Apologetics · FaithLogic
Latreuō — the Word for Service Owed to God Alone, and Whether Jesus Receives It
Alongside proskyneō ("bow down," covered in the Worship section), the New Testament uses latreuō — the word for religious, cultic service. Jesus himself says this service is owed to God alone (Matthew 4:10). This section asks the narrower question: does the New Testament give latreuō to Jesus — and how tight is the word-distinction really?
The Word
What latreuō means, and Jesus' own use of it
Latreuō (verb) / latreia (noun) is the religious service a worshipper renders — sacrifice, priestly ministry, the whole cultus. In the Greek Old Testament it is the standard word for serving God, and it is also used — as a sin — for Israel serving other gods (Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 4:19). So it is not a magic word that only ever attaches to the true God; it is the word for the kind of service that, rightly, belongs to God alone.
Matthew 4:10. Refusing Satan, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:13: "You shall worship (proskynēseis) the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve (latreuseis)." The word "only" (monō) sits with latreuō: this service is God's exclusively.
Matthew 4:10. Refusing Satan, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:13: "You shall worship (proskynēseis) the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve (latreuseis)." The word "only" (monō) sits with latreuō: this service is God's exclusively.
A caution about pressing proskyneō / latreuō too hard
It is sometimes said that proskyneō is "reverence you may give a king" and latreuō is "worship for God alone" — a clean two-tier system. That is too neat. In the Greek Old Testament both words are used both ways: people rightly proskyneō God, and Israel wrongly latreuō idols. Richard Bauckham makes exactly this point. The real argument for the worship of Jesus is not one Greek word but a pattern — the Father commanding the angels to worship the Son (Hebrews 1:6), "every creature" giving the Lamb and the One on the throne the same blessing and honour (Revelation 5:13–14), and the acts of worship joined to open confessions of Jesus as "Lord and God." The latreuō texts below add to that pattern; they do not have to carry it alone.
Does Jesus Receive Latreuō?
Revelation 7:15 — read honestly
"Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve (latreuousin) him day and night in his temple" (Revelation 7:15).
In its immediate context the "him" served is most naturally God on the throne — the next clause is "and he who sits on the throne will shelter them." So this verse on its own is not the proof it is sometimes made to be. But it sits three verses from "the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd" (7:17) — the Lamb is already inside the throne-scene.
In its immediate context the "him" served is most naturally God on the throne — the next clause is "and he who sits on the throne will shelter them." So this verse on its own is not the proof it is sometimes made to be. But it sits three verses from "the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd" (7:17) — the Lamb is already inside the throne-scene.
Revelation 22:3 — the stronger text
"No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will serve (latreusousin) him" (Revelation 22:3).
Here the subject is a compound — "God and of the Lamb" — and yet the pronoun that follows is singular: "serve him" (autō), not "serve them." One throne, one service, shared by God and the Lamb. John does not split the cultus into "real service to God, lesser honour to the Lamb" — he uses one verb, latreuō, for one object that is God-and-the-Lamb together. This is the same structure as the shared throne (22:1) and the shared "Alpha and Omega" (1:8; 22:13).
Here the subject is a compound — "God and of the Lamb" — and yet the pronoun that follows is singular: "serve him" (autō), not "serve them." One throne, one service, shared by God and the Lamb. John does not split the cultus into "real service to God, lesser honour to the Lamb" — he uses one verb, latreuō, for one object that is God-and-the-Lamb together. This is the same structure as the shared throne (22:1) and the shared "Alpha and Omega" (1:8; 22:13).
How the Church Read It
Augustine and Athanasius
Augustine, City of God 10.1, 10.3. Augustine is the one who most carefully defines the word: "latreia… is the service due to God only." It is "the worship which belongs to the Deity, or, to speak more accurately, to the Godhead." And he is emphatic that this worship is offered to Christ — "we owe to God alone that service which is called latreia… and this we render to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."
Athanasius, Against the Arians 2.23; 3.12. "If the Son were a creature, he would be worshipped as a fellow-creature — but he is worshipped with the Father; therefore he is not a creature." And: "we do not worship a creature — far be the thought — but the Lord of creation, the Word of God, made flesh." For Athanasius the decisive thing is not the word chosen but that the worship is offered with the Father and as to God.
Pliny the Younger (Letter 10.96, c. 112) reports the practice from outside: Christians "sing a hymn to Christ as to a god."
Athanasius, Against the Arians 2.23; 3.12. "If the Son were a creature, he would be worshipped as a fellow-creature — but he is worshipped with the Father; therefore he is not a creature." And: "we do not worship a creature — far be the thought — but the Lord of creation, the Word of God, made flesh." For Athanasius the decisive thing is not the word chosen but that the worship is offered with the Father and as to God.
Pliny the Younger (Letter 10.96, c. 112) reports the practice from outside: Christians "sing a hymn to Christ as to a god."
💡 Latreuō — Reasonable Summary"Latreuō is the word for the religious service that Jesus himself says is owed to God alone (Matthew 4:10). The clean 'proskyneō = homage, latreuō = worship' distinction is overstated — the Greek Old Testament uses both words both ways, as Bauckham notes — so the worship-of-Jesus case rests on a pattern, not a single word. Within that pattern: Revelation 7:15's 'serve him' most naturally means God on the throne (be honest about that), but Revelation 22:3 puts 'the throne of God and of the Lamb' together and then has one latreuō to a singular 'him' — one service, one throne, God and the Lamb. Augustine (City of God 10) defines latreia as the service due to God alone and says it is rendered to the Son; Athanasius says the point is that the Son is worshipped with the Father and as God, not which Greek verb is used. See the Worship section for the fuller argument."
This is part of the FaithLogic study library — the biblical, historical and manuscript case that Jesus is God, with every claim linked to its source. Open the interactive version for search, cross-references, read-aloud, and the full library.