Pre-40 AD Evidence Jesus Thought He Is God? 1-Minute Case

4 min readAug 21, 2024

You don’t get charged with outright blasphemy for claiming to be prime minister

Pre-40 AD Evidence Jesus Thought He Is God? 1 Minute Case

streettheologian.substack.com

Non-religious historian: In Aramaic Sources of Mark’s Gospel, non-religious historian, Maurice Casey, contends that a textual analysis of “Son of Man” as used in Mark (p.255), reveals a likely original Aramaic source that, by implication, would date back to the 30s AD.

German Critical Scholar: Rudolf Pesch, in Das Markusevangelium, dates the pre-Markan source of Mark 14:60–64 as before AD 37 while Caiaphas was still a high priest (AD 18–37). Pesch notes, that Caiaphas’ name is not mentioned in Mark’s high priest references (14:46, 54, 60, 61, 63, 66) and would have been assumed by the audience when the story began circulating. Interestingly, Caiaphas is mentioned explicitly in Matthew, Luke, John, and Acts but nowhere in Mark.

Mark 14:60–64: Jesus is charged with blasphemy and condemned to death by the high priest for claiming to be the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. You don’t get charged with blasphemy for claiming to be prime minister!

Jewish binitarian context: A view that God was one, yet multiple persons were called God was not uncommon among Jews during the time of Jesus as Boyarin, Hesier, and Segal note. In context, Jesus is claiming to be God. The Son of Man reference comes from Daniel 7:13–14 where the Son of Man has traits only attributed to God elsewhere in the OT (eg. eternal kingdom, served the nations). Claiming to sit at the right hand of the Power implies co-rulership with God. Moreover, coming with the clouds refers only to God throughout the OT (eg. Deut. 33:26; Is. 19:1; Ps. 104:3; Nah. 1:3; Job 38:1).