Matthew 28:17
Matthew 28:1717When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.
Jehovah's Witnesses acknowledge that the disciples offered proskuneo to the risen Jesus in , but insist this was "obeisance" — respectful homage to a superior — not worship in the full divine sense. The Watchtower teaches that proskuneo directed at Jesus is qualitatively different from proskuneo directed at Jehovah, because Jesus is God's appointed King rather than God himself. They point to the phrase "but some doubted" as evidence that the disciples' response was uncertain and therefore not a settled act of divine worship. The NWT's rendering "did obeisance" supports this framework by linguistically downgrading the act whenever Jesus is the recipient.
Protestants note that proskuneo in is the same Greek word used for worship of God throughout the New Testament. The post-resurrection context is decisive: the disciples have just encountered the risen Lord who claims "all authority in heaven and on earth" (v18). Their response is worship — the same word, the same posture, the same devotion directed at Jehovah elsewhere. Crucially, Jesus accepts this proskuneo without correction. In and 22:8-9, a faithful angel refuses the identical act and redirects it to God. Jesus never does this — not here, not in , not in . The contrast between angel refusal and Jesus' acceptance is a central argument for the deity of Christ. If Jesus were merely a created being, accepting proskuneo in a post-resurrection appearance would be the gravest idolatry, yet no correction is given.
The NWT renders proskuneo as "did obeisance" when directed at Jesus (Matt 28:17, 28:9, 14:33) but as "worship" when directed at God, Satan, or the beast. This dual-standard translation is doctrinally motivated: the same Greek word receives different English renderings based solely on who is receiving the act. The inconsistency is especially visible in Revelation, where the NWT uses "worshipped" at (directed at God and the Lamb jointly) but "did obeisance" in the Gospels when Jesus alone is the recipient. No major English translation makes this distinction.