A fascinating look at the divinity of Jesus from the point of view of his contemporaries
This book from professor Bart D. Ehrman, How Jesus Became God, was one of the most eye-opening studies I have read about Jesus and early Christianity. From the very beginning it embarks on a journey analyzing the texts of the New Testament. It proposes to answer the question of how (and when) Jesus became God. Or in other words, how (and when) he started to be adored as such. It includes historical parallels of the Hebrew, Greek and Roman cultural worlds. These parallels explore concepts of divinity and how, during that period, people became gods. This is akin to what happened with Jesus. It analyzes the reports about the life of Jesus step by step and example by example.
Jesus was not always adored as God
I believe that most Christians today would agree. Jesus wasn’t fully adored as God during his ministry. Even his disciples did not entirely adore him as God. It wasn’t at least until after the accounts of his resurrection that he was considered God. We have clear statements on the Gospels, specially Mark, affirming such. Some examples include reports that people from his hometown were amazed at his teachings and wisdom. They wondered that he was the son of a carpenter and took offense at him (Mark 6:1-11). Even his family, including his mother and brothers, thought he was out of his mind. They tried to dissuade him from preaching (Mark 3:20-35). There is the famous story of doubting Thomas. Thomas insisted on believing only if he saw with his own eyes (John 20:24-31). This showed doubt among the disciples even after the accounts of the resurrection.
Examples in chronological order
The book follows a chronological order. It starts with the epistles of the apostle Paul. These epistles are the earliest documents related to Jesus that have been preserved. Then it covers the Gospel of Mark, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and finally the Gospel of John. Then it explores the controversies faced by the primitive church. These controversies arose when proclaiming that Jesus was God. They presented practical, theological, and philosophical problems. It then covers the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. The council was convened to put an end to the Arian controversy. This controversy included the teaching that the Son of God was begotten from God the Father. For this reason, the Son was subordinate to him, not coeternal with him, and not of the same substance.
There was a progression, or rather a backward movement, in the first Christians’ understanding of when Jesus became God. It started with visions of him after his death. Then, it went back to the crucifixion, his baptism, birth, and sometime before his birth (but still after creation). Lastly, it moved to eternity. The study of these formulations about the nature of Jesus is called Christology. We are going to explore some examples of Christologies below.
Paul’s letters
Around 20 to 30 years after the death of Jesus, Paul wrote about an important event. He stated that Jesus was declared the Son of God at the resurrection. He made use of pre-literary traditions, i.e., statements or hymns circulated orally before the written books of the New Testament. This is an example of Exaltation or Adoptionist Christology:
”Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,“
Romans 1:1-4 World English Bible (WEB, emphasis added)
Acts of the Apostles
Other pre-literary examples from the Acts of the Apostles:
”We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm,
‘You are my Son.
Today I have become your father.’“
Acts 13:32-33 WEB (emphasis added)
This one linking his exaltation with the crucifixion:
”“Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”“
Acts 2:36 WEB (emphasis added)
Mark’s Gospel
At the time the Gospel of Mark was written, people had already developed an understanding of Jesus’s divinity. This occurred around 40 years after Jesus’s death. The Gospel begins with his adult life. It starts with his baptism. During this event, there is a declaration that he is the Son of God. There is no mention of a miraculous virgin birth at this point in the Gospel of Mark. The same is true in the epistles of Paul. Nonetheless, Paul introduces a transitioning Incarnation Christology in some of his letters.
”In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”“
Mark 1:9-11 WEB (emphasis added)
Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke were written about 50 to 55 years after Jesus’ death. During this time, he was recognized as the Son of God. This recognition occurred at the time of his miraculous birth through a virgin. These are the only two Gospels who mention this event. For the polytheist Greek and Roman people, this notion wasn’t so strange. Their gods often had children with humans. Even for Jews that would not be so alien, there is a passage of the Hebrew Bible that show something similar:
”When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. The LORD said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim (or giants) were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.“
Genesis 6:1-4 WEB (emphasis added)
John’s Gospel
It was only in the Gospel of John that a clear affirmation was made. This Gospel was written about 60 to 65 years after the death of Jesus. It affirmed that the Word was pre-existent and was God before the incarnation.
”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.“
John 1:1-5 WEB
In the early days of Christianity, there were several conflicting views about the person of Jesus. This differs from what has generally been presented later. The strands that did not conform with the orthodoxy were slowly and relentlessly silenced in the following centuries. To say that Jesus has not always been God was later considered heresy. Those who professed this view were cursed. They were also exiled and threatened with death. Nevertheless, many Christians held this view before the church made it the official doctrine. Remnants of these views have entered the New Testament.