Was Jesus First Declared Divine Nearly 300 Years After He Died?

by Mike Licona

In his blockbuster book, The Da Vinci Code, novelist Dan Brown tells his readers that prior to the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., Christians thought of Jesus only as a mortal prophet and that the jump from mortal to divine occurred when the new doctrine was first broached at the Council, voted on and barely passed.

Speaking of the Council of Nicaea . . .

"My dear," Teabing declared, "until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet . . . A great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal."

"Not the Son of God?" [said Sophie]

"Right," Teabing said. "Jesus' establishment as 'the Son of God' was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea."

"Hold on. You're saying Jesus' divinity was the result of a vote?

"A relatively close vote at that," Teabing added.

As with nearly all claims in this page-turning novel, this one is easily examined and its silliness exposed. What follows are two reasons why we can be certain that the divinity of Jesus was taught in the first century.

Reason #1: All four New Testament Gospels teach the divinity of Jesus and were written in the first century.

Rarely would this statement be disputed, even by skeptical scholars. Regarding the date of the Gospels' composition, even the agnostic New Testament critic Bart Ehrman, who is on somewhat of a crusade against evangelical Christianity, admits that almost all scholars agree that the four Gospels in the New Testament were written in the first century.   These Gospels clearly teach the divinity of Jesus. Space allows only a few examples:

John 1:1, 14 (NIV): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Synoptics: After reporting that Jesus believed he possessed divine prerogatives such as forgiving sins resulting in salvation (Mark 2.3-12; Matt 9.2-7; Luke 5.17-26), was God's Son in a sense that was significantly greater than a prophet (Mark 12:1-12; Matt 21:33-46; Luke 20:9-19) and was God's Son who was greater than humans and the heavenly angels (Mark 13:32; Matt 24:36), Jesus makes a significant confession at his trial.

Again, the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" And Jesus said, "I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, "What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death (Mark 14:61-64; Matthew 26:63-64; Luke 22:67-23:2).

In his answer, Jesus claims to be the Messiah, the Son of God (whom Mark has shown in the two preceding chapters is above all humans and angels), and he is the apocalyptic Son of Man spoken of in Daniel 7:13-14:

I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

That the Son of Man is "served" is noteworthy. The Greek word is latreuo and is found more than 130 times in the New Testament and the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint, which was the most popular translation of the New Testament authors.  With only one exception, latreuo is always "done for" or "to a" deity.

Notice that when tempted by Satan, Jesus replied, "You shall worship the Lord your God and serve (latreuseis) him only" (Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8). Although Jesus understood that worship and service was to be rendered to God alone, his most popular title for himself was the Son of Man. This designation had three meanings: me, human, apocalyptic Son of Man. It is clear that Jesus used the Son of Man designation in all three senses on different occasions. In his trial confession, it is clear that the third is what Jesus had in mind. By seeing himself as the Son of Man in Daniel, he understood that he will be "served" in a manner meant to be given to God only. One can begin to understand why the Jewish authorities who despised Jesus accused him of blasphemy and had him condemned.

Again, space prohibits further examples. But these should suffice.  There can be no question that all four Gospels proclaim the divinity of Jesus and that these provide first-century evidence that Jesus was thought of as divine.

Reason #2: The apostle Paul, whose letters were all written by 64 A.D., taught the divinity of Jesus.  Because of space, we are again limited to only a few examples. 

If you will confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. . . . "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:9, 13).

In this passage, Paul gives two criteria to be met for salvation to be awarded: Confession that Jesus is "Lord" and belief in his resurrection. What does Paul mean by "Lord?" In verse 13, he cites Joel 2:32, which clearly refers to God. Thus, in order to be a Christian, Paul cites an early Christian creed that most likely predates the writing of his letter to the Church in Rome and says one must confess that Jesus is God.

One may also take note of a hymn in Philippians 2:6-11:

[A]lthough [Jesus] existed in the form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This hymn contains four statements on the divinity of Jesus.

  • First, it says that prior to coming to earth, "Jesus existed in the form of God," and contrasts this with his earthly existence in the form of man.

  • Second, it says that while existing in the form of God, Jesus did not consider his equality with God something to be held onto and exploited. Because he was more interested in the needs of others than his own comfort, he was willing to make huge sacrifices.

  • Third, it says that to Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. It is astonishing that Isaiah 45 is here quoted. In this passage, God says repeatedly that beside him there is no other God (45:5-6, 18, 21-22), and that to him every knee will bow and every tongue confess (45:23). Therefore, Jesus will receive honors reserved only for God.

  • Fourth, it says that Jesus will be given "the name that is above every name" which can be no other than God's name. Every tongue will confess that Jesus is "Lord." Thus, this hymn states that Jesus existed in God's form, was equal to God, will receive the same honors that God allows only for himself, and possesses God's name. What he lost when he emptied himself and descended to Earth will be restored to him. Accordingly, when Paul's writings and the four New Testament Gospels are considered, we may regard it as historical bedrock that the first-century Christians viewed Jesus as divine.

What, then, was the event of the Council of Nicaea? This was the first ecumenical Church council. Church leaders debated over the new teaching of a recently deposed bishop named Arius who claimed that Jesus was only a created being rather than divine. In attendance were 318 bishops, 28 of whom sided with Arius. After extensive debate, Constantine pronounced that anyone siding with Arius would be deposed from their office and banished from Rome. The final vote was 316 to 2. Such result under compulsion can hardly be regarded as accurate. However, even if we allow all 28 to remain committed to Arius' view, 290 to 28 can hardly be regarded as "a relatively close vote." 

In summary, we have viewed strong evidence that belief in Jesus' divinity was widespread among first-century Christians and that the Council's vote at Nicaea in 325 A.D. was anything but close. Accordingly, The Da Vinci Code cannot be taken seriously on these points.

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