What does it mean to 'worship' God?

There is a lot of discussion today about what it actually means to ‘worship’ God. 

Over the years, I’ve heard many different definitions of what worship is ‘truly’ supposed to mean, based on what Christian group you belong to, it can mean a whole multitude of things!

What takes place in a 'house of worship', aka the’ worship service’, is usually how most people define worshiping God, which is sometimes referred to as liturgy or adoration or the “articles of worship”, (defined specifically as prayer, songs, preaching & teaching, taking the Lord’s supper and collecting/giving money).

But honestly, it seems like you can pretty much make up your own definition of what it means to worship God - and the more “spiritual-sounding” it is, the better!

Even if you look to the Bible to try to define it, there are a wide range of translations of the original Greek and Hebrew words into the English word ‘worship’: Young’s Literal Translation has the word “worship” the least amount of times at 27 - but more recent translations, like the Good News Translation, has it 716 times! That’s very confusing! 

Young's Literal Translation	27
King James Version	102
New International Version	254
Amplified Bible	364
New Living Translation	496
New Life Version	661
Good News Translation	716

In light of this, I feel it’s very important to bring up 2 facts that I have learned from examining the original Greek and Hebrew scriptures:

1. The Greek and Hebrew words in the Bible that mean “bow down”, “serve” and “devoted to” are the words that have mainly been translated into the English word “worship”

2. There are actually no Greek or Hebrew words in the Bible that mean “worship”!!! 

   
   

Say WHAT??? 

Right away, I know this is very startling to many of you reading this, as most Christians (regardless of denomination) believe that worship is a VERY important part of Christian life.

(I grew up in the church of Christ and was taught that the reason for going to church was to worship God, and also that  ‘worshiping God in Spirit and in truth’ meant that you didn’t sing with musical instruments in church.)

So, this whole idea of the word ‘worship’ not actually existing in the Greek/Hebrew, but that it’s replacing other words (bow down, serve, be devoted to, etc.) at the discretion of the English translators, was VERY shocking to me!!!

If you will stay with me in this article, I will try to keep this explanation as easy to understand as possible, even though we will be looking at a few Greek and Hebrew words for examples and context.

I feel that it’s necessary to understand this, IF we truly want to be New Testament Christians, ‘calling Bible things by Bible names’ and being like the 1st century church. Traditional theology must be challenged IF we want to know the truth!

So, if you’re ready to have an open mind and learn some things, let’s go!!!

Falling Down: Culture & Religion

We are going to start with falling down because we see it so often in our Bibles, yet we don’t understand why it’s there.

Remember when Satan tells Jesus to “fall down and worship” him in Matthew chapter 4? Have you ever wondered what it means, or what the connection is between “falling down” and worship? 

Our modern day definitions of worship, i.e. the “acts of worship” (praying, singing, listening to a sermon, participating in the Lord’s Supper and contributing financially to the church) have nothing to do with falling down on the ground. So just how exactly did the people in Nehemiah 8 “worship” God with their faces on the ground??

(Just to test this out, I kneeled down/bowed down on a mat and put my face to the floor. After a few minutes of being bowed down like this, I started to hurt all over, especially my knees. I don’t think I could do that for an hour!) 

I also tried singing in this position, and it’s really REALLY hard! Your diaphragm can’t expand very well when bent over like this and it was hard to breathe as well, with my face to the ground, and I got out of breath very quickly trying to sing one verse of a song.  No way could I sing this way! I would have to sit up. I would also have to sit up or at least be standing on my knees to eat the bread and drink the cup, you can’t eat or drink with your face on the ground).

So here is a question for you: do YOU fall to the ground before/while doing any of these things: praying, singing, listening to a sermon, giving money or eating the bread & drinking the cup? Why not? 

So why “worship” with your face on the ground? 

Catholic priests may prostrate themselves at ceremonies, some European Christians kneel during prayer and some charismatic Christian groups roll on the ground for brief moments…but this seems to be the extent of modern-day Christianity having contact with the ground for any kind of religious purposes. 

So what were the people in Nehemiah 8 doing “on the ground” and why?

The Origins of the English word “worship”

Let’s begin with a quick history and definition of the English word “worship”:

The word "worship" – is a combination of the the words "worth" and "ship" – and seems to have originated around 900 A.D. from the Old English word "woerthscipe".

For hundreds of years, even in the time of the first translation of the Bible in the late 1300’s,  worship simply meant “honor”.

In the same way that we today must address a judge as “Your Honor” as part of courtroom etiquette, they would have addressed someone as “your Worthship”,  or “your Lordship” - additionally, men of great honor were described as “men of great worthship”.

In the first English translation of the Bible done by John de Wycliffe in 1382 (The Wycliffe Bible), the only source he had to translate from was the Vulgate - the Latin translation of the Bible done in the 4th century.  He translated the Latin words "adore" and "honor" into English as "worship".

We can see evidence of "worship" being equal to “honor" in quite a few examples from the Wycliffe Bible.

In this translation, Jesus says “worship your father and mother” in Matthew 19, and that “God will worship those who serve him” in John 12. Here is what it looks like in the English of that time:

Matthew 19:19 "worschipe thi fadir and thi modir" (Wycliffe 1382)

John 12:26  "If any man serve me, my fadir schal worschipe hym" (Wycliffe 1382) 

Also, in 1 Corinthians 12:24, (it’s really hard to read in the Old English), but where Paul says that God gave more “honor” to the parts of the body that were less presentable, Wycliffe also translates this as “worship”. 

Now IF you believe that your definition of worship is correct (whatever it may be), and that this has ALWAYS been the correct definition of it, then it should make total sense to you to worship your parents and to receive worship from God - you as God’s servant and for your less presentable body parts! To me that seems totally crazy, but here it is…in the Bible!

So that must mean that either:

A. We have been hugely mistaken as to what "worship" really means

OR:

B. "worship" doesn't mean what it used to mean

By the way, there is also a widespread idea in general Christianity that “worship is due to God alone” - but if worship is due to God alone, then how do we make sense of the words of Jesus above?

Answer: In the 2 passages in Matthew and John above, the word in the Latin Vulgate is “honor” - which shows that honor meant worship, at that time in the English language.

Wycliffe also translated the Latin word “adore” as worship too, so his Wycliffe Bible says that Abraham worshiped the Canaanite people, Moses worshiped his father in law, and Joseph’s brothers worshipped him. So what’s going on here?

Is there a word for worship?

The word that is almost always translated as “worship” in the Greek New Testament (and also Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint), is the Greek word proskyneo (G4352)

“Proskyneo” is a combination of 2 Greek words: 

1. “pros” (towards)

2. “kyneo” (according to Strong’s Greek Lexicon) is a probable derivative from the Greek word for dog, “kyno”, but others think it means “kiss”. 

Now, it’s important to note the word “probable” in the definition above, meaning it’s not for certain. This would explain the many definitions of the word proskyneo: to kiss the hand to, crouching, bowing, prostrating oneself to, adore, reverence or worship.  That’s a lot of different definitions for one word!

This Greek word “proskyneo” was first used by an historian named Herodotus who lived in 500 B.C. (time of Daniel, Esther and Zechariah in the Old Testament). 

In his book Histories,  he describes the way that those living in lands under the Persian Empire’s rule at that time (Middle East, parts of Asia, Africa and India) greeted each other - they did not greet each other with words!

1. Greeting someone of equal social rank: kiss on the mouth

2. Greeting someone of slightly superior social rank: kiss on the cheek

3. Greeting someone of vastly superior social rank: Bowing down on the ground in front of them (i.e. kissing the ground or making your forehead kiss the ground)

   
   

This is very different from American culture! We either use words to greet each other, like “hello” or “hi”, and/or combine those words with a handshake and/or a hug. 

But actually, this third way of greeting someone - by bowing down (kneeling down/ laying down (prostrating) - with your face to the ground) - is a very ancient practice, still common in many parts of the Middle East, Asia, Africa and India - and was practiced long before they were ruled by the Persian Empire. 

Bowing down was NOT ONLY done as a greeting, but as an act of humility and/or honor - whether to a higher ranking human being or a higher ranking deity (God or false gods), and it was a very common practice in the Bible, going all the way back to Abraham and continuing through the book of Revelation! So let's look at some examples!

Bowing Down in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, the word that means “bow down”  is the Hebrew word “shakah” (shah-KAH - H7812). There is also a related word, shakak (shah-KAK”  - H7817) that also means to bow, but is sometimes translated as “to humble/bring low”.

Many times, bowing down is preceded by “falling”, with the Hebrew words“naphal” (naf-ALL, H5307, or “nephal (Nef-ALL”, H5308).  (notice how the English word “fall” sounds like the Hebrew word?)

The act of falling to the ground and bowing down before someone is usually described by one or any combination/grouping of the following actions:

• Falling (naphal/nefal) to the ground or at someone’s feet

• Crouching/bending down (qadad)

• Kneeling (kawrah)

• Bowing down (shawkah or shawkak)   * “segid/ “sagad”(Aramaic) for bow down in Daniel & Isaiah

• Putting one’s face on the ground

  
  

Here are a few examples from the book of Genesis:

• Abraham bowed down (shakah)  on the ground to the 3 men (Gen. 18:2), and bowed down (shakah) to the Canaanites in requesting a burial place for Sarah (Gen. 23:12)

• Jacob greeted his brother Esau by bowing down (shakah) to him on the ground 7 times (Gen. 33)

• Abraham’s servant worshiped (shakah) the Lord on the ground (Gen. 24:52)

  
  

*In each of these instances, the Wycliffe Bible translates “shakah” as “worship”, isn’t that interesting?

 In the King James Version, as I have included above, you will notice that “shakah” is translated as worship, but only when it is done to God! However, it’s done on the ground, just like bowing down is. 

If you didn’t see that the same Hebrew word “skakah” is used in all 3 examples, what would you think that Abraham’s servant is doing on the ground?

1. Worship is about singing and praising God, right? Why don’t we read about them doing that? Or “kissing the hand”? So what are they doing on the ground? 

   
   

2. If Jacob worshiped Esau 7 times, then Jacob must have done 7 worship services in a row (while being on the ground) - and that would have taken a long time, would it not? And why was he doing it on the ground?

   
   

However, if shakah just means bow down, then it all makes sense!

Now let’s look at an example from David:

• David fell to the ground and bowed down (shakah) 3 times to Jonathan (1 Sam. 20:41)

• Araunah bowed down (shakah) before David with his face to the ground  (2 Sam. 24:20)

• David went to the top of the mountain and worshiped (shakah) God (2 Sam. 15:32)

  
  

As you see, the exact same Hebrew word “shakah” is used here also.  In the KJV as well as most English Bibles, “shakah” given to God is translated as “worship”, but the “shakah” given to Jonathan and to David are translated as various other things (bowed down, paid homage, prostrated, etc).  

Out of the 60 English translations  of 2 Samuel 15:32 that I examined, all but 2 say David worshiped God (The Catholic versions say “adored”). 

David also had these instructions from the Lord, from Exodus and Deuteronomy that say to only bow down (shakah) to God and serve him (Exo. 5, Deut. 4,5,8).  So was the Lord angry with David when he bowed down to Jonathan? If “shakah” means “worship”, then surely the Lord must have been displeased!  Was the Lord angry with Jacob when he bowed down to Esau?  Do you see anything? Is Jonathan upset that David is worshiping him?

So if worship is something that is given to God alone, then how can David be giving it to both Jonathan and to God - AND accepting it from other men? Where is the singing and praying and praising? Where is the kissing of the hand? And what are they all doing on the ground?

Here is an example from the book of Daniel:

• King Nebuchadnezzar fell down (nefal) on his face and worshiped (segid) Daniel. (Dan. 2:46)

  
  

• King Nebuchadnezzar decreed that all fall down (nefal) and worship (segid) the golden image. (Dan. 3:10)

  
  

Here we have an example of again, the same word (this being in language related to Hebrew, possibly Aramaic, that Daniel was written in), but we see a difference in the way this same word “segid” has been translated into English, but in a more surprising way in this example than “shakah”.

Interestingly, in about 20-ish English versions (including the KJV), it actually translates this as the King fell on his face and “worshiped” Daniel!  The rest of the English translations seem to have a problem with translating this as “worship”, so they translate it as ‘he fell and bowed down, gave honor, paid homage, prostrated’, etc. 

However, when it comes to Daniel 3:10, a much larger majority of the English translations say that the king commanded that all fall down and “worship” the golden image - even though the word “segid” is the same, preceded by “falling down”. 

The English versions that don’t say worship, about 6 or so, say ‘fall down and pay homage’ or ‘fall down and prostrate’. 

So we have to ask ourselves: did the king fall down on his face AND THEN (insert whatever your definition of worship is in, the time and place you do it: sing 2 songs, have an opening prayer, sing 3 more songs, take the Lord’s supper, take contribution, listen to a sermon, sing 3 more songs and have a closing prayer?

OR did the king fall on his face and bow down to Daniel?

Was a king worshiped?

Let’s examine 1 Chronicles 29:20 :

The people bent down (qadad) and worshiped (shakah) God and the king  (1 Chr. 29:20)

The KJV says “bowed down their heads, and worshiped the LORD, and the king.” Now if worship is due to God alone, how could they give it to a king too??? 

For those who believe that worship is due to God alone, the translations can differ. Around 20 English versions, including the KJV,  translate this instance of  “shakah” as worship - so the KJV says that they “worshiped God and the king”. Does that seem problematic to you, to worship God and the king?

Other versions instead use phrases such as “bowed down”, “paid homage”, “gave honor” or “prostrated themselves”, because there seems to be a conflict in the ideology of the translators in giving “worship” to both God and to the king, if the translators themselves held the belief that ‘worship is due to God alone’.

But, If you understand that bowing down is just a way to humble yourself/show humility to another being (human or divine) that is superior to you, as was the custom then and still today in many cultures and countries around the world, it makes sense to bow down before the king and before God, there’s no difficulty there. 

God’s people bowed down to each other, as well as rulers, prophets, kings, angels, idols and God:

• Abraham greeted the strangers by bowing down to them on the ground (Gen. 18:2)

• Lot greeted the angels, bowing down with his face on the ground (Gen. 19:1)

• Jacob greeted his brother Esau by bowing down to him on the ground 7 times (Gen. 33)

• Joseph’s brothers bowed down (shakah) to him when he was ruler over Egypt (Gen. 42:6)

• Joshua fell on his face on the ground and bowed down (shakah to the angel (Jos. 5)

• Ruth greeted Boaz by falling on her face and bowing on the ground (Rth. 2)

• David bowed down (shakah) to King Saul (1 Sam. 24) and his friend Jonathan (1 Sam. 20:41)

• Many people (including the prophet Nathan) bowed down (shakah) to King David (2 Sam. 1, 1 Kin. 1)

• A woman bowed down (shakah) to the prophet Elijah (2 Ki. 4)

• You shall have no other gods - you shall not worship (shakah) to them or serve them (Exodus 5:3,5)

•  Ezra read the law, and all the people bent down (qadad) and worshiped (shakah) the LORD with their faces to the ground. (Neh. 8)

• Amon did evil in the sight of the Lord, he served the gods of his father and worshiped (shakah)  them and Ahaziah served Baal and worshiped (shakah) him, angering the LORD (1 Ki. 21, 22)

  
  

I see a lot of people bowing down on the ground, and if all of these examples were translated as worship, that would seem totally crazy, would it not? 

(By the way,I have also heard the idea that Jesus was the only human to ever accept “worship”.... But do you see all these people who accepted “worship” (shakah) from other humans?) 

And in all of these examples of people bowing down, I only read about God being angered when people bow down to idols or false gods. That makes sense to me, and I hope it does to you too!

But many English translations will split the way that “shakah” is translated in all of the examples above:  a person or angel is bowed down to, paid homage to, etc - but God or an idol is “worshiped” - do you see the problem here?

So going back to 1 Chronicles 29:20,  we can see 2 Catholic translations that make a distinct separation to reflect the Catholic doctrine of “latria”, (that “worship” is something that should only be given to God alone):

Revised Standard Version: “they worshiped (shakah) the Lord and did obeisance to the king”.

Catholic PDV: “they bowed themselves and adored (shakah) God, and next they reverenced the king.”

But in the passage there is no distinction! They bowed down (shakah) to both God AND the king! 

Does this go against God’s commands? No. Was God angry that they bowed down to him and to the king? No. Why not? Bowing down is just humbling yourself before a superior person or divine being. 

If they bowed down to anything on the earth or in the sky, in a way of ascribing supernatural powers or the power and intelligence of a deity to it, as something above humans or that provided them with things and life itself, and in so denying that God was the source of all things and the creator of all things, then THIS was what God was commanding them not to do.

Also, many pagan religions that honored false gods and idols had their own forms of devotion and requirements for serving that god.  

For example, not only did you bow down to that god/idol, but the supposed rules for following gods, like Molech or Baal, required prostitution, homosexuality and child sacrifice - which were clear violations of God’s laws concerning murder and sexual immorality.  If you want to learn more about Baal, you can read here.

This is why God says this, in Exodus 23:24 You shall not bow down (shakah) to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works”.

The servant/master relationship was exhibited by bowing down to someone - it was putting yourself in the position of being their servant, there are many Biblical examples of people bowing down to someone and identifying themselves as a servant.

Joseph’s brothers fell down before him, calling themselves his servants (Gen. 50), Mephibosheth fell on his face and bowed down (shakah) to David, calling himself a servant (2 Sam. 9), Abigail bowed (shakah) her face to the earth before David, calling herself a servant (1 Sam. 25), Joshua fell on his face on the ground and bowed (shakah) to the angel, calling himself a servant (Josh. 5)

That’s how bowing down and serving are connected and why they’re included together in God’s instructions. 

An explanation of Latria and adoration:

I hope you have noticed a pattern here in our English Bibles: the Hebrew words for bowing down or bending down translated as “worship” about 98% of the time: in particular, when someone bows to God (or an idol), the words are translated as “worship”.

BUT when someone bows to another human (same Hebrew word, shakah), the words are translated as bow down, reverence, do homage, make obeisance, etc., depending on the translation. 

Now WHY is this? Are these not the exact same Hebrew words used to describe bowing down, whether they be to God, a human, an angel or an idol?? Yes, they are the exact same words. 

I have mentioned the concept of latria, so let me take a moment to define it, because I think it’s very important to understand. 

Our Bible translators have either knowingly (or unknowingly) held ideas that belong to Catholic theology, and many Bible translators have also relied heavily on the Latin translation of the Bible and its use of “adoration” as the translation of “shakah” - instead of relying solely on the original Hebrew and Greek texts ( like the first century church did, since the Latin translation was not done until the 4th century).

Now, as was pointed out previously, the English “worship” originally meant honor, as we read in Wycliffe’s first English translation of the Bible, and this worship was given to both God and humans - AND to humans by God.  

The Latin word, "adore", (which is mostly how “shakah” is translated into Latin), might possibly have been close to the original meaning of the Greek and Hebrew words for 'bow down' at the time in the 4th century when the Latin translation was done…but over the centuries, the meaning - or assumed meanings - of that word also changed.

Since the Latin translation was the only translation given authority by the Catholic church to be used for teaching and study - it means that the original Greek and Hebrew words, texts and meaning were given no interest, weight or authority! I think that’s really problematic, don’t you?

The reason we see a “split” in the way that shakah / adoration of God and shakah / adoration of people has been translated into English, is largely due to the Catholic doctrine of “latria”. So what is “latria”?

Catholic theology (not in the Bible): 

• Latria (Latin) - Worship or adoration (English): The act of religion by which God is recognized as alone worthy of supreme honor… It is at once an act of mind and will, expressing itself in appropriate prayers, postures of praise, and acts of reverence and sacrifice. (Modern Catholic Dictionary)

  
  

• Hyperdulia (Latin): special honor given to Mary, (honoring her above other people but not quite as much as God/Jesus, although Catholics bow to statues of her and pray to her to tell Jesus what to do, still regarding her as his mother and an intercessor).

  
  

• Dulia (Latin): honor for other people and saints (including bowing down and praying to them as intercessors)

  
  

Back in the 8th-9th centuries there was a big debate within the Catholic church when people wanted to be able to bow down to, pray to and “venerate” statues and paintings of Mary and “saints” - without it being considered idolatry (Exodus 20:4-5) - so the Catholic church created their own ideology to support this: 

As long as you honor God as “God” and give him “worship” that is reserved for just him, it’s ok to honor and pray to and bow down to statues, images and paintings of Mary or other Christians (i.e. “saints”).

Many protestant groups reject the idea of giving special honor to Mary or saints, BUT still believe that worship (adoration) is whatever is given to God, particularly in a “worship service” where we go to give God worship, which consists of many different activities. (And this is very different from the idea of simply bowing down to God because you serve him)!

So anything given to (or done in honor of) God or Jesus could be classified as worship/adoration in the doctrine of latria!

A Catholic monk in the 1700’s wrote that the definition of “adoration” or “worship” has varied according to time, place and location (just like the definition of worship, as I hope you are noticing in this article) but “adoration” can include any action, such as bowing, standing, falling, praising, singing, praying, serving, fearing, honoring, etc. 

So the Catholic definition of “adoration” is very broad and can include many things. Most of these things like singing and praying are defined as “acts of adoration”, and this concept has even found its way into protestant churches (and even the churches of Christ) as “acts of worship”!

This is why we see the split in the Catholic translations of 1 Chronicles 29:20: “worship” was given to God - BUT it doesn’t match the doctrine of latria to have worship be given to a king who is a person, so instead it’s translated as “obeisance” and “reverence” that were given to the king - that way God is worshiped - but humans are not.

In this way, the  adoration and “latria” given to God was completely separate and only given to Him, (which theologically, makes room for Mary to have her own “hyperdulia” and special honor that would be above this human king) and the human king would just be given the regular honor of “dulia”.

But do we see different levels of honor in this scripture?

Surely, if “shakah” means adoration and worship, then how could it be that the people could give it to both God and the king at the same time?  And shouldn’t God be angry that the people were worshiping the king, giving him the worship due to Him alone? 

But if we read this as ‘the people bowed down before God and the king’, it makes sense!

For those of us who do not give honor to Mary, or pray to her as our intercessor, we do not need to participate or believe in this doctrine of latria, giving separate acts of honor to God, Mary and our fellow humans. 

We don’t need to call things “acts of adoration” or “acts of worship” - it’s just not necessary.

If we understand what this doctrine of latria is and how prevalent it has become in so many churches, we can understand the Bible better!

We can understand the customs and practices in it that have been largely erased by lack of emphasis on understanding the cultural practices within it - largely due to the belief in the superiority of the Latin translation over the Greek and Hebrew writings by many translators and their own beliefs in the doctrine of latria - either knowingly or unknowingly.

New Testament examples of bowing down:

In the first century times when the New Testament was written, the culture had not changed: the practice of bowing down, whether it be before someone of higher rank or as an act of humility or servitude - was very much still practiced. 

The only difference is, Greek is now the common language in the land of Israel, and the Greek word for bow down is the exact correlation of the Hebrew word “shakah”, which in Greek is “proskyneo”.

We can know this for sure because in the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, called the Septuagint (LXX), which was done in the 200’s B.C., most, if not every mention of the Hebrew word “shakah” is translated as “proskyneo”.

(Now, I have heard quite a few preachers say that “proskyneo” means “to kiss the hand toward, and our worship is equivalent to us “kissing our hands to God”…but let’s look at the examples of “proskyneo” in context of the Bible - and see if that makes sense, OR if we will see the practice of falling and bowing down in these contexts).

In Matthew chapter 2, the wise men from the East (East of Israel, somewhere in Middle East or Central Asia possibly) come to visit Jesus, whom they identified as “the king of the Jews” and then they found him, they fell (pipto) and bowed down (proskyneo) to him. 

Why? Because you bow down before kings, as we saw in the Old Testament examples above.

But, depending on what version of the Bible you are reading, the word there, proskyneo, is translated as many different things:   Latin Vulgate has: adoraverunt (adored)

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)	"falling down they adored him.”
King James Version (KJV), English Standard Version (ESV) & most English versions	"fell down, and worshiped him.”
Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)	"having fallen down they bowed to him.”
Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB)	"prostrated themselves before him"
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV):	"knelt down and paid him homage"
Common English Bible	"falling to their knees, they honored him"
Weymouth New Testament	"they prostrated themselves and did Him homage"

Why are there so many different translations of this one word? How can we actually understand what went on here? Did they just bow down, OR did they worship him? Did they having an opening prayer, 3 songs, taking the Lord’s supper, contributing to the church, listening to a sermon, having 2 closing songs and a closing prayer? 

According to Middle Eastern custom, they bowed down to him. 

But according to Catholic theology, as we brought out, whatever you to/for Jesus or God is “adoration”, i.e. “worship”. But these wise men did not know or think him to be anything other than a physical king, so they bowed down to him, as was the custom of that time. 

Here are some more examples of bowing down, the continued practice from Persian and Middle Eastern custom.

And the Greek word for fall, “pipto” (G4098), and fall towards “prospipto” (G4363) are also used in correlation with bowing down, just like falling and bowing down are often described together in the Old Testament. 

In most of the examples above, just like the Hebrew the Old Testament, we see the same Greek word in the New Testament for bowing down being translated as" worship.

As for the idea that proskyneo or worship is what is given to God alone, as well as the question of if the definition of prosykneo is actually "worship" (like many say it is), I would like to point out some examples of New Testament scriptures.

New Testament Examples from Matthew:

In Matthew 18, Peter asks Jesus about forgiveness and Jesus tells him this parable about a king and his servants: 

In 18:26, a servant fell (pipto) and bowed down (proskyneo) before his master the king, begging him to have patience with him and he would pay him all of his money back. Then in verse 29, a fellow servant fell (pipto) down at the feet of this same servant, begging him for mercy as well.

What’s interesting about this verse is that

1. Jesus is telling a parable in which a servant bowed down to his master. If proskyneo means worship, (as the KJV translation of this verse and 6 other translations say) that he “worshiped” his master, then either “proskyneo” does not really mean worship OR worship is not something given to God alone.  

   
   

If Jesus is saying that a servant “worshiped” his master, how could Jesus say that, if worship is something that should only be given to God - and why isn’t Jesus condemning it, saying ‘that should only be given to me’??

“The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, master, have patience with me” (KJV)

2. Some translations translate “proskyneo” as “knees”, as the NIV does:“At this the servant fell on his knees before him” (NIV)But the Greek word for “knees” is  “gony”, and that word is not in this verse, although it’s in plenty of other verses where people fall down. A few other versions also say that the servant fell on his face (CSB), or on the ground (NET) or  prayed (WYC), or did obeisance (LEB) but these Greek words are not in the verse either.

   
   

3. The remaining translations of Matthew 18:26 either skip over translating the word “proskyneo”  or combine it with the word pipto in this verse to avoid translating it as worship.. The New King James says: “The servant fell down before his master” (NKJV) 

   
   

Is it a good idea to completely skip over words in translating? I don’t think so.

The conflict here is cleared up by the fact that Jesus simply telling a parable about a man bowing down to his master - as was the custom in that time, just like we saw in the Old Testament scriptures. As we read in Romans 14 , servants will stand or fall before their masters. So the man did not worship his master, he bowed down to him.

The Roman Soldiers: Matthew 27 and Mark 15

I do also want to bring up 2 other things we see in the book of Matthew that have always puzzled me as to what they meant: 

Before Jesus was crucified, we read in both Matthew 27 and Mark 15  that the Roman soldiers who were going to crucify him, mocked him, spit on him, struck him and called him the King of the Jews and worshiped (proskyneo) him. 

The Roman soldiers fell on their knees (gonypeteo) before Jesus and mocked him, calling him “King of the Jews”. They spit on him and struck him again and again on the his head with a staff (Mat. 27:29-30)

The Roman soldiers began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!”Again and again the struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Then they bent down on their knees (gony) and worshiped (proskyneo) Jesus (Mar. 15:18-19)

Now I don’t understand, how could they worship him if they didn’t believe in him? Mark says they worshipped him but Matthew doesn’t mention it. So what really happened here? Did they kiss their hands toward him, if that’s what worship means? Did they have an opening prayer and a song, listen to a sermon, take the Lord’s supper, and have a closing song and a prayer? 

In Mark’s account, since the word proskyneo is there, the KJV translates it as “worship”, but many other versions like the NIV translate this as “did homage”, because the soldiers didn’t believe in Jesus so they were not really “worshiping”. So what was happening?

What is interesting here is that Matthew says that Roman soldiers fell on their knees, and Mark says that they bent down on their knees and bowed down (proskyneo).  It makes much more sense if we understand that the Roman soldiers did not worship Jesus, they kneeled down to him - and Mark includes that they also bowed down to him while they were kneeling down on their knees.  Makes sense now, doesn’t it? 

Bowing down to him was part of mocking him as a king, since bowing down to a king was something widely understood in that time and culture, even to us today, we understand bowing to a king. 

Worshiping and doubting:

Here is a 3rd thing in Matthew that I’ve never understood

• When the disciples saw the resurrected Jesus, they worshiped (proskyneo), but some doubted (Mat. 28:17)

I have always read right past this verse, I have just never stopped to think about it, because it’s been too confusing to try to figure out what it means.

Earlier in the chapter, Matthew 28:9, the two Mary’s saw Jesus at the tomb and clasped him by the feet and worshiped (proskyneo) him. 

Now, I am not sure how you could worship someone while you were holding on to their feet. Where is the kissing of their hands towards him? It says what they did with their hands, but there’s no kissing. Just holding Jesus’ feet with their hands. And how do you do an hour long worship service while you hold onto someone’s feet? That sounds really difficult!

If proskyneo means bowed down, that would mean that they bowed down to him and held onto his feet - does that seem more plausible?

It also means that when the disciples saw Jesus in Galilee, where he had told them to go, and he appeared to them, that they bowed down to him. However, all of them were sure that this was the resurrected Jesus, and even though they bowed down to him, they doubted that it was really him and that he had really risen from the dead. 

Thomas is described as doubting (the Greek word is unbelieving) in the last chapter of John (20) when he sees Jesus and then Jesus says put your hands in my wounds and stop unbelieving (doubting) and believe! 

So the 11 disciples in this example from Matthew 28:17 includes Thomas, (who has been described as having trouble with believing that Jesus really rose from the dead in John 20, but it does not single him out, but it appears there could have been others doubting too, because “doubting/unbelieving is in 3rd person plural). 

But we know that they were all bowing down to him: some were doing it because they believed he had been raised from the dead, but some didn’t. So they were bowing down physically, yes - but they weren’t sure if they believed it was the resurrected Jesus, and this is how they could bow down and doubt at the same time!

If proskyneo means worship though, then don’t ask me about some worshiping and others doubting!

Bonus verse: By the way, now you understand what Satan was asking Jesus to do in Matthew 4: Satan wasn’t asking Jesus to fall down and worship (proskyneo) him, he was asking Jesus to fall and bow down to him, and Jesus answers with quoting Exodus 20:3-5 where God instructs the people to have no other gods except him and…to not bow down (shakah - H7812) to them or serve them.

New Testament example 2: Acts 10

In Acts chapter 10:25, Cornelius, a commander of the Roman army, falls at the feet of Peter and bows down (proskyneo) before him. Cornelius was not Jewish, but as we saw from the Old Testament examples, bowing down was a common practice among all peoples of the area.

• When Roman centurion Cornelius met Peter, he fell (pipto) and bowed down (proskyneo) at his feet (Acts 10:25)

Peter told Cornelius to stand up, saying to him, “I too am just a man”.  

Many translations say that Cornelius fell at Peter’s feet and “worshipped” him. If Cornelius  “worshiped” Peter, why would he fall at Peter’s feet? 

Surely he could have just “kissed his hand” toward him, right? If that’s what worship means. Where was the singing and the praying and listening to a sermon? 

The text says nothing about kissing his hand, or singing or praying, but he very well could have kissed the ground or made his forehead touch (kiss) the ground if he bowed down to him at his feet. 

Also, if he wasn’t on the ground, then why would Peter tell him to “get up”?

Peter saying “I am just a man, too”, indicates that he was telling Cornelius that they were equals, that he is not a superior being - human or divine - and therefore this practice of proskyneo by those of the Persian (including Jewish) culture - “if one is of much less noble rank than the other, he falls down before him and prostrates/bows down on the ground)” was not necessary. 

New Testament example 3: Revelation chapters 19 and 3

 Here it seems that there is a similar situation with the apostle John and an angel in Revelation 19:10. He falls down at the feet of the angel and bows down to him (proskyneo), but the angel says 2 things:

“And I fell at his feet to worship (proskyneo) to him. And he said unto me, See not (do you not see): I am thy fellow servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship (proskyneo) to God.”

Now remember that people bowed down to angels in the Old Testament: Joshua bowed (shakah) (Greek: proskyneo) to an angel and called himself the angels servant in Joshua 5, Balaam crouched down and bowed down (shakah) on his face when he saw an angel (Num. 22:31),  David and the elders saw the angel of God and fell on their faces (1 Chr. 21:16) and Daniel fell on his face before an angel (Dan. 8) and the women fell on their faces before the angels at Jesus’ tomb (Luke 24)

The angels do not criticize the men or these women for bowing down or falling to the ground in front of them in any of these examples, so what’s going on?

1. I am your fellow servant:  bowing down is also a way of saying one is another’s servant. The angel is essentially saying you are not to serve me, I am a servant of God just like you and your brethren,  “equals” in this sense.

Also, it’s not necessary to bow down to an equal or a brother, only to one superior, and the angel is saying that he is not a “superior” servant of God, they are both equally servants of God.

2. The one you should bow down to (proskyneo) is God. God is the one who is superior to them both and they are both his servants. 

Essentially, the angel is saying it’s not necessary to bow down to me because you and I are equals, the one higher than both of us is God, that’s the one to bow down to and serve.  

Additionally, I think it’s interesting that many English translations add some words in this passage: 

The exact words the angle says are “-see not-” or “behold not” (i.e. do you not see), but many translations have something like “ See that you do not do that!” with the words in italics indicating that they have been added.  

I used an ESV for years that says that the Angel says “You must not do that!”   But the “do not do that” part is not in the Greek text. However, it IS in the Latin translation:

"Vide ne feceris" translates to "See that you do not do it." or "Look! Don't do it!". This phrase appears in the Latin Vulgate Bible, specifically in Revelation 19:10 and Revelation 22:9

So, relying on how the Latin Bible translated this, instead of relying on the Greek text, has caused a lot of confusion about this instance, and used by many to defend the idea that “worship is to be given to God alone” and not to be given to angels - and the angel is offended or upset that “adoration” or “worship” is being given to him.  

But what is really going on here is that the angel says you don’t need to humble yourself before me or bow down to me or serve me, I’m your equal, we both are servants, bow down to the one we serve - bow down to God. 

In other examples of proskyneo in the book Revelation, all of the heavenly beings: the angels, living creatures and elders fell on their faces and bowed down to God - Rev. 4, 5, 7, 11, 19. 

In Revelation 3:9,

Jesus tells John to write this to the Angel of the church in Philadelphia. He says that those who are of the synagogue of Satan, and lie about being Jews, he (Jesus) would make them “worship (proskyneo)  at the feet” of that angel. 

Now if worship is due to Jesus and God alone, then how could Jesus say that he would make people worship at the feet of an angel? Doesn’t that contradict with what the angel said in the passage we studied above, Revelation 19:10 and Revelation 22:9? 

Again, the Greek word here is “proskyneo”, so Jesus is actually saying that he would make these evil people bow down at the angel’s feet, not worship the angel.

Paul says to the church in Rome that “God will bruise Satan under your feet.” (Rom. 16:20).  Couldn’t this also include those who were of the ‘synagogue’ of Satan, or his followers, putting them under their feet?

We also read in the Old Testament that “The evil will bow (shawkak) before the righteous”(Pro. 14), and “The Lord said I will make your enemies your footstool (Psl. 110).

So this does not seem to contradict scripture, in that this is not an example of anyone worshiping an angel. This is an example of evil people or enemies of the church bowing before a righteous being, in this case a messenger/angel of a church. 

New Testament example 4: John 4

This one is a kicker, so hold on! (Especially for those in the church of Christ).

In John 4, Jesus goes through Samaria, and stops in Sychar (probably one of a few names for the place known as Shechem) to visit Jacob’s well, which is in Shechem, near Mount Gerizim.  He meets a Samaritan woman who perceives that he is a prophet and asks this:

“Our fathers worshiped (proskyneo) on this mountain [Mount Gerizim], and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship (proskyneo)”.John 4:20 (NJKV)

As you notice, the word proskyneo is translated as “worship” here, and I could not find even one English translation that does have this word “worship” in this passage - even the Young’s Literal Translation  (which only has the word worship 27 times in its entire Bible) translates this as worship! One exception is The Douay-Rheims Bible, a Catholic translation,which has “adore”. 

In this entire passage of John 4:20-24, the word “proskyneo” is found 9 times (and personally, growing up in the church of Christ, “worshipping in Spirit and in truth” is something very important to our… “theology” if you can call it that.) 

But, let’s read it with the actual definition of proskyneo:

John 4:20-24 Our fathers bowed down (proskyneo) on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to bow down (proskyneo). 

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you bow down (proskyneo) to the Father. You bow down (proskyneo) to what you do not know; we know what we bow down (proskyneo) to, for salvation is of the Jews.

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true ones who bow down (proskynētēs) will bow down (proskyneo) to the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to bow down  (proskyneo) to Him.  

God is Spirit, and those who bow down (proskyneo) to Him must bow down (proskyneo) to Him in spirit and truth.”

The Samaritan woman is referring to the beliefs that Jews held, based on the edicts of King David and King Hezekiah, that Jerusalem was where the temple and altar should be for all Israel to bow down (shakah) at this altar and burn their sacrifices on (1 Chr. 22:1 , 2 Chr. 32:12, 2 Kin. 18:22). 

The Samaritans believed that Mount Gerizim was where God’s people should bow down and offer sacrifice, rejecting the temple in Jerusalem and the Jewish religion, and only believing in and accepting their own version of the pentateuch (first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible, and rejecting all other books of the O.T., so anything after Deuteronomy.)

Except for those reading the 1570’s Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible translation, which has the word “adore”, ALL of us who have English Bible translations grew up reading every instance of “proskyneo” as “worship” in this passage in John 4! For hundreds of years!

(I don’t know if any other denominations put as much emphasis on “worshiping in spirit and truth” as much as those of us in the churches of Christ, but for us, this has been interpreted as ‘worshiping God without musical instruments’. And this is something staunchly defended within the churches of Christ.) 

But, seeing as how “proskyneo” actually means to bow down, I think we need to re-examine this explanation. 

It is, of course, historically accurate to say that the first century church did not use musical instruments - as we can read about Pope Vitalian ( in the 7th century) being credited with being the first person to introduce an organ into a church assembly, and it wasn’t quick to catch on until the 1800’s in American churches. 

So we know that Christians for the first 600 years did not use musical instruments in their church assemblies.  The Orthodox church that split from the Catholic church back in the 12th century, also does not use instruments in their assemblies to this day. 

But now we must ask, if John 4 is actually talking about “bowing down” and not “worship”: then what does it mean to bow down “in spirit and in truth”? 

(I have made a separate link to an article at the bottom of this page that goes more in depth as to what 'bowing down in spirit and truth' means.

I found some pretty surprising things that happened here in Shechem that relate to righteousness and truth!! and I hope that if you're a member of the church of Christ that you will read this separate article too, because we have believed for many years that this passage is referring to musical instruments in our assemblies)

Main Conclusion:

I hope that from the examples of the Hebrew word “shakah” and the corresponding Greek word “proskyneo”, that we can see that the English translation of both of these words is “bow down”. 

Even though many have translated these words as “worship”, the word “worship” is an English word first used in the 900’s, and it originally meant “honor”. Remember how we learned that the first English translation says to worship your parents and that God will worship humans?

 The definition that many have now of what “worship” is, is oddly similar the Catholic definition of latria:

“Latria: The act of religion by which God is recognized as alone worthy of supreme honor… It is at once an act of mind and will, expressing itself in appropriate prayers, postures of praise, and acts of reverence and sacrifice”. (Modern Catholic Dictionary)

What definition do you want to give shakah and proskyneo: bowing down, as we see in the Bible, or worship / adoration, as the Catholic church has defined it?

The most detailed explanation of what shakah and proskyneo mean are given in the details that surround their descriptions: bending down on the knees and putting one’s face on the ground  / at someone’s feet as an act of humility, servitude or making a request - is the best explanation of this practice. 

Also, even though many say it means “kissing the hand towards”, if that were true, don’t you think we would see descriptions of people kissing their hands? Why has this been excluded from the descriptions, if that’s really what happened? Surely they could have just included that they kissed their hands before they put their faces on the ground or that they knelt down and kissed their hands, but do we see that?

I also don’t see anyone having a worship service when they bowed down to Jesus.  Many people in the New Testament bowed down to Jesus and begged for his help or healing, as you will see below.  Here are some examples of people bowing down to Jesus, and see if you see anyone falling down or putting their face on the ground / at someone’s feet:

• A Canaanite woman bowed down (proskyneo) to Jesus and asked him to heal her demon-possessed daughter (Mat. 15)

• Jairus fell (pipto) at the feet of Jesus and begged him to heal his daughter (Mark 5)

• A Samaritan who had been healed of leprosy fell down (pipto) on his face at the feet of Jesus and thanked him (Luk. 17)

• A convinced unbeliever will fall down (pipto) on his face and bow down (proskyneo) to God in an assembly of Christians (1 Cor. 14:25)

• Men did not repent of bowing down (proskyneo) to demons and idols (Rev. 9)

I hope this article will bring about more understanding of this practice so common in the East - and still practiced in many places and countries even to this day.  I have added a link below to a separate article with many pictures that show how people still bow down to each other as a sign of respect and humility in many cultures.

Side note: proskyneo is not the only Greek word that is translated as “worship”.

Verses like Hebrews 12:28 (let us serve (latreuo) God well-pleasingly, with fear and awe)  and Romans 12:1 (present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service (latreia).

The emphasis and focus on our daily lives as living sacrifices that serve God has been largely lost (literally in translation) because of “serving God” being just one of the many things included in “adoration” and “worship” because of the translators’ belief in this unbiblical doctrine of Latria. (there is a separate article on my website about Hebrews 12:28)

We can bow down to God, or sing or pray - at any place and at any time.  Let us call singing as singing, praising as praising, praying as praying, giving as giving, and gathering together as gathering together, and bowing down as bowing down, like the first Christians did! They didn’t use the word “worship”! (or adoration).

Worship and adoration - things given to God alone - are words that only need to be used if one also believes in the hyperdulia given to Mary alone and the dulia given to other people alone (including statues and paintings of people and saints).

My fellow Christians of all denominations  - it is loving God and serving God and obeying God with our whole heart that pleases Him - so let us serve God in righteousness and in truth, in Spirit and in truth. Is this not the kind of people God is seeking to bow down to him? 

Thank you for reading! You can download a printable PDF of this article below:

WorshipMeaning.pdf

Download PDF • 263KB

related article: John 4: what does it mean to bow down in spirit and truth? (please read if you are a member of the church of Christ!!

related article: bowing down in cultures across the world