historical Jesus according to John Dominic Crossan's first strata sources: A critical comment, The

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Sep 2002 by Ingolfsland, Dennis

Third, the writer of the Gospel of Thomas also appears to hint that Jesus was the incarnation of God. According to Gos. Thom. 77 Jesus said:

It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the all. From me did all come forth, and unto me did the all extend (emphasis mine; cf. John 8:12; 9:5; 12:46).

While this passage is undoubtedly open to a variety of interpretations, the idea that all came forth from Jesus and unto him all extend sounds similar in some ways to 1 Cor 8:6(35) where Paul writes,

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 (emphasis mine).

Gordon Fee comments on this passage, "Although Paul does not here call Christ God, the formula is so constructed that only the most obdurate would deny its Trinitarian implications."36

The idea that all things came forth through Jesus is a theology that is therefore multiply attested in first strata sources and, in a first-century Jewish context, would seem to imply belief in Jesus' deity.

Fourth, not only does Paul claim that all exist through Jesus, he also calls Jesus the "Son of God" (Gal 1:15; 4:4-5; 1 Thess 3:13; 1 Cor 1:9; Rom 1:9; 8:3, 29, 31-32) and "Lord of Glory" (1 Cor 2:8) and applies Joel 2:32 directly to Jesus, even though in its original context it referred to Yahweh (Joel 2:32; Rom 10:13). In Rom 9:5, Paul may actually go as far as to attribute deity to Jesus directly, calling him "God over all." While this passage is strongly disputed, Harris examines it in nearly exhaustive detail and concludes that it is indeed highly probable that Paul intended to do just that.37 In fact, the idea that Paul taught that Jesus was the incarnation of God makes sense of his statement that Jesus was "born of a woman" (Gal 4:4-5),38 which otherwise seems rather strange since everyone is born of a woman.

If Jesus actually believed that he was the embodiment of God, it would also make sense of multiply attested statements to the effect that Jesus demanded allegiance to himself above all else. According to Gos. Thom. 55, for example, Jesus said:

Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a disciple of me. And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross in my way will not be worthy of me (Gos. Thom. 55, cf. 102; Matt 10:37; Luke 14:26; Matt 16:24; Mark 8:34; 10:21; Luke 9:23).

This idea is also attested in Q^sup 1^ 14:26.39 While the Hebrew prophets often demanded such unqualified allegiance to God, there is no evidence that they ever demanded this kind of loyalty to themselves. In fact, it is possible to read Gos. Thom. 55 and Q^sup 1^ 14:26 as a practical application of the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me."

VI. VERIFICATION

Multiple independent first strata sources therefore present Jesus as the Messiah, Savior, and incarnation of God. They also present these views as coming, not only from Jesus' followers, but in some cases from Jesus himself. This raises several important questions. First, if Jesus actually taught these things about himself, would not such views result in opposition and even questions about Jesus' mental stability?