Christians like @Abe_Kuyper claim that their gospels say that Jesus was "worshiped" and evidently accepted this "worship". They point to Matthew 28:17 as an example. But, assuming this story is even authentic, does it prove that Jesus thought he was "God"? No!
The Greek word translated as "worship" in Matt 28:17 doesn't always have to mean the "worship" that is given to God alone. It can also just mean giving respect or homage or "bowing" to a person. Case in point: Revelation 3:9.
Here, the church in Philadelphia is being addressed. The faithful members are assured that the "Jews" that are troubling them will soon be made to "bow down" to them. The translation is different in the ESV despite the fact that the same Greek word is used as in Matt 28:17. 👇
Interestingly, the NET Bible, a very popular translation that I have seen @Abe_Kuyper use on occasion, has a strange footnote for Revelation 3:9. Notice that it says that the verb normally means "worship". So why did they decide it must mean something else here?
Clearly, for theological reasons, they didn't want to translate it as "worship". But this would then demonstrate their inconsistency. Why translate it as "worship" for Jesus, other than to satisfy their bias?
So it seems that there is enough ambiguity in the Greek word as to treat it with caution. What I would ask @Abe_Kuyper is why on earth would you take the risk of eternal damnation by worshiping a man (we can all agree that he was a man) based on such flimsy evidence?
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