Is Prayer/Veneration/Worship to Mary Biblical?

What is worship? Dictionary.com defines worship as: As a noun, worship is defined as reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred. As a verb it means to render religious reverence and homage to; to feel an adoring reverence or regard for (any person or thing).

In the New Testament the Greek word for worship is προσκυνέω. It is a verb. Various forms of the word are used 68 times in the NT. From HELPS-Word Studies it means the following:

4352 proskynéō (from 4314 /prós, "towards" and kyneo, "to kiss") – properly, to kiss the ground when prostrating before a superior; to worship, ready "to fall down/prostrate oneself to adore on one's knees" (DNTT); to "do obeisance" (BAGD).; suggests the willingness to make all necessary physical gestures of obeisance.]

Catholics claim they don't worship Mary. Christians say they do based on an understanding of how the word is used in the New Testament and from examples in the New Testament. So who is right?

Catholicism has redefined worship to mean three different types of "veneration" they claim are different. These are latria, hyperdulia, and dulia.

Catholicculture.org defines the hyperdulia this way.

The special veneration due to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is substantially less than the cultus latria (adoration), which is due to God alone. But it is higher than the cultus dulia (veneration), due to angels and other saints. As the Church understands the veneration of Mary, it is to be closely associated but subordinated to that of her Son. "The various forms of piety towards the Mother of God, which the Church has approved within the limits of sound and orthodox doctrine according to the dispositions and understanding of the faithful, ensure that while the mother is honored, the Son through whom all things have their being and in whom it has pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell, is rightly loved and glorified and His commandments are observed" (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, VII, 66). (Etym. Latin hyperdulia, virtue of deep submission.)

It is well known that catholics pray to Mary, have developed special prayers to Mary alone, have feasts for Mary, bow/kneel down before Mary, make entreaties to Mary, and have made statues of Mary.

The question is, does this meet the Biblical definition of worship or does it violate the examples of worship we have in Scripture or the texts we have in Scripture about making graven images or worshipping God alone?

First, what are His commandments in this area we are to observe?

Deuteronomy 6:5

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Luke 10:27

And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." Exodus 20:4-5

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them.”

We also have this admonition from Romans 1:21-23

21or even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Is there any room in the Bible for us to redefine what worship is? No. It is due to God and God alone.

Is there any room in the Bible to redefine what graven images are? Idols? Or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth? That is an all-encompassing definition.

Based on Exodus there isn’t any wiggle room for man to redefine what God has defined…..unless man adopts the course Paul outlines in Romans 1 when man begins to redefine God’s word by redefining who God is.

We may recall the Israelis disobeyed God and made a golden calf. God’s judgment in this case was swift.

We may be thankful God’s judgment is not so swift today. But it will come.

Do we have examples from Scripture as to what worship is? Yes we do.

Let's start with the OT to see how they worshipped God.

Psalm 95:6

Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

2 Chronicles 7:3

All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the LORD, saying, "Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting."

2 Chronicles 29:29

Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped.

2 Chronicles 6:13

Now Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

Daniel 6:10

Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.

Isaiah 45:23

"I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.

Ezra 9:5

But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God

Now let's move to the New Testament.

Romans 14:11

For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD."

Philippians 2:9-11

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!"

Ephesians 3:14

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

Matthew 8:2

And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."

Mark 10:17

As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Matthew 27:29

And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"

What is not worship? Who are we not to worship?

Exodus 20:4-5,

"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them . . . "

Luke 4:5-8

5And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7“Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” 8Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’”

Acts 10:25-26

And when it came about that Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter raise him up saying, “Stand up; I too am just a man.”

Revelation 22:8-9

8I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”

Colossians 2:18,

"Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind."

If we are honest, based on these examples we can conclude the following:

When you kneel before someone/something you are worshipping that person or thing based on the definition of worship in the Greek.

Whenever a person kneeled before another person or angel (excluding Christ), they were told to get up. We see this clearly in the examples of Peter and John. Peter told Cornelius to get up, for Peter recognized what Cornelius was doing. Peter recognized that he (Peter) was just a man and not to be worshipped.

John was also told by the angel in Revelation to get up after he had fallen down to worship the angel. The angel commanded him to: Worship God. In the Greek the words of the angel are in the imperative mood….it is the mood of command. The angel was commanding John to worship God only.

In conclusion....based on the Word of God we see that the catholic position regarding the veneration of Mary, making statutes to Mary, kneeling before Mary, etc do not pass the Biblical test.