Can You Honor the Father While Rejecting Worship of the Son?

If we evaluate this title strictly from the scriptures, the issue is not whether someone says, "The Son is the way to the Father." The issue is whether they understand what that actually means. The subtle problem is that the statement treats the Son as merely a doorway while shifting all focus and honor away from him after one passes through that doorway.

Yet the scriptures present Yahusha as the full revelation of the Father.

John 5:23 KJV

"That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him."

Notice the verse does not say honor the Father instead of the Son. It says honor the Son even as the Father is honored.

John 14:9 KJV

"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?"

The Son is not merely pointing toward the Father from a distance. The Son is the visible manifestation and revelation of the Father to mankind.

Colossians 1:15 KJV

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:"

Hebrews 1:3 KJV

"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person..."

The Father is invisible. Humanity knows the Father through the Son.

That is why Yahusha said:

John 12:44-45 KJV

"Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.

 And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me."

The deception can become subtle because a person may verbally affirm the Son while functionally minimizing him.

The logic often sounds like this:

The Son is only the messenger.

The Son is only the path.

The Son is only the intermediary.

Worship belongs exclusively to the Father.

Yet scripture repeatedly shows people worshiping Yahusha and he never rebukes them.

Matthew 14:33 KJV

"Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God."

John 9:38 KJV

"And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him."

Hebrews 1:6 KJV

"And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him."

If all the angels are commanded to worship the Son, then the argument that the Son should not be worshiped becomes difficult to reconcile with scripture.

The deeper issue is that scripture never separates the honor of the Father from the honor of the Son.

1 John 2:23 KJV

"Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father..."

John does not present the Father and Son as two separate destinations. To reject the Son's rightful honor is to lose the Father as well.

So when someone says, "The Son is the only way to the Father," but then teaches that the Son should not receive worship, honor, reverence, or devotion equal to what scripture assigns him, the danger is that they reduce Yahusha from being the revelation of Yahuah to being merely a guide pointing toward Yahuah.

The apostles taught something greater. The Father is revealed through the Son, known through the Son, approached through the Son, and honored through the Son. According to John 5:23, a man cannot properly honor the Father while withholding from the Son the honor that the Father Himself commanded be given to him. Conclusion The danger of diminishing the Son does not usually begin with an outright denial of Yahusha. It often begins with small compromises that gradually reduce His role, His authority, and the honor that the scriptures command all men to give Him. A person may start by claiming that the Son is merely a messenger, merely a teacher, or merely a pathway to the Father. Yet once the Son is separated from the glory, worship, and reverence that the Father Himself has assigned to Him, the foundation of the New Testament begins to erode. The apostles consistently taught that the Father is revealed through the Son, known through the Son, and approached through the Son. Remove the Son from His rightful position, and eventually the testimony of the apostles must also be rejected because it repeatedly exalts Him. The final destination of this path is not simply denying the Son, but denying the apostolic witness, denying the revelation of the Father through the Son, and ultimately finding oneself outside the very covenant and gospel that the New Testament proclaims. As John warned, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father” (1 John 2:23). What begins as an attempt to honor the Father while minimizing the Son can ultimately lead to losing both.