The Doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus was an Addition to Christianity c. 80-100 C.E.

So to begin this debate, I will be arguing for two points, while my opponent argues for the opposite.In this round, I will be arguing that:A) Jesus never claimed Divinity for Himselfand B) The earliest apostles did not claim Divinity for JesusThe primary sources I will be discussing throughout this debate are Mark, John, and Pauline epistlesA) Jesus never claimed Divinity for HimselfTo begin, I will evaluate Mark and John. In doing so, I will show that the only time Jesus is supposed to have claimed divinity comes from John, and John is not a factual recounting of events and quite late. Mark, being the earliest Gospel, will get the most time, next to John, which is most explicit about divinity.As clarifying information, let me affirm my belief in the two source hypothesis of the Synoptics, as well as my deepest belief that the Gospels are in no way eye-witness reports, as can be plainly seen in my discussion of John.Ia) The Gospel of Mark has no claims of DivinityTo begin, I must be blunt, there are no instances where Jesus calls Himself God in Mark. Not one. Did Mark simply neglect to mention this part? Was it not that big of a deal to claim to be God? There were claims that He was the "Son of Man" or the "Son of God," but we will get to what those statements mean soon enough in the next round.Ib) The Gospel of Mark contains DENIALS of DivinityNot only did Mark never record Jesus claiming to be God, there are places where Jesus explicitly states that He is not God. One important instance is Mark 10:17-18>>"And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone."<<Right here is Mark, Jesus is making it clear. There is only one person who is truly good, YHWH, and Jesus is not Him.Ic) The Gospel of Mark has claims of Jesus sinningIf there is one thing both Jews and Christians can agree on, it is that God is "holy." This entails purity, being far from sin, and certainly never sinning Himself! And yet, despite desperate Christian cover-ups in the later centuries, Mark records a time when Jesus sinned, a very human moment indeed. This flies in the face of everything we think we know about Jesus and the Bible, but we need to take a quick look at it. If there is one way for Jesus to truly and completely deny Divinity, it is to sin.The story of the healed leper in Mark 1:40-41 in the Codex Bezae text says:"And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him,“If you will, you can make me clean.” These words made Jesus angry, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” (1)Now, the problem is there is a textual variant in the Codex Bezae, an early 5th-century copy of the New Testament (2), that says that the request made Jesus very angry. This is a puzzling scenario. While the "compassion" is the favored reading, it is no earlier that the "angered" reading. In fact, most textual critics would label it as the preferred reading. After all, it makes sense that the Church would change a sin Jesus committed to a Jesus being compassionate, but does it make any sense for church fathers to change compassion to a sin? No! It would appear that Jesus was actually recorded to have sinned through unrighteous anger. And what is the greatest way one can reject Deity? Sin. Yet, after time, the church covered up this awkward story.ID) John is not an accurate depiction of Jesus or His lifeIn Johannine literature, the vivid picture of divinity for Jesus (including the definition for this debate) is found. Jesus uses several "I AM" statements that affirm His divinity, or the every-popular "I and the Father are one." But did Jesus actually say or do... any of that?Short answer: NoLong answer:i) Jesus could not have said much of what He is recorded to have said in JohnJesus simply could not have said what He is claimed to have said in much of John. The reason? A great deal of John uses wordplay that only works in the Greek. In John 3:4,7 for instance, Jesus is reported to have used the Greek word "Anothen" as a wordplay meaning both "from above" and "a second time" (3). The problem, however, is that Jesus was talking to a Jewish Rabbi, Nicodemus, and He was Jewish as well. As 1st century Jews, they would have spoken Aramaic.Jesus was from an illiterate town, had no formal education, and we have no evidence that He spoke anything besides Aramaic. Even if He knew a little Greek, it is unlikely that Nicodemus, an anti-Hellenization Pharisee, spoke Greek. And even then, it's unlikely they would have chosen to speak in the language of the hated oppressors in common conversation. And even if they did, it's unlikely either knew it well enough to have been trained in rhetoric.This is just one example out of many of how Jesus simply could not have spoken much of His recorded discourses, and they were made up later.ii) ContradictionsMuch of John is contradictory to the Synoptic Gospels in many ways. While Mark was written around 65 CE, John was written around 40-60 years later in 100-120 CE(4). Its material is strikingly different, and it often contradicts the oldest and most accurate texts, as we will see, including in the I AM statements of JesusExamples: Feeding the 5,000 (I AM the bread of life)Did Jesus arrive by boat to a great crowd, or did Jesus go to a mountain and the crowds followed Him? (Mark 6:34. John 6:3-5)Did Jesus send His disciples to Capernaum, or did He send them to Gennesaret? (John 6:17, Mark 6:53)I AM at capture by RomansWas Jesus betrayed with identification by a kiss from Judas, or did Jesus identify Himself? (John 18:5-8, Mark 14:44-45)These are just a couple examples out of dozens. If we can't trust John on simple details, how canwe trust him on radically new theology?iii) In Mark, Jesus tried to keep Himself "secret."Throughout Mark, Jesus tries to hide the fact that He does miracles, as well as His claims to be the Christ.Mark 8:29-30"And he asked them, But who say ye that I am? Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him."Mark 1:43-44"After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."A read through Mark will give you many more examples. This is in sharp contrast to John, where ALL JESUS DOES IS PROCLAIM WHO HE IS PUBLICLY. Here's the real kicker, though:In John, there are zero recorded parables. Jesus speaks plainly to the crowd that He is I AMAnd yet in Mark 4:11-"And he said unto them, Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables:"This is a complete contradiction of Jesus' ministry style and treatment of His claims.B) The earliest apostles did not claim divinity for JesusNow that we have the fact that Jesus never claimed divinity thoroughly discussed, we can move on to His earliest followers.For this, we will be looking at two sources that were written before 70 CE: Mark and undisputed Pauline literature.IIa) MarkWe've already looked at Mark's claims. And they are not that Jesus was God. Moving on.IIb) Pauline literature and creedsPaul never claimed Jesus was God either. He claims Jesus was a cosmic being. Let's look at a very strong Christology text. The text I will propose was not just written by Paul, but a quoted creed reaching back to perhaps 35-40 CE (5), the earliest text depicting belief in Jesus. I will provide commentary after we consider it.1 Corinthians 1:8"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."In this passage, Paul clearly lays out who God is... and it's not Jesus. Only the Father. So Jesus is a cosmic being, but NOT God Himself.The second and last text we will consider is Galatians 4:14. "and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus." So what, right? What is this even saying? well, look at that last underlined phrase. The verbal construct there indicates an appositive construct. What does that mean linguistically? Well, it means that Paul is actually equating Jesus with being an angel of God. This does not necessitate a strict angelic idea like we think of, but simply a supernatural being that goes between the divine realm and mankind.(6)These two pieces of evidence seem to make it clear: while Paul thought Jesus had supernatural qualities, he certainly did not see Him as the Logos and equal to the Father in divinity.Conclusion:From this, I hope you take away a few major ideas:1) Jesus never claimed to be God.2) The earliest apostles, in fact, claimed Jesus was NOT God.3) Paul perceived Jesus to be a supernatural being, but not God. In the next round, I will discuss the true, non-divine meaning of the terms "Son of Man," "Son of God," and "Christ." I also will analyze the Shema and the Judaic culture of the 1st Century to show how Jesus' divinity was an impossible concept. I will also continue to work through the rest of the New Testament to give a fuller understanding of its Christology.I look forward to my opponent's arguments and eventual rebuttalsSources:All Bible texts from the ESV unless otherwise noted(1) http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk...(2) A Student's Guide to Textual Criticism, Wegner, 263(3) http://biblehub.com...(4)Gary M Burge et al., New Testament in Antiquity , 225-27(5) James A. Ware, Synopsis of the Pauline Letters in Greek and English, 39(6) Susan Garrett, No Ordinary Angel, 26