Excerpt from:

The Origins of Christianity and the Bible

37. After Jesus Died, Did His Disciples Believe He Is God?

      Note: Words and phrases within curly braces { } within quotations are furnished by the author to explain such quotations. Words and phrases within square brackets [ ] within quotations are part of the quoted text.
            After the ascension of Jesus, when Peter testified for Jesus in front of thousands of Jews in Jerusalem he did not tell them that Jesus was God or a god. He told them, “You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know ... ” (Acts 2:22 NRSV) Peter called Jesus “a man,” not “a god.” He said “signs that God did through him.” God performed wonders and miracles through Jesus, just as he performed wonders and miracles through Moses. When Peter said “God,” he meant “Yahweh,” not Jesus. The Jews who listened to him understood this. They had no concept of the Trinity. Further on, Peter said, “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him {Jesus} both Lord {Master} and Messiah {of the Jews} ...” (Acts 2:36 NRSV) Peter believed that God “made” Jesus Lord and Messiah (the Christ, the Anointed one). In another instance Peter said, “... God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power ...” (Acts 10:38 NRSV) Peter knew that God does not need to be anointed with the Holy Spirit. This shows that Peter did not believe Jesus was God. Peter believed that there was a time when Jesus was not anointed, and was not the Lord and Messiah (the time before his baptism). When Peter said “Messiah” he meant “Messiah of Israel,” not “savior of the world.” His listeners were Jews. When he said “Messiah,” they understood “Messiah of Israel”: the one they were waiting for.
            Peter believed that Jesus was a prophet, like Moses. He said, “For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.’ ” (Acts 3:22 NIV) Peter also said, “... {King David} a prophet, therefore, being, and knowing that with an oath God did swear to him, out of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, to raise up the Christ, to sit upon his throne ...” (Acts 2:30 YLT) Peter believed that Jesus was a physical descendant of David (“the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh”) and that God will put Jesus on the throne of King David, the throne of Israel. In other words, Peter implied that Jesus will return as the king of Israel. He was preaching to Jews, not to Gentiles. He told them, “For the promise {God’s promise} is for you {the Jews}, for your children, and for all {the Jews} who are far away {the Diaspora Jews}, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (Acts 2:39 NRSV) This promise was made to the Jews; then through the Jews the Gentiles will be blessed: “Abraham {i.e. Israel} will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.” (Genesis 18:18 NIV) This is what Peter believed. He believed that Israel “will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations will be blessed through Israel.” And this is what Jesus taught. “He {Jesus} said to her, ‘Let the children {i.e. the Jews} be fed first {and then the dogs: the Gentiles}, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.’ ” (Mark 7:27 NRSV) The Jews believed that God promised salvation first to the Jews. Then from the Jews, salvation will become available to the Gentiles: “{Jesus said:}... salvation is from the Jews.” (John 4:22 NASB) Of course, they believed to be saved Gentiles must first be circumcised and obey the Law.
            Peter did not preach that Jesus is a god. The Christian Church father, Irenaeus (who was instrumental in putting the New Testament together), confirms this, “Peter together with John preached to them {to the Jews} this plain message of glad tidings, that the promise which God made to the {Jewish} fathers had been fulfilled by Jesus; not certainly proclaiming another god, but the Son of God ...” [1] Peter did not proclaim Jesus as a god.
            Later on, in front of another group of Jews Peter preached, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors {Yahweh} has glorified his servant Jesus ...” (Acts 3:13 NRSV) When he said “God,” he meant Yahweh, the Father of Jesus. Peter believed that Jesus was a mere “servant” of God. “But Peter and the apostles answered {to the priests}, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers {Yahweh} raised up Jesus ...” (Acts 5:29-30 NASB) When Peter and the apostles told the priests, “we must obey God,” they meant “we must obey Yahweh,” the Father of Jesus. When they said, “the god of our fathers,” they meant Yahweh, the Father of Jesus. Peter and the priests believed in the same god. Irenaeus wrote, “But it is evident from Peter’s words that he did indeed still retain the God who was already known to them {the Jews}.” [2] Irenaeus’ statement indicates that Peter did not believe in the Trinity. He believed in exactly the same god that the Jews believed. He was a Jewish Christian. As Irenaeus indicates, Peter never told them that Jesus is God, or a god. Later on, Peter, John, and their friends prayed to God, not to Jesus: “... they raised their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them ... the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed {i.e. God anointed Jesus, during his baptism, as the Son of God}...” (Acts 4:24, 27 NRSV) They prayed to God “who made the heaven and the earth, the sea.” Unlike the writer of the Gospel of John and Paul, they believed that God “made the heaven and the earth,” not Jesus. These verses show that Peter (and the editor of Acts) did not believe in the Logos doctrine. Peter never said that Jesus pre-existed. He was a Jewish Christian, an Ebionite. Irenaeus wrote, “The so-called Ebionites admit that the world was made by the true God {the Father of Jesus} ...” [3] The Logos doctrine was the doctrine of the Hellenist Christians.
            Peter believed that Yahweh was the Father and the god of Jesus. He wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Peter 1:3 NRSV) This is similar to what Jesus said himself: “I ascend to my Father, and your Father; to my God and your God.” (John 20:17 KJV) Peter’s God was the god of Jesus, not Jesus. [4]
            Peter believed that God is one person. James held the same belief. James wrote, [5] “There is only one {Gr. eiV, referring to one person} lawgiver and judge the one who is able to save and destroy.” (James 4:12 NASB) The phrase “there is only one lawgiver and judge” refers to the Father of Jesus, Yahweh. The Father of Jesus is the “lawgiver” because he gave the law to Moses. He who gave the law is God. He is the one who will judge the world. “But God is the judge.” (Psalms 75:7 KJV) “... God will judge the righteous and the wicked.” (Ecclesiastes 3:17 KJV) James also wrote, “You believe that God is one {Gr. eiV, referring to one person}; you do well.” (James 2:19 NRSV) The word “one” in English is an inadequate translation of the Greek word “eiV”, which, when applied to a person, means “one male person.” The Greek word “qeoV” is a noun that refers to one male person. The article “o” when applied to a person, it refers to a male person.
So the phrase “eiV estin o qeoV” literally means, “God is one male person.” James referred to God as one person.        James was a Jewish Christian, the leader of the Ebionites. Eusebius wrote, “They {the Ebionites} regarded Him {Jesus} as plain and ordinary, a man esteemed as righteous through growth of character and nothing more, the child of a normal union between a man and Mary.” [6] Nicodemus was a “closet” Jewish Christian (a Jew who secretly accepted Jesus as the Messiah). He believed that Jesus performed miracles not because he was God but because God was with him: “This man {Nicodemus} came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.’ ” (John 3:2 RSV) The Jewish Christians believed that God was with Jesus, not that Jesus was God. They believed he had died and rose (went to Heaven) spiritually (not in the flesh). Their belief that Jesus rose spiritually was not unusual in those days. Spiritual resurrections were common. The Jewish Christians did not make his death and resurrection a central factor in their interpretation of his significance. They did not believe that Jesus died for their sins. Matthew 1:21 says Jesus will save the world from their sins: “She {Mary} will bear a son, and you {Joseph} are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21 NRSV) This verse was not part of their gospel. As mentioned earlier, their gospel of Matthew did not have a virgin birth narrative. Their gospel of Matthew may have served as one of the sources for the Gospel of Matthew, which we have today. The Ebionites believed that “even after Christ descended on Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism, Jesus remained simply a man.” [7] They saw him as a righteous teacher, the Messiah, who brought the law back to the true ideas of Moses. [8] James and Peter believed likewise. They were the leaders of the Jewish Christians.