The status accorded to or recognized for Jesus is the key dis inactive and defining feature of Christianity.
It is also the chief stumbling block for inter-faith dialogue between Christians and Jews, and between Christians and Muslims. Jew and Muslim simply cannot accept the divine status of Jesus as the Son of God, which Christians regard as fundamental to their faith.
The Christian understanding of God as Trinity baffles them.
To regard Jesus as divine, as worthy of worship as God, seems to them an obvious rejection of the oneness of God, more a form of polytheism than a form of monotheism. And truth to tell, many Christians also find the understanding of God as Trinity baffling.
The confession of the Trinity in terms o 'essence' (or 'substance') makes too little sense, apart from the Greek philosophical categories that the language presupposes, for it to be very meaningful for most of those who repeat the Nicene Creed.
And the classic creedal distinction between different 'persons' of the Godhead, when 'person' is understood in its everyday sense, invites the perception of God in tritheistic rather than Trinitarian terms, as three and d
In view of this, it may be helpful to look back to the beginning of the process that resulted in the formulation of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, and in doing so to clarify what lay behind the confession of Jesus as the Son of God in Trinitarian terms. The language of 'essence' /'substance' and 'person' was, of course, carefully chosen and the usage of these
1 The problem was highlighted by both K. Rahner, The Trinity (London: Burns & Oates, 1970) 48, and G. W. H. Lampe, God as Spirit (Oxford University Press, 1977 terms was finely tuned by the controversies over the precise status of Jesus that racked the first few centuries of Christianity.
But most Christians and most inter-faith dialogue would find it hard to recover and to appreciate that fine-tuning without an intensity of immersion in ancient philosophical debates that few could contemplate or have time for.
Perhaps, then, a more fruitful way forward would be to inquire behind the process that has given Christianity its creedal confessions, to attempt some closer examination of the beginning of the process - what it was that launched the process, what it was that made Christians want to speak of Jesus in divine terms, what it was that led to the worship of Jesus as God.
The title of this book is of course controversial - intentionally so, because the issue itself is unavoidably controversial- Did the First Christians Worship Jesus? The immediate answer that most Christians will want to give is, 'Of course they did.'
And if they want to cite some evidence by way of proof, they may well turn immediately to one of the closing scenes of John's Gospel, where Thomas, one of Jesus' twelve close disciples, addresses the resurrected Jesus as 'My Lord and my God' (John 20.28)- that is in terms of confessional worship.
Or they could cite Paul's great poem/hymn in his letter to the Philippians, which climaxes in every knee in heaven and earth bowing and every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2.10-11).
Or they could refer to the book of Revelation, where the seer envisions myriads of myriads singing with full voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing' (Rev. 5.11-12). Of course the first Christians worshipped Jesus.
