- Yeshua's divinity was a "copy and paste" by the early church from ancient Greek and Roman polytheism where the gods of the pantheon came down to earth and had sexual relations with women who later gave birth to "demigods"
- Yeshua never thought of Himself as G-d or claimed to be G-d
- Nobody in Yeshua's lifetime ever thought He was G-d
- Scripture originally left many things unsaid about Messiah's death and later Christianity invented the story of the crucifixion and resurrection
- One early [but erroneous!] teaching was that Yeshua was an angel who became human: a powerful spirit but not Divine
Five theologians, Michael Bird, Craig Evans, Simon Gathercole, Charles Hill, and Chris Tilling have stepped forward to rebut these claims. Zondervan published their 240-page rebuttal entitled "How God Became Jesus- The REAL Origins of Belief in Jesus Divine Nature" at the same time Ehrman's book was released. All eminent scholars, they have brought their expertise to bear on each of Ehrman's arguments and debunked them in full.
In an interview with one of the authors, Michael Bird, Emily Varner of Academic Publish Services, notes
"One refrain that seems to echo throughout the book is a criticism of Ehrman for not accounting for how deeply rooted Early Christianity was in Judaism."
Indeed, this flaw in Ehrman's thinking was key to debunking his claims. I have found that a great many of the errors that exist in modern thought regarding Messiah and a life of faith in Him stem from this exact issue. This is why my efforts in ministry have been focused on bringing the life of our Jewish Messiah and the Jewish roots of Christianity to light.
But let's get back to the original question: was Yeshua's divinity invented after His death?
The testimony of both history and Scripture is a resounding "no".
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. - 1 Timothy 1:17
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