Deedat is wrong again. In the Greek language used for the New Testament the word for worship is very clear. There are a number of other words used that have a related meaning such as respect or to bow down or to honour someone that can be expressed to anyone like a leader or ruler or to God himself but there is one clear word for worship and that word is reserved for God. That word is proskuneo. ^[6]

This word is used a number of times in the New Testament and the best commentary on the New Testament is the New Testament (and the Old Testament). With that in mind, let’s take a look at a verse that uses the word proskuneo. In Revelation 22:7-8 we read this; “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”” The word here for worship in the Greek is the word proskuneo. This also happen in Revelation 19:10 (I guess John was a bit carried away with being in the heavenly realm so he had to be told twice). We also the same word proskuneo used in Acts 10:25-26 “When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him, But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” (ESV). From these three examples we see clearly that the word proskuneo is reserved for the worship of God only.

All this would just be of some interest if it wasn’t for the fact that the word proskuneo is applied to Jesus. In fact, the example that Deedat gave in Mark 5:6 is one such example and refers to the demons in a man causing the man to worship Jesus. This is not the only occasion that Jesus is worshipped and not once does he tell them to stop – unlike the Angel to John and Peter to Cornelius (cf Matthew 2:11, Matthew 8:2, Matthew 28:9, Matthew 28:17, Mark 15:19, Luke 24:25 and more).

 

N.B. The word in Greek for worship (proskuneo) is something that is useful to use when talking with Jehovah’s Witnesses. More so than Muslims because a Muslim could argue that he doesn’t believe in the Bible, but the Jehovah’s Witness claims to believe the Bible. I have used it a number of times and not once has a Witness been able to come back with a suitable argument against the fact that Jesus received worship and the Bible makes it clear that worship is reserved for God only.