What is worship?
The Hebrew word shachah and the Greek word proskuneo account for more than 80% of the appearances of the word "worship" in most English versions of the Bible.
A study of the Hebrew word shachah and the Greek word proskuneo reveals that both these words mean "to bow down." The Hebrew word shachah (H7812) is used of bowing or prostrating oneself, often before a superior or before God.
Why do we use the English word "worship" at all? Our word "worship" comes from the Old English "weorthscipe," which means worthiness. We "worship" someone because they are "worth" the respect they receive.
Thus even in the derivation of the English word "worship" we see that it was not exclusively used of God or Yahushua, but was used to designate someone worth the respect they received.
When the words shachah appears in the Hebrew text, or proskuneo in the Greek text, they usually refer to the action of bowing down, and we can translate them that way into English, as the following examples show.
Genesis 23:7
Then Abraham rose and bowed down [shachah] before the people of the land, the Hittites.
Genesis 33:3
He himself [Jacob] went on ahead and bowed down [shachah] to the ground seven times as he approached his brother [Esau].
Genesis 42:6
Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down [shachah] to him with their faces to the ground.
Matthew 18:26
“The servant fell on his knees [proskuneo] before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
It is clear from the verses above that:
people "bowed down to, " or "worshipped" other people.
In many Bible versions, when the words shachah or proskuneo are used of one person to another, the translators use the English words “bow down” or something similar. However, when shachah or proskuneo refers to a person “bowing down” before God or Yahushua, the translators almost always use the English word "worship."
The three examples below are typical.
Exodus 24:1
Then he said to Moses, “Come up to Yahuwah, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship [shachah] at a distance,
Exodus 33:10 (NASB)
When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship [shachah], each at the entrance of his tent.
John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship [proskuneo] in spirit and in truth.
The verses above reveal a pattern that has caused many Christians to misunderstand "worship." When the Hebrew or Greek words for worship refer to men "worshipping" men, the translators use the English words "bow down."
However, when the act of worship is toward God or Yahushua, then the translators use the English word "worship" in their Bibles. This way of translating understandably leads the English reader to believe that only God and Jesus are "worshipped."
How can a person reading the English Bible be expected to know that biblical "worship" is not just for God and Yahushua when in his Bible the word "worship" is only used in reference to them? He cannot.
Thus, although it is sad, it is understandable that people reading the English Bible conclude that Yahushua must be God because Yahushua is "worshipped." And this is false assumption.
"Worshipping," i.e., bowing down to someone, shows honor and respect. It can be toward anyone the person wants to honor, even, as we saw earlier in the case of Lot, a total stranger. People "worshipping" Jesus does not make him God any more than Abraham "bowing down" before the Hittites makes them God.
There are times when it is not appropriate to honor or "worship" someone. God says that it is wrong to bow down before (shachah; worship) other gods (Ex. 23:24). That makes perfect sense. How could a person with any sincerity honor both God and demons?
Conclusion: Can we worship/bow down to Yahushua Christ? Yes. He is not God, because there is only one true God, the Father, but he is the son of Yah, our Saviour, our Redeemer, who "gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live." (Galatians 1:4, NLT) Therefore he is worthy and we can and should worship him.