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

. I will begin my argument rather abruptly:A). Jesus Claimed Divinity for Himself Let’s begin by understanding that Jesus’ divinity is found on virtually every page in the NT. I want to focus however, solely on the Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) in which, lies the teaching of Jesus Himself. I will focus on providing the validity of these teachings in the NT (not being later inventions) in the further rounds. In that respect, let’s begin: 1). Son of Man We find throughout all of these Gospels Jesus claiming to be “the Son of Man”… "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home. " (Mark 2:10-11) Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. " (Matthew 8:20) Now we know that ‘son of man’ is synonymous with a ‘human being’ or one born under Adam… This is essentially a claim to Jesus’ humanity. We also see that Jesus’ claim to be ‘the son of man’ is directly linked to the exulted figure in Daniel 7:13, let’s take a look: "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14"And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. We see that in the midst of apocalyptic visions, Daniel is seeing a figure “like a Son of Man” who approached the Ancient of Days (YHWH). This Son of Man is given a glorious kingdom in which, every man might “serve” him. It’s important to note that the Greek word for “serve” used in this passage is latreuó (λατρεa3;ω). This is literally translated to “worship rendered to God”. Isn’t it interesting that the word latreuó (λατρεa3;ω) is only used in the Bible when speaking about God and is used in other passages to speak of worship (Acts 26:23). Why then is this individual served with only a service fit for God alone? Why does the Ancient of Days give this glory to an individual in which all nations will serve him? How can this be when YHWH says “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another” (Isaiah 42:8). The most interesting part of this whole conundrum is Jesus’ statement in Mark 14:62: The high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One? “I AM," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. " We see that Jesus’ is directly and unapologetically linking Himself to this individual that is worshipped and served as God in Daniel 7! The only possible explanation is that Jesus did in fact, believe himself as God alongside the Ancient of Days (YHWH). 2). Acceptance of Worship In the Gospels, Jesus is worshipped a multitude of times by his disciples and others. Here are some examples: “(the Three Magi) - And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. ” (Matthew 2:11) “And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God. ” (Matthew 14:33) Furthermore, Jesus is worshipped by lepers and the sick (John 9:38), and after his resurrection (28:17). .. It’s very interesting that in all of these cases, not once did Jesus rebuke them. How is that so? The angels would not accept worship: Then I fell down at his feet to worship him (the angel), but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. ” (Revelation 19:10) The prophets prior to Jesus would not accept worship and were not worshipped in any form. Why did Jesus accept worship and specifically say: "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. ” (Luke 4:8) I think the answer is obvious. Jesus believed Himself to be God. 3). the Son of God It is clear that throughout the Gospels, Jesus saw Himself as more than just a mere prophet. He claimed to be the special and unique Son of God. This is best seen in the parable of the tenants: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it to some farmers. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard but the seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty handed. Then he sent another servant to them. They struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another and that one they killed. He sent many others, some of them they beat, and others they killed. (1) Finally, he had one left to send, (2) a son whom he loved. (3) He sent him last of all saying, ‘They will respect my son. ’ But the tenants said to one another, (4) ‘this is the heir, let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours! ’ and so they took him and killed him. ” (Mark 12:1-9) We see in this passage three very important distinctions that Jesus made of himself: (1). God’s final messenger (2). God’s beloved Son (3). Distinct from all prophets (4). The Heir to the throne We also see the special relationship Jesus’ claimed to have with the Father in Matthew 11:27: “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ” We see in Jesus own claim that he was not ‘a son of god’ like the other prophets were called but ‘The Son of God’. .. This is best paralleled in arguably the most famous verse in the Bible: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. ” (John 3:16) It’s also important to note that the term ‘Son of God’ was strictly seen as a divine claim in Jewish understanding. .. This is best seen in John 10:33: “The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God. " While a much more comprehensive case can be made using the Gospel of John and the Pauline epistles, we will stick with these contentions in which, the doctrine of Jesus’ divinity is built on solid ground. B). the earliest Apostles claimed Jesus is Divine: The earliest apostles were the original 12 who were alive and walking with Jesus during his 3 year ministry performing miracles, raising the dead, and healing the sick. In order to fully understand their view of Jesus, lets look at their own testimony: Simon Peter, according to Christian tradition, is attributed to have written 1-2 Peter around AD 65-68. In these letters he wrote: our God and savior Jesus Christ. May you have more and more grace and peace through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. By his divine power the Lord has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of the one who called us by his own honor and glory. 4 Through his honor and glory he has given us his precious and wonderful promises, that you may share the divine nature"We also see in Gospel of John which is obviously attributed to the apostle John "the beloved" explicit and direct passages showing the divinity of Jesus: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. - the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father,. " (John 1:1-14) We see that John is using a wordplay of the Greek word (Logos) which is a divine extension of God, His Word. .. Which ultimately became flesh in the person of Jesus who is with God in the beginning and is God. The apostle Thomas after seeing the risen Jesus remarks "My Lord and my God! " (John 20:28) We see time and time again that the apostle's both wrote and testified that Jesus is both Lord and God! This is a radically new idea compared to contemporary Jewish understanding and the question remains: why did Jewish believers in Jesus claim He was God when Jews inherently reject a man being divine? In order to further solidify this idea, Lets look at Philippians 2-6:11: Though he (Jesus) was in the form of God,he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.7 But he emptied himselfby taking the form of a slaveand by becoming like human beings. When he found himself in the form of a human,8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,even death on a cross.9 Therefore, God highly honored himand gave him a name above all names,10 so that at the name of Jesus everyonein heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow11 and every tongue confess thatJesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now this is in the Pauline epistle (Philippians) which was written 49 - 51 A. D, 20 years after Jesus' death. . Even more so, these verse's are actually quotations from an early Christian Hymn which modern scholars date to within 3-4 years after Jesus' death. This verse alone destroys the idea that early Christians simply saw Jesus as a mere teacher/prophet To conclude, lets go over what we learned:1). Jesus claimed divinitya). Son of Man = exulted figure worshipped as God in Daniel 7:13 b). Jesus is worshipped unlike any angel or prophetc). Jesus claimed to be the unique Son of God making him equal to YHWH 2). Earliest Apostles claimed Jesus' divinity a). all sources of apostles show a divine depiction of Jesusb). the earliest Christians are attributed to have worshipped Jesus as God according to Philippians 2:6-11 Thanks for listening and I humbly await my opponents further arguments!