the Jews of Corinth bring a complaint against the proconsul: ‘This man is persuading people to worship (sebesthai) God in ways that are contrary to the law’. Here again, apart from Acts 19.27, only worship of the God of Israel is in view.
(e) The correlative term eusebein means ‘to show uncommon reverence or respect’ for someone. In reference to God or gods it conveys the sense of ‘worship’. So in Acts 17.23, Paul begins his speech to the Areopagus in Athens by referring to an altar ‘to an unknown god’, declaring, ‘what therefore you worship (eusebeite) as unknown, this I proclaim to you’. In the only other New Testament reference, however, the verb is used of the respect that children owe to (other members of) their own family (1 Tim. 5.4). This term is of little help in our inquiry.39
From this brief survey of other terms for worship, including the term most appropriate for ‘cultic worship’, we have discovered that the writers of the New Testament have only worship of God in view as desirable and commendable. In this they are faithful to the teaching of their scriptures. The one real exception, and a significant exception, is their description of the first Christians as ‘those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ’.
There are other terms that are regularly linked with the term ‘worship’ or carry the same implication. For example, in the Gloria of the traditional Christian liturgy, the worshippers say, ‘we praise you, we bless you, we worship you, we glorify you; we give you thanks’,40 all, it should be noted, echoing the angels’ worship of God in Luke 2.14, before (in the Gloria) attention is turned to Christ. So we should look also at whom the New Testament writers ‘praised’, whom they ‘blessed’, to whom they ‘gave glory’, or ‘glorified’, and to whom they ‘gave thanks’ in their worship.
We also need to bear in mind once again the long debate within early Catholic tradition as to the appropriate language to use in calling upon the saints. The logic was that since the saints are close to God (because they are ‘saints’, notably holy persons) their intercession on behalf of the Church on earth would be especially effective. The outcome was a distinction between language appropriate for approach to God, and language that could be used in appealing to the saints. ‘Adoration’ (Latin, adoratio; Greek, latreia) was due to God alone; but ‘veneration’ (Latin, veneratio; Greek, douleia) could be offered to the saints. In other words, Christian tradition envisaged different grades or degrees of worship, or reverence or devotion, and accepted that a form of worship might be offered to other than God alone.41 I well recall one conversation that I had with a young Roman Catholic training for the priesthood, when my wife and I lived for some enjoyable weeks in the Venerable English College for trainee priests in Rome. I had attended an evening prayer in honour of the Virgin Mary, and as we exited I commented to the young man that I supposed the congregation had been venerating Mary, not worshipping her. ‘No,’ he replied; ‘we worship her but do not adore her.’
So, what do the New Testament writers say about this further range of language relating to worship?
(a) We begin by noting that several of these further terms hardly feature in the New Testament at all. Latreia we have already looked at; ‘adore’/‘adoration’ does not appear in English translations of the New Testament. Nor does the word ‘venerate’. Douleia occurs only in the sense of ‘slavery, servility’, and always in a negative sense – the slavery to physical corruption (Rom. 8.21), slavery to the law (Gal. 5.1), slavery to the fear of death (Heb. 2.15).42 The usage of the New Testament, of course, does not debar the later usage and distinctions. But in our attempt to ascertain the New Testament understanding of worship the later language of ‘adoration’ and ‘veneration’, and the distinction between them, are not helpful.
(b) The result is only slightly more positive with the terms ‘revere’ and ‘reverence’. For they are appropriate translations in some cases for the Greek phobein (‘to fear’) and phobos (‘fear’). The problem (if that is the right way to put it) is that both terms are used for quite a range of ‘fear’. They can refer to fear of other people,43 or of some eventuality such as death,44 to a slave’s respect for his master (Eph. 6.5; 1 Pet. 2.18), or to a wife’s reverence for her husband (Eph. 5.33; 1 Pet. 3.2), as well as to fear of God.45 For us the most interesting instance is Ephesians 5.21, ‘Be subject to one another out of reverence (phobō) for Christ.’ Although it is an isolated case, the sense is clearly that of a reverential fear of Christ, a usage entirely appropriate within a context of worship.
(c) We might have expected much more light from the language of ‘praise’, but it does not take us much further. The Greek terms, ainein and epainein, do not occur very frequently in the New Testament. Ainein is used only of praise of God;46 and epainein is usually used of praise of other individuals.47 The noun epainos usually denotes approval or praise for individuals, including praise from God,48 but it is certainly used for praise of God on a number of occasions (Eph. 1.6, 12, 14; Phil. 1.11). What is noteworthy about these latter instances is the way Christ features in them: the praise is for the grace bestowed on us in the Beloved (Eph. 1.6); God’s purpose is that ‘we should live for the praise of his glory, [we] who have already hoped in Christ’ (Eph. 1.12);49 the believers have ‘produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God’ (Phil. 1.11). Here again we notice that ‘praise’ is never offered to Jesus, though what he has done is certainly the cause of and occasion for praise of God.
(d) The regular term for ‘give thanks to’ is eucharistein, with the noun, eucharistia, often meaning ‘the rendering of thanks, thanksgiving’. The verb is regularly used for giving thanks to God, as classically in the meals over which Jesus presided,50 and other meals including the Lord’s Supper.51 That the thanks in prayers are directed to God is usually clear and mostly explicit.52 The one exception is where the Samaritan leper healed by Jesus returns, falls on his face at Jesus’ feet and thanks him (Luke 17.16), though this is probably more like the thanks to particular individuals for a service rendered (the leper’s healing), as in Paul’s thanksgiving to Prisca and Aquila in Romans 16.4. Noteworthy also are Colossians 3.17 and Ephesians 5.20, where thanks are given to God the Father ‘in the name of our Lord Jesus [Christ]’. To give thanks in everything is ‘the will of God in Christ Jesus for us’ (1 Thess. 5.18). Otherwise, when the language is used so often by Paul in particular, it is again striking that he never ‘gives thanks [in prayer]’ to Jesus.
The noun charis, meaning ‘grace’, can also be used to express ‘thanks’, gratitude for a generous or beneficent act, for example in reference to a slave for his service (Luke 17.9), but more typically to God for his overwhelming grace.53 The only time when the thanks are directed to Christ is in 1 Timothy 1.12 – ‘I am grateful (charin) to Christ Jesus our Lord’. The fact that the more typical liturgical form is not used (‘Thanks be to . . .’) need not be significant, since Hebrews 12.28 uses the same form in urging, ‘Let us give thanks, through which we offer worship (latreuōmen) that is acceptable to God . . .’ More typical, however, is the fact that thanks are regularly given through Christ to God:
I give thanks (eucharistō) to my God through Jesus Christ.
(Rom. 1.8)
Thanks be to God (charis tō theō) through Jesus Christ our Lord!
(Rom. 7.25, NRSV)
It is through him that we say the ‘Amen’ to God to his glory.
(2 Cor. 1.20)
Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
(Col. 3.17, NRSV)
To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever!
(Rom. 16.27, NRSV)
To the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory . . .
(Jude 25, NRSV)
. . . so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ.
(1 Pet. 4.11, NRSV)
Compare those examples with 2 Corinthians 2.14: ‘Thanks be to God (tō theō charis), who in Christ Jesus always leads us in triumphal procession.’54
So, once again the language of worship is used almost exclusively for God, though occasionally for Jesus. But a more common usage is the giving of thanks to God for what Christ has done or through Christ or in the name of Christ.55
Characteristic worship language includes the terms doxazein ‘to glorify’, and to give glory (doxa) to. Once again the terms can be used in the sense of honouring someone else, as in Matthew 6.2, in reference to the ‘hypocrites’ who conduct themselves in the synagogues and streets ‘in order that they might be praised (doxasthōsin) by others’. Similarly Jesus is ‘praised (doxazomenos) by everyone’ in his early Galilean mission (Luke 4.15). Paul can even glorify (doxazō) his own ministry as apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 11.13), and can envisage members of the body (of Christ) being honoured (doxazetai) (1 Cor. 12.26). Nor should we forget that, for Paul in particular, the completion of the process of salvation is for those saved also to be glorified:56 glory as the outcome of a life pleasing to God,57 the restoration of what was lost in the fall of humanity (Rom. 3.23), the hope of sharing in God’s own glory.58 Much the most common usage of doxa, however, concerns glorifying or giving glory to God in worship and gratitude.59 In two passages the word of the Lord is also glorified (Acts 13.48; 2 Thess. 3.1). And notably, again, 1 Peter speaks of God being glorified in all things through Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 4.11), and of individuals glorifying God by (bearing) the name ‘Christian’ (4.16).
‘Glory’ is regularly associated with Jesus’ exaltation and coming (again).60 John’s Gospel makes great play with the theme of Jesus’ glory as glory of the only Son from the Father, already visible in his ministry,61 as glory that had been Jesus’ glory before his entry into the world,62 and of Jesus’ glorification as already happening in his crucifixion as well as in its sequel.63 Notable is the emphasis that God is glorified in the Son of Man (John 12.31–32; 14.13; 17.1, 4), but also that Jesus is glorified in his disciples (17.10, 22). In Acts 7.55 Stephen sees the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Paul speaks of the crucifixion of ‘the Lord of glory’ (1 Cor. 2.8) and similarly laments the blindness that prevents so many from seeing ‘the glory of Christ, who is the image of God’ and ‘the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor. 4.4, 6). He looks for ‘the glory of Christ’ as well as ‘the glory of God’ (8.19, 23). In the great hymnic poem that opens Ephesians, praise is offered repeatedly, for the glory of God’s grace ‘freely bestowed on us in the Beloved’, for ‘his [Christ’s] glory’, and for ‘his [God’s] glory’ (Eph. 1.6, 12, 14), as all of a piece. And the first half of the letter ends with the ascription ‘to him [God] be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations for ever and ever’ (3.21). The more famous hymn of Philippians 2.6–11 climaxes with the hope of every tongue confessing ‘Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (2.11). And the letter ends with the reassurance that ‘God will satisfy your every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus’ (4.19). In 2 Thessalonians 2.14 the hope is to ‘obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ’. Titus 2.13 speaks of ‘the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ’. Doxologies addressed to Christ alone (‘To him be glory for ever and ever’) are rare, but do appear within the New Testament,64 while in Jude 25 glory is given ‘to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord’.
What is striking in all this is the consistent thought of Jesus sharing in God’s glory, manifesting that glory in his mission on earth, as embodying God’s glory, and as the chief means and agent of God’s purpose to restore his creation to glory, the glory of Christ’s own resurrection and exaltation. The liturgical ascription (‘Glory to Christ’) as such may appear only in writings usually dated among the later documents of the New Testament, but the association of Christ with God’s glory seems to be consistent across the New Testament, and the conviction that the exalted Christ shares in God’s glory, and should be glorified with God or to the glory of God, is part of Christianity’s distinctive foundation. Understandably Bauckham affirms that ‘the attribution of doxologies to Christ is particularly clear evidence of unambiguously divine worship, i.e. worship that is appropriately offered only to the one God’; and he concludes that ‘there could be no more explicit way of expressing divine worship of Jesus than in the form of a doxology addressed to him’.65
1.5 The language of benediction
A characteristic feature of Jewish prayer is to bless the Lord God for his goodness and as the God of Israel. We find this regularly in the Psalms: ‘Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the sound of my pleadings’ (Ps. 28.6); ‘Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me’ (31.21); ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting’ (41.13); and so on.66 The usage is deeply rooted in Scripture.67 And the famous Jewish prayer, the Eighteen Benedictions (Shemoneh ‘Esreh), concludes each prayer with a benediction, ‘Blessed art thou, Lord . . .’: ‘Blessed art thou, Lord, shield of Abraham’; ‘Blessed art thou, Lord, who makest the dead alive’; and so on. The form and character of the prayer were probably already familiar at the time of Jesus.68 So the language of benediction was very familiar to the first Christians.69
In Greek the blessing could be pronounced using makarios, eulogia or eulogētos. The first Christians made little use of the first in speaking of God as ‘blessed’ (1 Tim. 1.11; 6.15), and most Christians will be more familiar with the word used of the privileged or happy state of beneficiaries of divine blessing, as expressed most famously in the Beatitudes of Jesus (Matt. 5.3–12). Eulogia likewise is mostly used of a blessing received, offered to, or bestowed upon individuals, though in Revelation it is used in the acclamations of both the Lamb and God (Rev. 5.12–13; 7.12).
Eulogētos, however, is used only to refer to ‘the blessed one [God]’ (Mark 14.61), or to ascribe blessedness to God: ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel’ (Luke 1.68); ‘the Creator, who is blessed for ever’ (Rom. 1.25); ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor. 1.3; 11.31; Eph. 1.3; 1 Pet. 1.3). Most intriguing of all is the benediction of Romans 9.5, which can be read either as ‘. . . the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever’ or as ‘. . . the Christ according to the flesh. He who is God over all be blessed for ever.’ This is a passage to which we shall have to return. Here we should just note that however Romans 9.5 is read, the more common and typical usage was to acclaim the blessedness of ‘the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’.
Also highly significant for us is the early Christian practice of beginning and ending letters to fellow Christians with a benediction or blessing. We know from the many papyrus letters (discovered from early in the twentieth century) how popular letters were written, and particularly how they followed the conventions of the initial greeting and the final farewell. These letters also make it possible for us to recognize both that Paul was aware of these conventions, and how he adapted them and forged his own conventions. Where, for example, the ordinary Greek letter would begin with a greeting, A to B chairein (‘greeting’), Paul typically transformed the chairein into his favourite charis (‘grace’) and supplemented it with the characteristic Jewish greeting, shalom = eirēnē (‘peace’) – ‘Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’.70 Likewise, whereas the typical letter of the time ended with a wish for the recipient’s good health (errōso, errōsthe, ‘be in good health, farewell’), Paul again typically ended with a formula that recalled his greeting – ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you’.71
There are two very striking features of this practice, apparently begun by Paul. One is that Paul had no hesitation in linking ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’ with ‘God our Father’ in formally praying for blessing on the recipients of his letters. The ‘grace and peace’ were conceived of as having a conjoint source: ‘God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’.72 Jesus as Lord was one with God in overseeing the spiritual wellbeing of the young Christians. The other remarkable feature is that the closing benediction takes it as given that grace, that is, of course, the grace of God, was also ‘the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ’. The grace of God, already so fully expressed in creation and in the history of Israel, had now been summed up, most fully expressed and embodied in Jesus Christ. Christ could be called on as the fullest or most effective purveyor of God’s grace.
In pursuing our question, ‘Did the first Christians worship Jesus?’, our inquiry into the language of worship initially turned up rather limited findings, at least so far as word statistics are concerned. ‘Worship’ as such is a term rarely used in reference to Christ. It appears most clearly in the wonder of the realization that God had raised Jesus from the dead, and in some of the worship offered to the Lamb in the visions of the seer of Revelation. Cultic worship or service (latreuein, latreia) as such is never offered to Christ, and other worship terms are used only in relation to God (including Acts 13.2?). In the case of the most common words for praise and thanksgiving (eucharistein), they too are never offered to Christ. More common is the giving of thanks to God for what Jesus has done. In all this we would have to speak of something like a reserve or caution in the language of worship insofar as it was used in reference to Jesus. The first answer to our question, ‘Did the first Christians worship Jesus?’, would therefore seem to be, ‘Generally no’, or ‘Only occasionally’, or ‘Only with some reserve.’
All the same, the fact that such worship language is used in reference to Jesus, even if only occasionally, is very striking. This would have been entirely unusual and without precedent in the Judaism of the time. For Christians to understand themselves and define themselves as ‘those who invoke the name of the Lord Jesus Christ’ in prayer must have marked them and their religious devotion as distinctive both within Palestine and in the wider Mediterranean world. The fact that this definition could be used as casually and as taken for granted, as it is in 1 Corinthians 1.2, assuredly indicates that invocation of the Lord Jesus in prayer was a regular feature of early Christian worship.
Moreover, as the inquiry proceeded, the initial picture became more complicated. For though the worship language, ‘to glorify’, is also used only of God, there is a consistent thought through the New Testament of Jesus sharing in the glory of God. The thought is not only of Jesus as the agent or embodiment of God’s glory, but of glory as also being given to Jesus, as glory is given to God. And in the benedictions that begin and conclude Paul’s letters, ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’ is presented equally with ‘God our Father’ as the source of grace and peace, and as the one through whom pre-eminently the grace of God has come and still comes to expression.
In reflecting further on how this relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ with God is conceived, we should recall also the repeated conviction that thanks to God are given ‘through Jesus Christ’ or ‘in the name of our Lord Jesus’, or that God is glorified or to be given glory ‘through Jesus Christ’. Christ, in other words, seems to have been thought of as on both sides of the worship relationship – as in at least some degree the object of worship, but also as the enabler or medium of effective worship.
Notes
1 2 Sam. 14.4, 22; 18.28; 1 Kings 1.23, 31.
2 Could one speak properly of something equivalent to a ‘ruler cult’ in Judaism? Cf. Horbury, Jewish Messianism 68–77, 114, 127–36. M. Barker, ‘The High Priest and Worship of Jesus’, in Newman, et al. (eds), Jewish Roots 93–111, presses the significance of 1 Chron. 29: ‘the king was the visible presence of the Lord in the temple ritual and Solomon’s enthronement was his apotheosis . . . this is what they meant by becoming divine’ (94–5).
3 Gen. 19.1; Num. 22.31; Josh. 5.14; Joseph and Asenath 15.11–12.
4 Gen. 22.5; 24.26, 48, 52; Exod. 4.31; 12.27; 24.1; 33.10; 34.8; Deut. 10.20; 26.10; 32.43; etc.
5 Exod. 20.5; 23.24; 34.14; Lev. 26.1; Deut. 4.19; 5.9; 8.19; 11.16; 17.3; 29.26; 30.17; Isa. 2.8, 20; 44.15, 17, 19; 46.6; Jer. 1.16; 8.2; 25.6; Mic. 5.13.
6 Though Bauckham notes that the word ‘is not employed in most Jewish worship’ (Jesus and the God of Israel 204).
7 BDAG 882.
8 Hurtado regards it as ‘mocking worship . . . probably to be taken ironically as unwittingly correct’ (How on Earth 158 n. 21); though in reference to ‘king of the Jews’ NRSV is probably correct in regarding the proskynēsis in this case as ‘homage’. It may also be relevant that ‘king of the Jews’ was not a title used for Jesus by the first Christians.
9 Other references in Matt. 14.33 and Mark 5.6 (demonically inspired words), and John 9.38 may have fuller significance for the Evangelists. See particularly Hurtado, How on Earth 158 n. 21, 159.
10 MT/LXX say ‘fear’, not ‘worship’; the scripture is modified or alternatively worded to match more closely to the words of the tempter.
11 Rev. 4.10; 5.14; 7.11–12; 11.1, 16; 14.7; 15.3–4; 19.4, 10; 22.8–9.
12 Rev. 13.4, 8, 12, 15; 16.2; 19.20; 20.4.
13 Bauckham thinks that whereas in Mark and Luke the gesture of obeisance to Jesus was probably no more than a mark of respect for an honoured teacher, Matthew’s consistent use of the word proskynein shows ‘that he intends a kind of reverence which, paid to another human being, he would have regarded as idolatrous’ – referring particularly to Matthew’s unparalleled uses in epiphanic contexts (Matt. 2.2, 8, 11; 14.33; 28.9, 17), usage that ‘must reflect the practice of the worship of Jesus in the church’ (Jesus and the God of Israel 130–1). Similarly Hurtado, How on Earth 142–51, 158–9; his earlier Origins 66–8 does not press the case, bearing in mind the diversity of reverence that proskynēsis can express.
14 See e.g. the margins of NRSV, NJB and REB.
15 In Rev. 15.3–4, however, the song of the Lamb, like the song of Moses, is sung to ‘Lord God, the Almighty’; and in 19.10 the reference to Jesus is to ‘the testimony of Jesus’.
16 Also Matt. 4.9; 18.26, 29; 1 Cor. 14.25; Rev. 4.10; 5.14; 7.11; 11.16; 19.4, 10; 22.8.
17 See also Hurtado, How on Earth 139–41.
18 Luke 2.37 (NRSV, NIV, REB); Acts 7.7, 42; 24.14 (NRSV, NIV, REB, NJB); 26.7 (NRSV, REB, NJB); 27.23 (NRSV, REB); Phil. 3.3 (NRSV, NIV, REB, NIB); 2 Tim. 1.3 (NRSV, REB); Heb. 8.5 (NRSV); 9.9 (NRSV, NIV, REB, NJB); 9.14 (NRSV, NJB); 10.2 and 12.28 (NRSV, NIV, REB, NJB); Rev. 7.15 (NRSV REB); and 22.3 (NRSV, REB, NJB).
19 Acts 7.42 (the host of heaven); Rom. 1.25 (the creature rather than the Creator).
20 All the references in n. 18, above; and the remaining NT references – Luke 1.74; Rom. 1.9; Heb. 13.10.
21 John 16.2; Rom. 9.4; 12.1; Heb. 9.1, 6.
22 As also the noun, leitourgia, in Luke 1.23; see also Phil. 2.17; Heb. 8.6; 9.21.
23 As with the noun leitourgia in 2 Cor. 9.12; similarly Phil. 2.30.
24 Note particularly Acts 1.21; 2.36; 9.1, 27, 28; 10.36; 11.24; 13.12; 14.23. Bauckham assumes ‘the Lord’ in Acts 13.2 is Jesus (Jesus and the God of Israel 129).
25 As in Acts 1.24; 2.39; 3.20, 22; 4.26, 29; 12.23; 17.24.
26 E. Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles (ET Oxford: Blackwell, 1971) notes that ‘Luke has borrowed an expression of special solemnity from LXX’, citing 2 Chron. 5.14; 13.10; 35.3; Judith 4.14; Joel 1.13; 2.17; Ezek. 40.46; 44.16; 45.4; Dan. 7.10 (395 and n. 3). I discuss the whole issue at length in ‘KYRIOS in Acts’, in C. Landmesser, et al. (eds), Jesus Christus als die Mitte der Schrift; Otfried Hofius FS (BZNW 86; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1997) 363–78, where I note that many references are ambiguous.
27 BDAG 459.
28 Col. 2.18 could refer to worship offered to angels, but more likely refers to angelic worship of God; see my Colossians and Philemon (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996) 179–82.
29 Hurtado recognizes the exclusive God reference for latreuein and latreia but does not comment further (Origins 65). J. L. North, ‘Jesus and Worship, God and Sacrifice’, in Stuckenbruck and North (eds), Early Jewish and Christian Monotheism 186–202, notes that in distinguishing various kinds of worship (proskynēsis) John of Damascus reserved latreia as the special word to be used only for the unique worship of God (194–5).
30 F. L. Hossfeld and E.-M. Kindl, ‘qārā’’, TDOT 13.113–15.
31 BDAG 373. Alan Segal, ‘Paul’s “SOMA PNEUMATIKON” and the Worship of Jesus’, in Newman, et al. (eds), Jewish Roots 258–76, notes that the terminology is characteristic both of pagan magic and of Jewish mystical texts: ‘In the Hekhaloth texts, all kinds of angelic beings are invoked with the terminology’ (274).
32 See K. L. Schmidt, TDNT 3.499–500.
33 Acts 2.21; 1 Pet. 1.17; cf. 2 Cor. 1.23.
34 Acts 7.59 (Stephen); Rom. 10.12, 14; 2 Tim. 2.22.
35 Also Acts 9.14, 21; 22.16; 2 Tim. 2.22.
36 Both Hurtado (Origins 78–9; Lord Jesus Christ 198–9) and Bauckham (Jesus and the God of Israel 129–30) see these texts (1 Cor. 1.2; etc.) as evidence of ‘cultic devotion’ rendered to Jesus from ‘very early moments of the Christian movement’. In contrast, P. M. Casey, ‘Monotheism, Worship and Christological Development in the Pauline Churches’, in Newman, et al. (eds), Jewish Roots 214–33, infers that what Paul had in mind was ‘primarily the use of acclamations and confessions such as maranatha and kyrios Iēsous’ (225). Hurtado adds the use of Jesus’ name in baptism and healings/exorcisms as supporting evidence for his proposal ‘that the early Christian use of Jesus’ name represents a novel adaptation of [the] Jewish monotheistic concern [to maintain the uniqueness of the one God]’ (200–6; here 204). He comments similarly on 1 Cor. 5.1–5, that the disciplinary action referred to there ‘likely included a ritual invocation of Jesus’ name and power to effect it. Jesus’ cultic presence and power clearly operate here in the manner we otherwise associate with a god’ (Origins 80).
37 Similarly it can be argued that since in the Pentecost speech of Acts 2 Jesus has been made Lord (2.36), the calling on the name of the Lord in 2.17 refers also to cultic reverence/acclamation/invocation of the exalted Jesus (Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ 179, 181).
38 Acts 13.43, 50; 16.14; 17.4, 17; 18.7; see also John 9.31 and 1 Tim. 2.10. On the subject of ‘God-fearers’ see my Beginning from Jerusalem (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009) 560–3.
39 The same is true of the matching noun, eusebeia, which is used consistently in the sense of ‘godliness, devoutness, piety’, though never explicitly with the object of the devoutness indicated (Acts 3.12; 1 Tim. 2.2; 3.16; 4.7, 8; 6.3, 5, 6, 11; 2 Tim. 3.5; Titus 1.1; 2 Pet. 1.3, 6, 7; 3.11).
40 Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te; gratias agimus tibi.
41 See e.g. the article on ‘Saints, devotion to’, in ODCC 1444–5.
42 The only other NT references are Rom. 8.15 and Gal. 4.24.
43 E.g. Matt. 14.5; Mark 6.20; John 9.22; Rom. 13.1; Gal. 2.12.
44 Heb. 2.15. See further BDAG 1061–2.
45 Luke 1.50; 18.2, 4; Acts 9.31; 10.35; 13.16, 26; Rom. 3.18; 2 Cor. 5.11; 7.1; Col. 3.22; 1 Pet. 2.17; Rev. 11.18; 14.7; 19.5.
46 Luke 2.13, 20; 18.43; 19.37; Acts 2.47; 3.8, 9; Rom. 15.11; Rev. 19.5. So too ainesis (‘praise’) – Heb. 13.15; and hymnein – Mark 14.26/Matt. 26.30; Acts 16.25; Col. 3.16; Heb. 2.12.
47 Luke 16.8; 1 Cor. 11.2, 17, 22.
48 Rom. 2.29; 13.3; 1 Cor. 4.5; 2 Cor. 8.18; 1 Pet. 1.7; 2.14.
49 The order of the Greek indicates that the ‘his glory’ is the glory of God.
50 Mark 8.6/Matt. 15.36; Mark 14.23 pars.; John 6.11, 23.
51 Acts 27.35; Rom. 14.6; 1 Cor. 10.30; 11.24. Also eucharistia –1 Tim. 4.3, 4.
52 Luke 18.11; John 11.41; Acts 28.15; Rom. 1.8, 21; 1 Cor. 1.4, 14; 14.17, 18; Eph. 1.16; 5.20; Phil. 1.3; Col. 1.3, 12, 17; 1 Thess. 1.2; 2.13; 2 Thess. 1.3; 2.13; Philem. 4; Rev. 11.17. Less explicitly (but implicitly) with eucharistia –1 Cor. 14.16; 2 Cor. 4.15; 9.11–12; Phil. 4.6; Col. 2.7; 4.2; 1 Thess. 3.9; 1 Tim. 2.1; Rev. 4.9; 7.12.
53 Rom. 6.17; 7.25; 1 Cor. 15.57; 2 Cor. 2.14; 8.16; 9.15; Col. 3.16; 2 Tim. 1.3.
54 Hurtado notes that the two first-century writings among the Apostolic Fathers, 1 Clement and Didache, both portray Jesus as the one through whom prayer is made to God, glory given to God, and God has made known the blessings of salvation (Lord Jesus Christ 615–17).
55 Hurtado, Origins 95, quotes N. Richardson, Paul’s Language about God (JSNTS 99; Sheffield Academic Press, 1993): ‘God is always the object of Pauline thanksgivings, but the content is always explicitly or implicitly christological’ – referring to 2 Cor. 8.16; Phil. 1.3; 1 Thess. 2.13; 3.9 (259).
56 Rom. 8.18, 21, 30; 1 Cor. 2.7; 2 Cor. 3.18; 4.17; Gal. 1.5; Eph. 1.6, 18; 3.21; Phil. 3.21; Col. 1.27; 3.4; 2 Tim. 2.10; Heb. 2.10; 1 Pet. 1.7; 5.1, 4.
57 Rom. 2.7, 10; 1 Pet. 5.4.
58 Rom. 5.2; 1 Thess. 2.12; 1 Pet. 5.10.
59 Doxazein – Matt. 5.16; 9.8; 15.31; Mark 2.12; Luke 2.20; 5.25, 26; 7.16; 13.13; 17.15; John 21.19; Acts 4.21; 11.18; 21.10; Rom. 1.21; 15.6, 9; 1 Cor. 6.20; 2 Cor. 9.13; Gal. 1.24; 1 Pet. 2.12; 4.11, 16; Rev. 15.4. Doxa – Luke 17.18; John 9.24; 11.4, 40; 12.43; Acts 12.23; Rom. 1.23; 3.7, 23; 4.20; 11.36; 15.7; 1 Cor. 10.31; 15.43; 2 Cor. 1.20; 4.15; Phil. 1.11; 2.11; 4.20; 1 Tim. 1.17; Rev. 1.6; 4.9, 11; 7.12; 11.13; 14.7; 16.9; 19.1, 7.
60 Mark 8.38 pars.; 13.26 pars.; Matt. 19.28; 25.31; Luke 24.26; Acts 3.13; 1 Tim. 3.16; Titus 2.13; Heb. 2.9; Jas. 2.1; 1 Pet. 1.11, 21.
61 John 1.14; 2.11; 17.22, 24. Similar is Heb. 1.3 – God’s Son as ‘the reflection of God’s glory’.
62 John 12.41; 17.5; see further in Ch. 4, below.
63 John 7.39; 8.54; 12.16, 23, 28; 16.14; 17.1, 5.
64 2 Tim. 4.18; 2 Pet. 3.18; also Rev. 5.12. In Rev. 5.13 the doxology is addressed both to ‘the one who is seated on the throne’ and to ‘the Lamb’. Bauckham thinks it not very likely that Heb. 13.21 and 1 Pet. 4.11 are addressed to Christ (Jesus and the God of Israel 133).
65 Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel 132–3.
66 See also Pss. 66.20; 68.19, 35; 72.18, 19; 89.52; 106.48; 118.26; 119.12; 124.6; 133.21; 144.1.
67 Gen. 9.26; 14.20, 27; Exod. 19.10; Ruth 4.14; 1 Sam. 25.32, 39; etc.
68 See further E. Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (ed. G. Vermes, et al., 4 vols; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1973–87) 2.455–9.
69 In Tobit 11.14, Tobit expresses his praise thus: ‘Blessed be God, and blessed be his great name, and blessed be all his holy angels.’ See further L. T. Stuckenbruck, ‘“Angels” and “God”: Exploring the Limits of Early Jewish Monotheism’, in Stuckenbruck and North (eds), Early Jewish and Christian Monotheism 45–70 (here 56–60).
70 Rom. 1.7; 1 Cor. 1.3; 2 Cor. 1.2; Gal. 1.3; Eph. 1.2; Phil. 1.2; Col. 1.2; 1 Thess. 1.1; 2 Thess. 1.2; 1 Tim. 1.2; 2 Tim. 1.2; Titus 1.4; Philem. 3; also 2 John 3; Rev. 1.4.
71 Rom. 16.20; 1 Cor. 16.23; 2 Cor. 13.13; Gal. 6.18; Phil. 4.23; 1 Thess. 5.28; 2 Thess. 3.18; Philem. 25; also Rev. 22.21.
72 ‘Already well within the first two decades of the Christian movement it was common (and uncontroversial among believers) to include Jesus with God as source of the blessings invoked and appealed for in their devotional life’ (Hurtado, Origins 75).