Human or divine? Part II

3 Rules of Thumb for Reading Scripture

This topic is of great interest, but few discuss it. Our tendency is to view things too black and white, making the topic fraught. People bring a lot of baggage to the meanings of words.

When I started writing this, one of the most beautiful summaries of Christian theology came to mind. The Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647), the foundational document of Calvinism written by a committee of mostly Puritans convened by the English Parliament during the English Civil War, completely flips religion on its head —it’s not a list of rules, but a pursuit of our highest joy. One doesn’t need to agree with Calvinism to recognize the deep truth of the first sentence of this document:

"What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever."

This is the concept that should inform all questions of doctrine.

Long before Rome’s adoption of Christianity, early followers of Jesus were already elevating Jesus to divine status. (Rome established the doctrine and iconography of a divine Jesus, but the idea was already there.) This is extremely unusual! How did it happen? And was it ultimately God’s will that we take this detour?

First, deifying Jesus made him a far more central figure than he otherwise would be. As a prophet, Jesus would have been seen as one of many important prophets.

Secondly, it was crucial that Jesus’ followers break away from Judaism, as painful and costly as that split was — otherwise they would have eventually been silenced and subsumed.

But deifying Jesus was unfortunate if it’s not true and prevented millennia of generations of Jews from accepting Jesus’ teachings. (Luther was extremely disappointed that Jews still rejected Jesus after his reforms of Catholicism, but he would have had to reform many more things that are red flags to Jews, like trying to turn the Messiah into God, which was not going to happen at that point.)

Evidence many early Christians saw Jesus as divine

It seems the personal spiritual experiences of many early followers of Jesus convinced many of them of his divinity. Some had even begun praying to Jesus, not only in Jesus’ name, even though Jesus himself taught us to pray to Hashem, Father God, the Name above all names: “Our Father who art in Heaven…”

Larry Hurtado’s books “One God, One Lord” (1988), “Lord Jesus Christ” (2003) & “How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God?” (2005) show that Jesus was almost immediately being deified:

1. Stephen’s dying prayer, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” - “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, ⁵³ who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” ⁵⁴ When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. ⁵⁵ But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, ⁵⁶ and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

   ⁵⁷ Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; ⁵⁸ and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” —Acts 7:52-59

2. Communion (1 Corinthians 11:26) was first written about by Paul who claimed he received it mystically from Jesus’ spirit. Paul turned the standard Jewish red wine and breaking of bread Sabbath blessings (Kiddush and Hamotzi) into a ritual treating Jesus as the saving power.

3. Paul confessed Jesus as Lord (against the teachings of Judaism & Jesus) with this completely new teaching on how to obtain salvation that he appears to have come up with on his own: “.. if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” —Romans 10:9

   In contrast, Jesus’ teachings are completely in line with Judaism: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father...” —Matthew 7:21

4. Baptism “in the name of Jesus” (a Jewish cleansing ritual - the Mikveh - for priests to purify themselves before serving in the Temple, etc):

   “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” —Matthew 28:19

   “And Peter said, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” —Acts 2:38

5. Hymns portray Jesus as pre-existent creator and cosmic ruler, Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 1:15-20, Hebrews 1:3-4.

The first item, Stephen’s prayer while filled with the Holy Spirit (recorded by Luke in Acts 7) is compelling. It’s difficult to underestimate Jesus’ importance.

I believe we see this truth again in Rev. 3 written to the wealthy church of Laodicea, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” —Rev. 3: 21

And we see it again in Rev. 19 when Jesus returns to Earth wearing many crowns, king of many realms, “His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.” —Rev 19:12-14

It seems there’s no glass ceiling in Heaven. Not deifying any human being is an important go-to rule that prevents abuse and idol worship, but who knows what promotions we receive in the afterlife? There’s so much we don’t know about the spirit world. It could well be that in overcoming everything, everything with love here on Earth, Jesus accelerated beyond all previous levels attained by a human to reach a peace and acceptance that surpasses all understanding, a love so strong the eyes shine, as Moses’ face shone so bright he had to wear a veil, Exodus 34:29-35.

Doctrine or culture?

It occurred to me that many doctrines could be false or partly false, but it doesn’t matter and here’s why: Thyatira, the working class church with no library in their military/guild town is told to cling to what teachings they have, implying their doctrines are not accurate, Rev. 2:25. So if church culture trains people to believe dancing, smoking and alcohol are sins (even if it’s not exactly biblical), do not go against your own conscience. (Folk dances of Ancient Israel, no doubt, were a totally different experience from today’s club scene.)

Paul advised the same regarding keeping a kosher diet or not — follow your conscience: “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself...” —Romans 14:14 “It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble….But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” —Romans 14:21,23

People who have had near death experiences, and today’s true prophets say false doctrines have crept into Christianity without specifying which ones they are.

We’re at the very beginning of this huge task of trying to see past old errors to understand all truth — this is a time to pray into it and ask for greater understanding.

3 Rules of thumb for reading scripture

1. Do not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything, including doctrine.

2. Lead with the heart, not the head. Ask God to open your eyes when reading scripture and they will open with the help of the Holy Spirit.

3. Trust God to guide you in everything, do not lean on your own understanding.