Jesus spoke and acted as God's equal

Summary:

One of the most common objections to Christianity is that Jesus' divinity was "invented" by Christians at the Council of Nicaea in 325. In other words, long after his death. Let's find out why this rumor, spread by Dan Brown in his bestseller The Da Vinci Code, is false.

From the very beginning, the first Christians believed in the divinity of Christ. This is a perfectly attested historical fact, easily verified by consulting the writings of the early Church. The letters of St. Paul, in particular, preach the divinity of Christ as early as 50 AD, just over twenty years after his death. Paul defines Jesus as "our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). He affirms that "in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily" (Col 2:9), that "in him all things were created" (Col 1:16), that "God who is over all be blessed forever" (Rom 9:5), and that the Jews have "crucified the Lord of Glory" (1 Cor 2:7-8). Paul also reports that the first Christians expressed their faith by saying that "there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist." (1 Cor 8:5-6).

The New Testament authors are fully convinced of Christ's divinity:

• The structure and guiding thread of the Letter to the Hebrews is a constant reminder of the divinity and superiority of Jesus Christ over all things. Saint Paul, for example, declares that it was through him that the world was created: "In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe" (Hb 1:1-2).

• The apostle Peter also believed in his Master's divinity: "The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses." (Acts 3:15). Here, the Greek word for "Prince" is archegos, meaning "leader" or "author". Now, in Jewish thought, only God could be the author of life (Is 44:24).

• Finally, John also explicitly affirmed Jesus' divine nature in his Gospel and epistles: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [...] And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:1-14); "We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life" (1 Jn 5:20).

It's also worth noting that Paul never takes the time to argue for Christ's divinity in order to convince his audience. He speaks of it as if it were an obvious fact. So this belief was already accepted in the early Church, without any dispute. It is perfectly clear that the first Christians believed in the divinity of Christ. No testimony from the early Church has ever contradicted the above assertions. 

Of course, the fact that early Christians preached the divinity of Christ does not prove that Jesus is God. But it does prove that they believed it! This historical fact needs some explaining. How did the first Christians come to believe in Jesus' divinity? How did a group of Jews close to Pharisaic circles come to deify a man so quickly?

If Jesus had not himself claimed to be God, the apostles could not have invented it. Indeed, the Jewish mental framework - strictly monotheistic - totally excluded the idea of an incarnation of God. So if pious first-century Jews suddenly began to deify a man, it was because that man had somehow convinced them that he was God (by his words or deeds).

And he was! Throughout his ministry, Jesus positioned himself as the center of all religious life. He placed himself above all creatures. He announced that his apostles must give their lives for him and follow him, sacrificing everything. In particular, he demanded that they have greater love for him than for their parents and children.

What's more, Jesus referred to himself as the exclusive gateway to God:

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me" (Jn 14:6).

"I am the resurrection and the life" (Jn 11:25).

"I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (Jn 8:12).

"He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live" (Jn 11:25).

"Apart from me, you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5).

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Mt 24:35).

"All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth" (Mt 28:18).

Jesus also claimed to perform miracles in his own name (and not in the name of God). He claimed to have the power toraise the dead ("He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day", Jn 6:54) and to heal the sick by his own authority ("I will it, be made clean", Lk 5:13), whereas all the prophets of old did so through divine intercession. Moreover, Jesus granted himself the power to forgive sins (Mt 9:2-7 and Mk 2:5-7) and added that the apostles would have the power to forgive in his name (Mt 18:18 and "Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you uphold, they are upheld", Jn 20:23), something totally unthinkable if Jesus did not believe in his divinity.

The Jews themselves had understood that Jesus was talking about a sonship of equal nature with God (not through adoption): "For this reason the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God." (Jn 5:17-18).

Even more explicitly, Jesus claimed to have existed before the creation of the world! "Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began." (Jn 17:5). Moreover, before the high priests, he claimed to have existed before Abraham: "Amen, amen, I say to you: before Abraham came to be, I AM" (Jn 8:58). This assertion left the Jews speechless! In Hebrew, "I am" is the formula God uses to define himself. This is how He introduced Himself to Moses in the Old Testament: "God replied to Moses: I am who I am. Then he added: This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you." (Ex. 3:14). Jesus' claim to the name of God given in the Torah is therefore a clear profession of his divinity.

We can see why Jesus approves of his apostles' divinizing titles: "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord', and you are right, for truly I am" (Jn 13:13). "Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" And Jesus, rather than rebuking Thomas, confirms his point: "Because you have seen me, you believe. Blessed are those who believe without having seen" (Jn 20:28-29). For the authors of the Gospels, the term "Lord" (kurioi in Greek) refers to God in the strong sense, and not in the sense of a purely human "lord". For example, when Mark quotes the prophet Isaiah (1:2-3), he uses the word "Lord" (kurioi) interchangeably with the word Isaiah used to describe God: "the Eternal One".

In conclusion, the innumerable divine claims were well understood by the Jewish authorities of the time, who condemned Jesus precisely because he claimed to be God: "The Father and I are one.” The Jews again picked up rocks to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God." (Jn 10:30-33).

Thus, Jesus claimed to be God. This is by far the best historical explanation for the worship he received from his apostles, his violent rejection by the religious authorities, and his death sentence for blasphemy. If we reject this thesis, then Christ's execution by the Jewish court is utterly incomprehensible. Whether it is rational to believe in his divine claims is another matter, which we will address in another article.

Beyond reasons to believe:

Christ's divinity is central to the Christian faith. If Jesus had never claimed to be God, we would have no reason to proclaim his divinity. We Christians profess the divinity of Christ, because Jesus himself said it. And since he was neither a madman nor a liar, we have good reason to believe what he says.

Going further:

C.S. Lewis and the Deity of Jesus

More information:

• Larry W. Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity  (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. - September 14, 2005)
• Brant Pitre, The Case for Jesus, Image, 2016.
• Stephen T. Davis, Christian Philosophical Theology, Oxford, 2006, ch. 9.
• Is C.S Lewis’ Trilemma a Good Argument for the Divinity of Christ?