If I worship the Son, am I worshiping God?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

Yes, absolutely and unequivocally. When you worship the Son, you are worshiping the One True God.

In the Orthodox faith, to worship Jesus Christ is not to worship an "alternative" to God, nor an "intermediary," but to worship God Himself in truth.

1. In Worshiping the Son, You Worship the Father

Because the Father and the Son share one identical divine essence (ousia), their worship is one and indivisible. As St. Athanasius the Apostolic stated:

"He who worships and honors the Son, in the Son worships and honors the Father, for the Godhead is one."

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself declared this truth plainly in the Gospels:

• "That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him." (John 5:23)
• "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14:9)

You cannot bypass the Son to get to the Father, nor does worshiping the Son detract from the Father. Worship offered to any Person of the Trinity is received by the entire Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

2. The Angels Themselves Are Commanded to Worship Him

God the Father commands the heavenly hosts to worship the Son:

• "When He brings the firstborn into the world, He says: 'Let all the angels of God worship Him.'" (Hebrews 1:6)

If the Son were not God, this command would violate God's law, which strictly forbids the worship of any creature (Exodus 20:3–5; Isaiah 42:8). The Son receives worship because He is by nature God Almighty.

3. A Single, Indivisible Worship (The Orthodox Confession)

When Jesus Christ became Incarnate, He united humanity to His divinity without confusion, separation, or division.

Heretics like Nestorius falsely taught that one worships the man Jesus alongside or together with the divine Word, which effectively divides Christ into two and introduces the worship of a creature. Against this, St. Cyril of Alexandria affirmed that we honor Emmanuel with a single, undivided worship. We do not separate His sacred flesh from the Word to whom it was hypostatically united; we worship the Word Incarnate as one Lord, one God, and one Savior.

Therefore:

• If you worship Jesus Christ, you are giving true divine worship (latria) to the One True God.
• Anyone who refuses to worship the Son—such as Jews, Muslims, or ancient and modern Arians (like Jehovah's Witnesses)—does not know or worship God as He has truly revealed Himself.