Who did Jesus say he was?
This ring rests only on the sources historians judge most secure. In Mark, the earliest Gospel, Jesus declares sins forgiven, which only God can do (Mark 2:5–7), and before the high priest he answers that he is the Son of Man who will sit at the right hand of Power and come with the clouds of heaven (Mark 14:61–62). That this answer had him condemned for blasphemy fits with the execution in ring 2.
Paul’s letters, written little more than twenty years after the execution, already hold a hymn that exalts Jesus as equal with God (Philippians 2:6–11). Many scholars take it to be a song sung before Paul wrote. That such worship appeared so early, among Jews who held fast to the one God, is itself a historical fact that needs explaining.
In John’s Gospel, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6) puts this claim most plainly. But historians often read the sayings in John as testimony shaped by theological reflection, so this ring does not rest on them; they are read as God’s word at the confession step.
ObjectionWasn’t Jesus a prophet who announced the end, with the claim to divinity added later?
That is the view of Ehrman and a number of other scholars. Others, such as Larry Hurtado, point out that by the time of Paul’s letters Jewish believers were already worshipping Jesus as God is worshipped, and conclude that a high Christology appeared very early. Whether the sayings in John are Jesus’ very words is also debated among scholars.