I have my own view as to when Jesus became God. It was not by virtue of the evolution of belief, nor as the result of any ecumenical committee; rather, I think I can articulate the answer by way of a quotation from John the Evangelist: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). Jesus deity did not spring forth from the resolution of any church council, but rests in eternity past. So he never became God; he was always God, and he became human, the man Jesus of Nazareth. The testimony of John the Evangelist is that Jesus is the Logos, the preexistent Word of God, Israels Messiah, Son of God and Son of Man, equal to God, one with the Father, and the Fathers agent for the restoration of Israel and for the renewal of creation. Johns claim is on any level extravagant and even offensive to the monotheistic sensibilities of many Jews and Muslims. And yet it is a programmatic claim for the entire gospel. C. K. Barrett, a distinguished British biblical scholar, once said: John intends that the whole of his gospel shall be read in light of this verse. The deeds and words of Jesus are the deeds and words of God; if this be not true the book is blasphemous. I entirely admit that such a claim about Jesus divine identity is a confessional one, borne of religious devotion and justified by the theological claims of a believing community. I admit too that the gospel of Johns precise articulation of the identity of Jesus is disputed, as is the continuity between Johns image of Jesus and other images of Jesus in the rest of the New Testament. Then there is question of whether John the Evangelist is even correct. Is Jesus really God? Whether Jesus of Nazareth really is God, as Christians of all varieties have historically claimed, can only be answered as a matter of faith. It comes down to whether one believes the early churchs testimony to Jesus attested by Holy Scripture that he is the Son of God. I belong to a community that does, and I am not ashamed to identify myself in that way. However, exactly when, where, and why Christians first began to make such elevated claims about Jesus | heavenly origins and divine nature is a historical question and one that can only be answered through a concerted investigation of the evidence. Such an enquiry can be responsibly pursued by mapping out the Christological claims and religious devotion of early Christian writings in the first four centuries of the Common Era. HOW GOD BECAME JESUS, A response to Bart D. Ehrman, page 12
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 07:19:47 +0000
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