Jesus Worshiped as God in Luke

In Luke’s Gospel, the disciples worship Jesus after having physically ascended into heaven right before their eyes:

“As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, ‘Peace be to you.’ But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. He took them, and ate in front of them.

^“He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.’

“He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.” Luke 24:36-53

The worship of the disciples cannot be a mere act of homage since Jesus was no longer physically before them. The fact that they worshiped him after he had entered heaven to sit enthroned at the Father’s right hand shows that this was a religious act intended to affirm their belief in his essential Deity.

The following Evangelical scholars concur:

In Luke 4:7–8, as in Matthew 4:9–10, the devil tempts Jesus to worship him, and Jesus rebuffs him with the same quotation of Deuteronomy 6:13 stating that one should “worship” the Lord your God only. The only other occurrence of the verb comes at the very end of the Gospel, when the disciples, who watched Jesus be “carried up into heaven,” “worshiped him” (Luke 24:51–52). This is not an accident or coincidence. Luke has composed the two passages to accentuate certain similarities beyond the use of the verb proskyneō. Immediately after they “worshiped” Jesus, they went to Jerusalem and “were continually in the temple blessing God” (v. 53). This order, (1) “worshiped” and then (2) “to Jerusalem” and “the temple,” is also the order of the second and third temptations in Luke: (1) the temptation to “worship” the devil (4:7–8), and then (2) “to Jerusalem” and the temptation at “the temple” (4:9–12). With this literary context in mind, the account of the disciples worshiping the supernatural, risen Christ as they watch him be carried up into heaven clearly describes a religious act of worship. (Robert M. Bowman Jr. & J. Ed Komoszewski, The Incarnate Christ and His Critics: A Biblical Defense [Kregel Academic, Grand Rapids, MI, 2024], Part 1: Crown Him with Many Crowns: Jesus’ Divine Honors, Chapter 5: Worship of Jesus, p. 110; emphasis mine)

Textual Veracity

There is no doubt as to the textual authenticity of v. 52 since it is found in the majority of the extant manuscripts. As one noted textual scholar explains:

TR(WH)NU προσκυνήσαντες αὐτὸν ὑπέστρεψαν εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ

"having worshiped him, they returned to Jerusalem"

P75 א A B C L W Δ θ Ψ cop

KJV NKJV RSVmg NRSV ESV NASB NIV TNIV NEBmg REBmg NJB NAB NLT HCSB NET

variant ὑπέστρεψαν εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ

"they returned to Jerusalem"

Dit syr8 

RSV NRSVmg NEB REB NJBmg NETmg

Again, Westcott and Hort (1882,73) considered the shorter text to represent the original wording of Luke (see note on 24:3), but the textual evidence speaks against this. Luke waited until the very end of his gospel to speak of Jesus being worshiped, for his resurrection proved to the disciples that he was indeed God, worthy of their worship.

Four modern translations (RSV, NASB, NEB, and REB) show the shorter text. Three translations are consistent in following the D-text throughout Luke 24—namely RSV NEB REB. The NASB translators chose to do so only in 24:36,51 -52, exhibiting a methodological inconsistency, which was corrected in the updated version. (Comfort, New Testament Text and Translation Commentary – Commentary on the variant readings of the ancient New Testament manuscripts and how they relate to the major English translations [Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Il, in 2008], p. 249; emphasis mine)

Corroborating Evidence

Luke presents additional proofs in his two volumes for Jesus being worshiped and glorified as God, some of which I present here.

A.    Worship of Jesus in Acts.

Luke records the early followers of Jesus praying to and calling on his name, which includes the very first Jewish martyr of Christ:

“They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’ He kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, ‘Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!’” Acts 7:59-60

“But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem. Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.’ Ananias departed and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized. He took food and was strengthened. Saul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus. Immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed the Christ, that he is the Son of God. All who heard him were amazed, and said, ‘Isn’t this he who in Jerusalem made havoc of those who called on this name? And he had come here intending to bring them bound before the chief priests!’” Acts 9:13-21

In these examples, the first Christians worshiped Jesus in the exact same way that OT believers worshiped YHWH God:

“Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth.” Psalm 31:5

“Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who call on his name. They called on Yahweh, and he answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. They kept his testimonies, the statute that he gave them.” Psalm 99:6-7

“I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice, and my cries for mercy. Because he has turned his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 3 The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow. 4 Then I called on Yahweh’s name: ‘Yahweh, I beg you, deliver my soul.’… I will take the cup of salvation, and call on Yahweh’s name… I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call on Yahweh’s name.” Psalm 116:1-4, 13, 17

In fact, Jesus does from heaven what YHWH is said to do, namely, receive the spirits of humans at their deaths and forgives sins committed on earth:

“then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men)… If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; yet if they repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly,’ if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name, then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause; and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them.” 1 Kings 8:39, 46-50

“before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the spring, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

B.    Jesus sends forth/pours out the Holy Spirit.

“Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:49

Elsewhere in Luke-Acts, we are told that the promise that Jesus will send is the gift of the Holy Spirit:

“As the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ, John answered them all, ‘I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’” Luke 3:15-17

“4 Paul said, ‘John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Christ Jesus.’” Acts 19:4

“The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about God’s Kingdom. Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, ‘Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.’” Acts 1:1-8  

“Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this, spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul wasn’t left in Hades, and his flesh didn’t see decay. This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you now see and hear.” Acts 2:29-33

What makes these claims truly remarkable is that the Hebrew Bible teaches that it is YHWH who pours out his Holy Spirit:

“You will know that I am among Israel, and that I am Yahweh, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed. It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit. I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.” Joel 2:27-32  

“Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: ‘Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring;’” Isaiah 44:1-3

“‘I won’t hide my face from them any more, for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord Yahweh.” Ezekiel 39:29

And it is YHWH who destroys his enemies with unquenchable fire:

“For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.” Deuteronomy 32:22

“‘Now I will arise,’ says Yahweh. ‘Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted. You will conceive chaff. You will give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you. The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire. Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.’ The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?” Isaiah 33:10-14

“I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you don’t know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which will burn on you.” Jeremiah 15:14

“You, even of yourself, will discontinue from your heritage that I gave you. I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don’t know, for you have kindled a fire in my anger which will burn forever.” Jeremiah 17:4

“Yahweh has accomplished his wrath. He has poured out his fierce anger. He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.” Lamentations 4:11

“I watched until thrones were placed, and one who was Ancient of Days sat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came out from before him. Thousands of thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set. The books were opened. I watched at that time because of the voice of the arrogant words which the horn spoke. I watched even until the animal was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire.” Daniel 7:9-11

“for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29

C.    Salvation in/by/through Jesus’ Name

“and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke 24:47

“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

“When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, ‘You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.’” Acts 3:12-18

“In the morning, their rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest. 7 When they had stood Peter and John in the middle of them, they inquired, ‘By what power, or in what name, have you done this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘You rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, may it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands here before you whole in him. He is “the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.” There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!’ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus. Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.” Acts 4:5-14  

“When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ From this man’s offspring, God has brought salvation to Israel according to his promise… Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins; and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” Acts 13:22-23, 38-39

Once again, according to the Hebrew Bible YHWH forgives sins and saves people on the basis of his name, and for his own sake:

“For your name’s sake, Yahweh, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.” Psalm 25:11

“Save me, God, by your name. Vindicate me in your might.” Psalm 54:1

“Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.” Psalm 79:9

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25

This is why all the nations are exhorted to turn to YHWH for salvation, since there is no other God that is able to save:

“Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior. There is no one besides me. Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.’” Isaiah 45:21-22

The foregoing leaves absolutely no doubt that Luke intended to describe Jesus as God Almighty in the flesh, being the unique, divine Son who is essentially one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

All scriptural references taken from the World English Bible (WEB).

Further Reading

Jesus Christ and JWs: Who is the Jehovah That Saves? (https://answeringislam.blog/jesus-christ-and-jws-who-is-the-jehovah-that-saves/)