In the first century, we learn of one of the most remarkable men that has ever lived.
Before he was born, his mother was told he would not be like other men, but would be divine. As an adult, he traveled around delivering his message and performing miracles. He healed the sick, cast out demons, and even raised the dead.
He had a band of disciples around him who regarded him as the son of God. Eventually, his activity caught the attention of the governing authorities who arrested him, put him on trial, and executed him. Later, his followers said that he was alive and seated in the heavenly places.
And that man’s name was Apollonius of Tyana.
Jesus as One of Many “gods”
As might be expected, scholars are quick to point to Apollonius as evidence that in the ancient Greco-Roman world there were many people who were regarded as divine in some sense. This didn’t mean, of course, that they were the God of the universe, pre-existent and supreme. Rather it meant that they were regarded as special enough to be elevated to some sort of semi-divine status—like the many other Greco-Roman gods.
This scholarly framework is then applied to Jesus in some fashion. It is argued that Jesus’s followers, at least at the earliest stages, did not regard him as the supreme God of the universe. But they viewed him as an ordinary man that was elevated to some sort of god-like status, not that different than Apollonius of Tyana.
The Divinity of Jesus and the Gospel of John
Now, the average Christian would rebut this claim by simply pointing to the numerous places where Jesus claims to be not only divine, by the very God of the Old Testament. Top of the list are passages like John 1:1: “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” On top of this could be added passages like John 8:58, or John 10:30.
Case closed right?
But, modern scholars have an answer to this line of reasoning. Sure, John presents Jesus as fully divine, but he was the last Gospel written, probably in the 90’s of the first century. By then, Jesus’s divine status had grown and expanded and evolved. If you go back to the earliest Gospel (Mark), which was written in the 70’s, then you find a very human Jesus.
Now, we should not underestimate how persuasive this line of reasoning is to people. Last year, I gave a lecture on “Lost Gospels” at Princeton University and this was one of the most common arguments I heard.
First-Century Judaism and the God of the Old Testament
So, how can it be answered? Is there earlier evidence in the New Testament that Jesus was regarded not merely as having some sort of semi-divine status, but as the very God of the Old Testament?
Well, it depends on how the earliest Jews viewed the God of the Old Testament. What were the distinguishing features that a first-century monotheistic Jew regarded God has having? Put differently, what characteristics did God have to have to make him the supreme God of the universe?
The answer is not hard to find. Our earliest sources show that first-century monotheistic Jews would describe the God of the Old Testament in two key ways. First, the God of the Old Testament was the only God that was to be worshiped. The God of the Bible is the only true God, and therefore the only God that should receive worship.
Second, the God of the Old Testament was the creator of all things. For a Jew, there were two (and only two) categories of being: the creator, and the creature. And the God of the Bible is the one who made everything and is himself not made.
So, do we have any early Christian texts that predate John and affirm that Jesus had both of these characteristics, that he was to be exclusively worshiped, and that he is the maker of all things?
The answer is yes. And not only are these sources earlier than John, they are also earlier Mark. More than that, these sources have roots that extend back further than any New Testament writings we possess.
Paul and the Divinity of Jesus
To understand what the earliest Christians believed about the divinity of Jesus we turn to Paul of Tarsus. Why Paul? Larry Hurtado explains it best: “Pauline Christianity is the earliest form of the Christian movement to which we have direct access from undisputed firsthand sources” (Lord Jesus Christ, 85).As we shall see, Paul didn’t simply believe Jesus was God in some marginal, semi-divine sort of way. Rather he viewed him as the one God of Israel, the pre-existent Lord of the universe.
Let us consider just two examples from Paul’s writings in the 50’s of the first century. First, consider Paul’s language in 1 Cor 8:5-6:
For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
At heart of this statement—given in the context of food offered to idols—is Paul’s concern to uphold monotheism. There is only one God who is worthy to receive cultic worship, as opposed to the many false gods present in pagan worship.
Indeed, it is widely recognized that Paul is clearly drawing upon the core monotheistic confession of ancient Israel, the “shema” of Deut 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”
What is noteworthy, however, is that Paul has now included the Lord Jesus Christ within the shema, even using the same word (“Lord”) to describe him. Paul is not adding Jesus to the godhead, as if there were now two gods, but rather he is including Jesus in the divine identity of Yahweh.
This is confirmed by the fact that Paul attributes to Jesus the very same act of creation that he attributes to God: “through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” Jesus is not the recipient of a creative act, but the one who performs the creative act.
Thus, Bauckham concludes, “A higher Christology than Paul already expresses in 1 Corinthians 8:6 is scarcely possible, and…[is] the common character of all New Testament Christology” (2008:30).
The other passage, not surprisingly, is Phil 2:6-11, one of the clearest and most profound declarations that Jesus is Lord over all. Not only does Paul affirm the pre-existence and incarnation of Jesus—“though in the form of God…made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men”—but he describes the highest possible exaltation of Jesus: “So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This latter phrase draws explicitly on Is 45:23, where, in the original context, Yahweh declares, “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.” Paul takes the glory due to Yahweh alone and applies it to Jesus—showing that he considers the latter as fully part of the divine identity.
Thus, Hurtado has observed that when Phil 2:6-11 is viewed as a whole it describes the work of Christ in a “narrative sequence,” starting with his pre-existence, moving to his incarnation, then to his humiliation, and finally to his exaltation (Hurtado, 2003:123).
What is particularly noteworthy about both of these passages is that scholars have argued that each of them reflect even earlier Christian tradition that significantly predates Paul’s own letters. In the case of Phil 2:6-11, it is widely regarded as an earlier Christological “hymn” that Paul adapted for use within this particular letter. Likewise, 1 Cor 8:6 is considered to be one of the earliest creedal statements within the Pauline corpus.
Thus, not only do these passages show that the apostle Paul himself had a high Christology, but that this high Christology pre-dates Paul and appears in the very earliest layers of the Christian faith, maybe even as early as the 40’s of the first century.
Jesus as the God of the Old Testament
Both 1 Cor 8:5-6 and Phil 2:6-11 ascribe to Jesus the two main attributes that any first-century Jew would ascribe to the God of the Old Testament: He is the only being to be worshiped, and he is the creator of all things.
And, these passages come from the 50’s—long before John, and even Mark—and likely go back further than any other Christian source available to us.
What does that mean? That means that the highest Christology offered by John’s Gospel was not a later evolutionary development. Apparently, that high view of Jesus had been present from the very earliest days of the Christian movement.