In a previous post addressing whether Jesus received λατρευω, I provided an example of Adam being the recipient of λατρευω in the Sibylline Oracles as a result of being created in the image of God (cf. Gen 1:26-27). The worship of Adam is well attested in the pseudepigrapha. In chs. 12-14 of The Life of Adam and Eve (variously dated from 100 B.C. to A.D. 200), we read the following:
(12) And the devil sighed and said, “O Adam, all my enmity and envy and sorrow concern you, since because of you I am expelled and deprived of my glory which I had in the heavens in the midst of angels, and because of you I was cast out onto the earth.” Adam answered, “What have I done to you, and what is my blame with you? Since you are neither harmed nor hurt by us, why do you pursue us?”
(13) The devil replied, “Adam, what are you telling me? It is because of you that I have been thrown out of there. When you were created, I was cast out from the presence of God and was sent out from fellowship of the angels. When God blew into you the breath of life, and your countenance and likeness were made in the image of God, Michael brought you and made (us) worship you in the sight of God, and the Lord God said, ‘Behold Adam! I have made you in our image and likeness.’
(14) And Michael went out and called all the angels, saying, ‘Worship the image of the Lord God, as the Lord God has instructed.’ And Michael himself worshipped first, and called me and said, ‘Worship the image of God, Yahweh.’ And I answered, ‘I do not worship Adam.’ And when Michael kept forcing me to worship, I said to him, ‘Why do you compel me I will not worship one inferior and subsequent to me. I am prior to him in creation; before he was made, I was already made. He ought to worship me.’
In this text, Adam is the proper recipient of worship as he was made in the image of God and was given the divine name (Yahweh). This is a very strong parallel to Pauline Christology, exemplified in Phil 2:5-11, wherein Christ, after his ascension to heaven, was exalted and given the name that is above all other names (Yahweh), and all worship that is given to him, ultimately, glorifies the Father.
