2- Do You Kiss the Son?
"Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling. HONOR [or KISS] THE SON, or God will become indignant and you will perish from the way, for His anger flares up quickly. Happy are all those taking refuge in Him. (Psalms 2:11, 12)
Psalm 2 states clearly that "honoring the Son" is a matter of life and death. Thus, the two following questions do not only concern us as Christians, but every human being living on this earth:
- Does this statement still apply today? Or is it outdated because it is from the so-called Old Testament?
- If it still applies: What is meant by "honoring / kissing the Son"?
The cross-reference leads us to one of several related texts in the New Testament:
"The one who exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life; the one who disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him." (John 3:36, NWT)
So the answer is clear: Yes, it still applies!
Now the second question ...
What does it mean to "honor the Son"?
In the Hebrew original text of Psalm 2, a form of the verb "nashaq" (נָשַׁק) is used, which means "to kiss".
Several English-language Bible translators translate "nash-shequ" as follows:
- "Kiss the Son" – King James Version
- "Obey the son completely" – New Int. Readers Version
Which honor is the Son entitled to? Or also: How much honor is he entitled to? Can or should he be honored or even worshipped?
This is important, as Psalm 2:12 says in turn that the one who does not "honor/kiss" the Son, is walking on the wrong path and will even die!
The key to insight can be found in the Christian Greek scriptures (New Testament), namely in the Greek expression "prokysneo".
The key: προσκυνέω !
The Greek expression "prokysneo" is composed of two words:
- "pros" = to, towards
- "kyneo" = to kiss
which means, according to the belief of most scholars, to kiss the ground in front of a superior person or to blow a kiss towards the adored deity (e.g. as seen in Egyptian reliefs).
It means to pay honor to sb., to worship sb., to bow down, to kneel down, to throw oneself to the ground; "the willingness to make all necessary physical gestures of obeisance".
(Source: HELPS Word-studies)
"proskyneses" appears in Matthew 4:9 where the devil said to Jesus:
"All these things I will give you if you fall down and do an act of worship to me."
Of course Jesus refused to worship Satan.
At which other places in the New Testament is "proskyneo" written?
Pay homage, prostrate or worship?
Here is the list of bible texts for critical Bereans´ eyes:
Matthew 2:2,8,11; 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 18:26; 20:20; 28:9,17; also in 2 passages with Mark, 3 passages with Luke and 7 passages with John, various passages in Acts, 1 Corinthians, Hebrews and Revelation.
In all these passages there are forms of "proskyneo" in the original Greek text.
The New World translation translates this expression in one place as "do an act of worship" (namely in relation to Satan), but in all other places as "do obeisance" (namely in relation to Jesus after he had conquered the storm, walked on water or risen from the dead).
... is that logical?
"Do obeisance" conceals the original physical gesture (at least in our personal vocabulary), it was not clear to us until now what was actually happening at that time:
"And when they saw him, they worshiped him: ..."
(Matthew 28:17; NIV, ESV, NIRV, KJV)
"When they saw him, they prostrated themselves before him ..."
(Matthew 28:17; The Complete Jewish Bible)
"When they saw him, they bowed down in worship ..."
(Matthew 28:17; GOD´S WORD Translation)
Was Jesus actually worshipped?
Read the next article: "3- Are We Allowed to Pray to Jesus?"