JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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Divine Worship is Rendered and Accepted by Him
In Matthew 4:10 (quoting Dt 6:13) Jesus told Satan, "Worship the Lord your God, and
serve Him only." Yet later in Matthew the disciples "worshiped" Jesus after He walked on water
(Mt 14:33) and after He rose from the dead (Jn 20:9; 28:9).
To worship any other as God, whether angel, man or man-made image is idolatry. In
Colossians 2 we are warned, "Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in . . .
the worship of angels" (v. 18). We are not to worship angels and this is consistently
demonstrated throughout the Bible. In Revelation 19:10 an angel refuses worship from John. In
Revelation 22:8-9, an angel refuses John's worship a second time, saying, "Do not do that . . .
worship God."
Peter refused worship from Cornelius (Ac 10:25-26) and when Paul and Barnabas were
worshiped, they immediately denounced it as blasphemous because they were mere "human
beings" (14:11-18), yet when Jesus was worshiped He readily accepted it. It was the practice of
the apostles and the early church to render worship to Christ (7:59; 1 Co 1:2; 2 Co 12:8-10)
(other passages attributing worship to Jesus: Jn 9:38; Heb 1:6; Rev 5:13-14).
Christians of all ages have not been satisfied with admiring Christ, they have adored and
worshiped Him. They have approached His person in the attitude of self-sacrifice and worship
as in the presence of and to God.
Accounts of people who worshiped Jesus:
● The wise men (Mt 2:2,11).
● The leper (8:2).
● A synagogue official (9:18).
● The people in the boat (14:33).
● The Canaanite woman (15:25).
● The mother of the sons of Zebedee (20:20).
● Men (Jn 9:38).
● The disciples (Mt 28:9,17).
● The saints in glory (Rev 4:1-14; 7:9-17; 19:4-10).
● The angels (Heb 1:6).
● One day everyone (Php 2:10-11).
The Christian doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ is not based on any theory or
speculation about the incarnation of what the Stoic philosophers called the Logos or Reason of
God. Rather it was based upon the encounter with Christ as one who rightly claims man's
worship. The worship of Christ was discovered to be inseparable from the worship of God—the
God whom the Jewish remnant had for centuries worshiped and to whom they looked to for
salvation.