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Summary of Chapters
Let’s begin this ending by summarizing our findings. In this series I have argued that the New Testament literature does not identify Jesus as the unique, one true God, Yahweh, of second temple monotheism. I have argued that the language in the New Testament which to us seems to identify Jesus as Yahweh [...]

If you’ve made it this far, and have actually read the 165 pages worth of material leading up to this, then pat yourself on the back. You’re a god in your own right! Only a concluding post remains after this post. In this penultimate post, we will analyze the final major proof text for the [...]

I have just come across a passage in Philo’s On Dreams that merits an addendum to our earlier post on John 1. In that post, I argued that the prologue to John uses metaphors drawn from a well developed and well known wisdom tradition and applies them to Jesus. The “Logos” or “Word” who was [...]

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him [...]

We now come to the book of Hebrews. Analysis of Hebrews is complicated by a number of factors. We’ll note two. First, the author of Hebrews is the master of mixed-metaphors. We don’t just find one or two types of christology in Hebrews. Whereas with Paul, wisdom christology and Adam christology are the two predominant [...]

In this post we will examine the prologue to John’s gospel. Our analysis here is heavily dependent upon work we have done in previous posts, so if you are coming to this post without having read posts 6-10, I encourage you to go back and read those before continuing here.
In the beginning was the [...]

In the last two posts we explored two facets of preexistence. In the first case, we looked at the claim to preexistence itself, and concluded (1) that it did not amount to a claim to divinity and (2) that it is most likely a poetic way of expressing faith in God’s sovereignty over human history. [...]

In the last post we began exploring the background behind the “preexistence” motif we see scattered throughout the New Testament, most prominently in Colossians 1:15-20, John 1:1-14 and Hebrews 1:1-4. We looked at the notion of preexistence itself, as it appears throughout second temple literature and beyond. We saw that preexistence could be ascribed to [...]

So far in our series we have examined several Christological motifs that are often taken to be “evidences” for the divinity of Jesus and have found that in each case, the texts do not claim what classical Christian theology has assumed they claim. The transfiguration depicts Jesus as a prophet like Moses. The titles Son [...]

Now that I’ve spent several posts arguing (quite persuasively I might add) that Jesus is not presented as God in the New Testament, I’m going to quietly admit that he is in fact called God and then weasel my way out of it. I hope you enjoy watching me squirm. It’s disgusting really.
Jesus as [...]

As evidence for the divinity of Jesus, many interpreters point to texts that seem to ascribe God’s unique divine name to Jesus, indicating Jesus’ participation in the unique divine nature. Some of these are claims made about Jesus, other are claims put on the lips of Jesus himself. Some attempts to make this case are [...]

A common argument for evidence of the divinity of Jesus in the New Testament is the offering to Jesus of worship by both human beings and angels. After all, it was Jesus himself who said, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Matt 4:10). Since Jesus did not prevent people from worshiping him, [...]

Many assume that the image of Jesus being seated on God’s throne, or at the right hand of God, is evidence that a claim is being made about Jesus’ divinity. After all, the logic goes, who can sit on God’s throne but God himself? But this is a misunderstanding of ancient royalty language. For instance, [...]

It’s ironic that a title that essentially means “human being” has come to connote the idea of divinity in the minds of so many Christians. “Son of man” is a Hebrew idiom that just means, well, “man,” or gender inclusively, human dude/dudette. The prophet Ezekiel used it to refer to himself all the time, and [...]

I still hear people ask, “Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?” By that question, they always mean, “Do you believe Jesus is God?” I usually cringe when I hear it, only because I’ve forgotten how long ago it was when this Sunday School understanding of the appellative “Son of God” was stripped [...]

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with [...]