The first Christian writings that we have in existence come from the Apostle Paul. Paul's first writings come from around 51 A.D. in the case of First Thessalonians, or about 20 years after the death of Jesus in 30 A.D. Interestingly, Paul's views on Jesus were without precedent in the Judaism of his time. In other words, he had a radical view of Jesus.
Paul did think of Jesus as God. It seems reasonable to conclude that Paul certainly had a high Christology, in which Jesus received worship and devotion, that was without clear precedent in the Judaism of the first century. From the wider context of Paul’s undisputed letters, there are a number of indications of this high devotion.1
Jesus is Yahweh
Perhaps one of the clearest indications that Paul thought Jesus was Yahweh comes from the fact that he used Monotheistic Old Testament passages which uniquely referred to Yahweh and applied them to the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 10:13 cf. Joel 2:32; 1 Cor. 1:31 cf. Jer. 9:24; 1 Cor. 2:16 cf. Isa. 40:13; 1 Cor. 10:26 cf. Ps. 24:1; 2 Cor. 10:17 cf. Jer. 9:24 for just a few examples). 1 Corinthians 2:16, for example, alludes to Isaiah 40:13 which is in the context of some of the most explicit monotheistic statements in the entire Old Testament (cf. Isaiah 40:13-28; 43:10; 44:6, 8; 45:5).Jesus Receives Prayer
The early Christians prayed to Jesus for his return, for blessing, and were even described as those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, which likely indicate that such prayer was a regular part of their devotional practices (1 Cor. 1:2; 16:22; 2 Cor. 12:8; Rom. 10:13). 1 Corinthians 1:2 and Romans 10:13 even draw upon an Old Testament passage referring to Yahweh, which was the unique Hebrew name for God, and apply them to Jesus.Jesus Receives Hymns
They also composed hymns describing Jesus as pre-existent, and active in the themes of creation, redemption, and end time salvation (Phil. 2:6-11). Only God was the Creator and for Jesus to share in that action indicates that He could be uniquely viewed as sharing in God's identity, or being God Himself. Likewise, the fact that Paul thought of Jesus as pre-existent indicates that he certainly had some view of the incarnation or Jesus coming to earth as a human (cf. 2 Cor. 8:8-9; Phil. 2:6-11) .Jesus is Pre-Existent
As briefly mentioned, Paul did have a conception of Jesus being pre-existent (cf. Rom. 8:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; 10:4; 15:47; 2 Cor. 8:9; Gal. 4:4). This would be totally consistent with the idea of Jesus being incarnated as a human.Jesus is Creator
Paul also described Jesus as Creator (1 Cor. 8:6). Isaiah 44:24 says, "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone." In this passage the LORD [Hebrew Yahweh] says that he created the earth all by Himself. However, Paul says that Jesus created all things. Therefore, in some sense Jesus must be God. It is also important to note that Paul was very familiar with this Isaiah 44:24 passage due to his knowledge of the surrounding context in Isaiah 40-44 in his numerous other allusions to Isaiah (1 Cor. 2:16 cf. Isa. 40:13).Other Indications
There are also a number of other strong indications that the early Christians, such as Paul, viewed Jesus as God. First, these early Christians composed creedal statements in which Jesus was their object (Rom. 1:3-4; 10:9-10). Second, they described their worship services as gathering in the Lord’s name (1 Cor. 5:4). Third, they baptized new converts in Jesus’ name (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27). Fourth, they celebrated a sacred meal which they called the “Lord’s Supper” (1 Cor. 11:20; cf. 10:21).There is virtually no other comparable example in all of the Jewish literature of the time period to indicate that any figure, semi-divine being, or anyone received this type of devotion other than God. Therefore, it seems wise to conlude as David Capes does, “These practices imply that early Christians worshiped Jesus and thought of him in the way that one thinks of God.”2
