Today I read most of a long dialogue between Matt Slick of CARM and someone identified only as "Amigo". Matt argues for a traditional Christian Trinity, whereas Amigo argues that Jesus is a "third thing", neither God nor man, who took on a "divinized humanity" at the resurrection. I don't recommend wading through the dialogue, there is a lot of arguing over things like the proper translation of Greek vocative and nominative cases. Instead, look closely at this part of their conversation I've selected:

Matt: So, do you pray to Jesus?
Amigo: Of course
Matt: Do you worship Jesus?
Amigo: He is my Lord and Savior
Amigo: Of course

Unfortunately that's pretty much all that's said about this particular issue. I think this point is quite significant. Here's why.

Jews for centuries were told under no uncertain terms not to worship any other "god". Worship of anything or anyone else other than God Himself would be worshiping an idol. Exodus 20:5 (in the Ten Commandments that all Jews would have known well and followed explicitly) says, referring to idols, "You shall not bow down to them or worship them". Jesus says it Himself when he quotes the Old Testament (Deut 6:13) in Matthew 4:10: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only." When someone tries to worship Peter in Acts 10:25,26, look at how Peter reacts: "As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself.""

Yet Jesus on many occasions accepts worship (Matthew 2:11, Matthew 14:33, John 9:38, Hebrews 1:6, etc). Jesus never corrects anyone for worshiping Him. What can we say about this? I can only conclude that since Jesus stated only God is worthy of receiving worship, and then accepted worship Himself, that Jesus believed He is God and that's why He allowed people to worship Him. Worship of Jesus is one of several reasons we know Jesus is God incarnate. Matt rightly includes it on his list too.

There's also the point of how a non-God Jesus could save us (necessary to be our "Savior") but the topic I wanted to address in this post is worship of Jesus in the New Testament and what it means. The point of this discussion of how Jesus was worshipped, as it relates to the dialogue with Amigo, is that if Jesus is not God, then Amigo should not be worshipping Him, since God should be our only object of worship.

For more discussion on the issue of whether Jesus claimed to be God, see J. P. Holding's article titled The Divine Claims of Jesus: The Assertion of Godhood, which includes answers to popular objections to whether Jesus really claimed to be God or not.