Doubt & Faith - Evolution, Afterlife & History

Hmm, are you sure? What I actually meant is that I suspect the rebellion of Satan and the one-third of the angels who followed him—which I believe occurred at the very beginning of time—may have had something to do with the way the material world turned out, long before human sin ever entered the picture.

The only thing I would add is that, according to Hurtado, in the thought of Paul and the early Christians, the name YHWH (the God of Israel) is primarily identified with the Father, but also applied to Jesus in significant ways.

So, in short:

  • YHWH = primarily the Father, in traditional terms.

  • But Jesus, while not being YHVH, receives divine honors, names, and roles reserved for YHWH alone.

Larry Hurtado argues that early Christians like Paul redefined monotheism by including Jesus in the divine identity traditionally reserved for YHWH. While YHWH is primarily the Father, Jesus is not a second god, but shares in YHWH’s unique divine status — through:

  • his reception of the name Kyrios,

  • his role in creation,

  • his reception of worship,

  • and the application of OT YHWH texts to him.

Hurtado does not say Jesus is YHWH the Father (or that YHVH was crucified), but rather that Jesus is “in” YHWH — or, to use Bauckham’s language, “included in the unique identity of the one God.”

In other words, a true binitarianism—Jesus’ full divinity was evident to the early Christians and not merely a later theological construct, even as they clearly distinguished Him from God the Father.