Scholarship
Jesus and the God of Israel
Scholarly work on early divine-identity Christology and Jewish monotheism.
- Author
- Richard Bauckham
- Publisher
- Eerdmans
- Tradition
- Christian scholarship
Citation
Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity, Eerdmans, 2008.
Where this source is used
- Jesus did not know the day or hourMark 13:32 is real and hard, but it targets a belief Christians reject. They teach Jesus was fully human too, and the same passage ranks the Son above the angels.
- Jesus never claimed to be GodThe earliest records show Jesus claiming God's own authority, and his followers worshiping him within decades, long before the Council of Nicaea.
- The Trinity and incarnation violate monotheismChristians confess one God, not three. They claim Jesus belongs within the identity of Israel's one God, a claim argued from the Hebrew Bible, not polytheism.
- The Trinity is shirkThe Trinity is not three gods, but that is not the heart of the charge. The question is whether persons within the one God fit his oneness, and who Jesus is.
- Biblical monotheismIsaiah denies that any god was formed before or after the LORD. That rules out a family of gods and gods who were once creatures, and it sets the test for every later claim.
- Jesus is GodThe New Testament places Jesus inside the identity of Israel's one God, the Creator, while still distinguishing him from the Father.
- Liar, lunatic, or LordJesus taught about himself as well as how to live. If he made those claims, 'only a good teacher' does not fit, and the question is whether they are false, invented, or true.
- The Trinity is monotheismThe Bible says there is one God, distinguishes the Father, Son, and Spirit from one another, and treats each as that one God. The Trinity is the summary that keeps all three.