In Paul’s and his Churches hands, “Jesus is made into a full-fledged God.” (The Doctrine of the Trinity and Incarnation). Such attitude was very different from that of Jesus Christ and his disciples. For Jesus, adhering rigorously to the Law, it would have been the most extreme blasphemy to advocate worship towards any mortal figure, including himself. The essence of the Law was clear. It recognizes and upholds the “Sovereignty of God with no one equal to Him.” The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy has:

“Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all you strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat again and again to your children…” (6:4-9, NLT)

The Book of Isaiah:

“This is what the Lord, Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty, says: I am the First and the Last; there is no other God.” (44:6, NLT)

Jesus also makes this clear in the Gospels, urging his disciples, followers and listeners to acknowledge only Allah, God Almighty.

“Jesus replied. The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.” (Mark 12:29, NLT)

In the gospel according to John, Jesus invokes God as follows:

“And this is the way to have eternal life--to know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” (John 17:3, NLT)

For James and the Nazarene community in Jerusalem, what matters are Jesus teachings and his claim to “Messiahship” in the established context of time—a rightful king, the “anointed one of God”[1]. He is not intended, in his own person, to become an object of worship. The very idea of a divine Messiah would have been preposterous, if not unthinkable.[2] According to Imam Ibn Qayyim al Jauziyyah, author of “Hidayatul Hayara Fi Ajwibatul Yahud Wa al-Nasara” (Guidance to the Uncertain In Reply to the Jews and the Christians):

“By referring to the scriptures, We found numerous evidence that the disciples and the followers of Jesus always regards “their Great Teacher” and “Master” as a Man and a servant of God but never as God’s or equal to God. The Gospel of Luke states:

"That same day two of Jesus followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles out of Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. Suddenly, Jesus himself came along and joined them and began walking beside them. But they didn't know who he was, because God kept them from recognizing him. You seem to be in a deep discussion about something," he said. What are you so concerned about? They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas replied, You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days. What things? Jesus asked. “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth’, they said. He was a prophet who did wonderful miracles. He was a mighty teacher , highly regarded by both God and all the people.” (Luke 24:13-19, NLT)[3]

St. Peter's own testimony has:

"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know." (Acts 2:22, GI)

Burton L Mack, Professor of New Testament at the School of Theology at Claremont in his bestseller “The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q & Christian Origin” confesses:

"The remarkable thing about the people of Q (the early followers of Jesus) is that they were not Christian … they did not take his teachings as an indictment of Judaism … Instead they thought of him as a leader whose teaching made it possible to live with verve in trouble times. Thus they did not gather worship in his name, honor him as God or cultivate his memory through hyms, prayers or rituals. They did not form a cult of the Christ such as the one that emerged among the Christian communities familiar to readers of the letters of Paul. The people of Q were Jesus people, not Christians. This discovery upsets the conventional picture of the origin of Christianity.”[4]

Dr J.F Bethune-Baker, a highly placed Protestant theologian of the Church of England said: “I do not for a moment suppose that Christ ever thought himself as God.” In his book “An Introduction to the Early History of Christian Doctrine, To The Time Of The Council of Chalcedon”, he elaborates further by saying:

“Artemon, a later member of the school of Monarchianists at Rome, asserted in the third century that designating Christ God was an innovation of the late second century. He appealed to Scripture and the preaching of the apostles to support his view and set out to prove that all the Roman bishops down to Victor had been of his opinion.”[5]

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that James and the rest of the disciples should be disturbed by what Paul is doing.[6]. By James standards – indeed, by the standards of any devout Jew – this, of course, is blasphemy and apostasy.[7]

[1] Anointed is the English word for “Messiah”. The root word for Messiah is “Masaha”, meaning to rub, to massage, to anoint. Priests and kings were anointed when being consecrated to their offices. But in its translated, Grecian form “Christ”, it seems unique befitting Jesus only”. (Ahmeed Deedat, The Choice: The Bible or The Quran, Chapter 4, 13)

[2] The New Testament in Question, 15

[3] Translated by Abedelhay El-Masri (Dar al-Kotob El-Masri, Beirut, Lebanon), 2001, 234-235

[4] Mack, Burton L, The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q & Christian Origin (Harpers & Collins Publishers, USA), 1998, 4-5 (emphasis are mine)

[5] (London, Methuen & Co, Ltd), 1929, 99

[6] The New Testament in Question, 34

[7] The New Testament in Question, 36