Chapter 242 of 404

Who Did Jesus’ Movement Think He Was?

We lack direct access to the minds of Jesus’ earliest followers in the 30s and (for the most part) the 40s. The first-century documents we do have, however, virtually without exception suggest an exalted role for Jesus that exceeds rather than falls short of contemporary Jewish messianic expectations. All our sources that address the issue distinguish this open recognition about Jesus’ exalted identity after the resurrection from the state of affairs before it¹⁰⁶ (see discussion of the “messianic secret” in ch. 18); nevertheless they seem unanimous in their central affirmation. Perhaps Jesus’ followers believed that his postresurrection teaching allowed the resurrection to cast a different light on sayings and events that had preceded. We survey some of their texts below (although recognizing that other scholars have treated this material in greater detail). ¹⁰⁷ I omit Johannine texts here¹⁰⁸ because John’s exalted christology is sufficiently widely recognized as to require little comment.

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