The most common word in the New Testament for worship, found some 60 times, means to pay homage, reverence to something. The only lawful receiver of worship is God! Matthew 4:10 Jesus received and accepted worship of Himself without hesitation. The wise men fell down and worshipped Him, Matthew 2:1; a leper worshipped Him, Matthew 8:2; a ruler, Darius, worshipped Him, Matthew 9:18; Peter and those in the boat worshipped Him, Matthew 14:33; and many other verses could be cited. The most famous verse on this subject was that of Thomas in John 20:28. No man, angel, or spirit of any other order was to receive worship, in fact Paul writes in Hebrews 1:6; “And again, when He bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, He saith, ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him.’
During the 40 days temptation, Satan tried to get Jesus to “fall down and worship him”. To this Christ responded; “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,” More than any other book in the New Testament, the Epistle to the Hebrews proves beyond question the true Deity of Jesus Christ and teaches that not only is He our ascended High Priest and Intercessor before the Father, but that He is the living Word of God (Hebrews 4:12) who judges the thoughts and intents of our hearts and who remains the same “yesterday, today and forever.” Russellites strive constantly to reduce the Lord Jesus Christ in rank from the second person of the Triune Deity to a created being. Let us keep in mind the writer of Hebrews admonition to the Church, namely, that our Savior far from being a creature (regardless of the exalted rank one may assign to Him) is in truth and in deed the eternal Word of God, the radiance or effulgence of His Father’s glory, the very image imprinted or impressed by the Nature of the Father—God manifest in the flesh, the fullness of the Godhead, bodily!! Hebrews 1:1-3; 1 Timothy 3:16; Colossians 2:9.
The term Godhead is often mis-understood. We speak of manhood, womanhood, childhood; yet we struggle with Godhead. In actuality Godhead and Godhood would be the same It could be used as a synonym for God, but goes further- it implies the state, dignity, condition, and quality of being God. What ever it means to be God, whatever it takes to exist as God, and whatever constitutes God as a nature is found in the term Godhead!! This term is found three times in the New Testament: Acts 17:29, Romans 1:20, and Colossians 2:9. Each of these places is translated from a different word, though all three words are somewhat related. In Acts 17:29 the word means “that which is divine, deity”. Comparing the passages we shall see why the Holy Spirit used each word. In Romans 1:29 Paul is declaring how much of God may be known from the revelation of Himself which He has made in nature, from those vestiges of Himself which that in the Son there dwells all the fullness of absolute Godhead; they were no more rays of divine glory which gilded Him, lighting up His person for a season and with a splendor not His own; but He was, is, absolute and perfect God; and the “Apostle used the word “divine” to express the essential and personal Godhead of the Son”. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, pages 7-8 “Deity differs from divinity as essence differs from quality or attributes.” Thayer, p. 288 (Thayer, by the way, was a Unitarian—they deny the Deity of Christ—it is good as he is a scholar, he is honest about definitions of words!!) In fact when Thayer addresses the word in Colossians 2:9, he describes it as “the state of being God”!! In their translation the Russelites call Christ God!! Titus 2:13
