A Correspondent sends a paper which censures J. N. D.'s translation on the ground that “when direct to God the Father, in every instance, he has the word ‘worship' in his New Translation;” “in every instance where the Lord Jesus is worshipped, he has used the word homage.'“ This is supposed to “need no comment.” Nevertheless, comment is added; namely, that our Lord Jesus is looked upon in a subordinate or lower sense than God the Father; especially as where the creature is in question, the translator, “in nearly every instance, has used the word ‘homage.'“
Such insinuations it would be almost as foolish to discuss as it was wrong to feel and express them. For in these evil days, I do not wonder at any attacks on that which is good. But it is impossible to conceive remarks more gratuitous than such criticism. Two qualities combined can alone account for them—malice and ignorance, equally intense and without excuse.
Matt. 4:1010Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4:10), the first instance given in the first list, refutes the calumny. The citation in answer to the devil is translated, “Thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God,” &c. Now here it is a question of adoration direct to God the Father; yet Mr. D. has “do homage.” This is the opening proof that “in every instance” he has the word “worship” when direct to God the Father Honesty may be prejudiced, but no honest man that understands the words in English, not to speak of Greek, can avoid seeing that the charge is false; and that the inculpated version gives πρ. the sense of doing “homage” where God is distinctly and exclusively spoken of.
If the first instance proves exactly the contrary of what it was intended to illustrate, the second (Matt. 15:99But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matthew 15:9)) will sound quite as strange to any one who knows a word of the Greek Testament. The Englishman's Greek Concordance is referred to at the end of the second list; but this too, of course, rises up to rebuke this false witness. There is no form whatever of προσκυνέω in the verse. That which answers to “worship” here is a wholly different word, σέβονται.
The third (Luke 4:88And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Luke 4:8)) is the passage parallel to Matt. 4:1010Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4:10), and simply repeats that which exposes not Mr. D., but his adversary.
But perhaps as glaring a proof as can be of total absence of candor appears in the removal of Rev. 4:10 and 5:14 from their true place in the first list in order to eke out a fresh calumny in the second. For it is evident that He who sits on the throne in Rev. 4; 5, is not the Son as such in contradistinction from the Father, but expressly the Lord God Almighty, from whose right hand the Lamb, in chapter v., takes the sealed book. Yet these are the texts with which the unworthy effort is wound up to make it appear that in every instance where the Lord Jesus is worshipped, J. N. D. has used the word “homage;” and in every instance where God is worshipped, he has retained the word “worship!” The truth is that in the two scenes of heavenly adoration in Rev. 4; 5 Mr. D. gives “homage” and not worship. Yet none but the most ignorant can deny that Almighty God as such is the object, in Rev. 4 alone, and in Rev. 5 conjointly with the Lamb (if we receive the correct critical text, which Mr. D. does).
Lastly, to show the of the third list (which is intended to prove that Mr. D. always uses “homage” where the creature is the object), it is enough to state that Rev. 19:1010And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10) is by folly or fraud left out here, though twice inserted in the first list. Thus the use and nonuse is doubly false. For Mr. D.'s version of that verse gives the term “worship” (with an asterisk “Or, ‘do him homage") where the creature or angel is concerned; and it says “worship God” (without giving the alternative of homage) where He is named. There is the usual heap of mistakes in this list besides; but we may safely refrain from further exposure. I have given enough to demonstrate that all three lists are untrustworthy; and I doubt that any amount of ignorance could have so erred without deliberate malice.
Any man who, knowing J. N. D., or having read his writings, can let party-spirit impute to him a lowering of the Lord Jesus to the condition of the creature, or a denial of divine honor and adoration equally with the Father, is beyond the reach of conviction by evidence. What I have said will satisfy others that his detractors are no way scrupulous. Why for instance does the second list leave out J. N. D.'s version of Heb. 1:66And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. (Hebrews 1:6)? There it is not doing homage, but worship; yet it is to the Son, and not to the Father.
The commonest of Greek and English Lexicons to the New Testament, such as Rose's Parkhurst, is clear that προσκυνέω expresses homage whether civil or religious (i.e., reverence, and worship). The following note Mr. R. gives from Dr. J. P. Smith's Scripture Testimony to the Messiah (2. p. 270): “This word occurs sixty times in the New Testament. Two, without controversy, denote civil homage (Matt. 18:2626The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. (Matthew 18:26); Rev. 3:99Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. (Revelation 3:9)); fifteen refer to idolatrous rites (John 4:2222Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. (John 4:22); Acts 7:4242Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? (Acts 7:42) [?], 43; Rev. 9:1010And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. (Revelation 9:10) [? 20]; 13:4, 8, 12, 15; 14:9, 11; 15:2; 19:20; 20:4); three, to mistaken and disapprove I homage to creatures (Acts 10:2525And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. (Acts 10:25); Rev. 19:10; 22:810And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10)
8And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. (Revelation 22:8)); about twenty-five clearly respect the homage due to the most high God; and the remainder relate to acts of homage to Jesus Christ. Of these (Matt. 2:2, 8, 11; 8:2; 9:182Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. (Matthew 2:2)
8And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. (Matthew 2:8)
11And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)
2And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. (Matthew 8:2)
18While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. (Matthew 9:18); ~ 14:33; 15:25; 20:20; ~28: 9, 4'17 Mark 5:6; 6:516But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, (Mark 5:6)
51And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. (Mark 6:51) [? 15:19]; Luke 5 [? 4.] 8 [24:52]), though some of them (marked~) denote a very deep and awful reverence, it cannot be said that any necessarily denote the worship due to God. But John 20:2828And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. (John 20:28) and Heb. 1:66And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. (Hebrews 1:6), especially the last, against which no objection can be raised, arc of a different order.” — Note from the ed. of 1829. There must be some oversight as elsewhere in citing John 20:2828And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. (John 20:28), for the word is not there, though Thomas' emphatic address did pay divine honor to the Lord. But the passage demonstrates the absurdity of such as limit πρ. to divine worship. Mr. D.'s version very properly applies it in both senses to our Lord. So Dean Alford, Mr. T. S. Green, Dr. G. Campbell (on the Gospels), Doddridge, and (one may say) every intelligent Christian.
What crowns the character of the present assault is the fact that, in a recent version of the New Testament by a learned and able Unitarian (Mr. S. Sharpe), πρ. is habitually, indeed invariably, translated “worship,” applied to God, our Lord, and the creature, whether in civil reverence or in religious worship. On the other hand I am not aware of a single orthodox Christian of competent biblical knowledge who would not in the main support the discriminating value given to πρ. in J. N. D.'s version as against either the Authorized Version or Mr. Sharpe. We might generally translate προσκυνεω as “doing homage;” because this would embrace reverence both civil and religious. But it is an error in the present usage of the English language to translate it always as “worship,” because in perhaps a majority of its occurrences in the New Testament this is not the true sense. The principle therefore on which Mr. D.'s version goes is undoubtedly sound, whereas the Authorized Version (perhaps through some change in the use of the verb “worship” as compared with its wider bearing two or three hundred years ago) is incorrect. The substantive and adjective are still applied as a title of respect to certain authorities. But the usage of the verb, as it often occurs in the New Testament, is now obsolete.
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