Editing Resurrection of Jesus (section)

=====Low and High Christology=====
{{See also|Early High Christology|Preexistence of Christ}}

It has long been argued that the New Testament writings contain two different Christologies, namely a "low" or [[Adoptionism|adoptionist]] Christology, and a "high" or "incarnation Christology".{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=125}} The "low Christology" or "[[Adoptionism|adoptionist]] Christology" is the belief "that God exalted Jesus to be his Son by raising him from the dead",{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=120, 122}} thereby raising him to "divine status",<ref group=web name=BE_2013.02.14>{{cite web|last1=Ehrman|first1=Bart D.|author-link1=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Incarnation Christology, Angels, and Paul |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/incarnation-christology-angels-and-paul-for-members/|website=The Bart Ehrman Blog|access-date=2 May 2018|date=14 February 2013}}</ref> as in Romans 1:4.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Romans|1:4|NRSV}}</ref> The other early Christology is "high Christology", which is "the view that Jesus was a pre-existent divine being who became a human, did the Father’s will on earth, and then was taken back up into heaven whence he had originally come",<ref group=web name=BE_2013.02.14/>{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=122}} and from where he [[Christophany|appeared on earth]]. The chronology of the development of these early Christologies is a matter of debate within contemporary scholarship.{{sfn|Loke|2017}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}{{sfn|Talbert|2011|pp=3–6}}<ref group=web name="Hurtado.2017">Larry Hurtado, [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/the-origin-of-divine-christology/ ''The Origin of "Divine Christology"?'']</ref>

According to the "evolutionary model"{{sfn|Netland|2001|p=175}} c.q. "evolutionary theories",{{sfn|Loke|2017|p=3}} as proposed by Bousset, followed by Brown, the Christological understanding of Christ developed over time, from a low Christology to a high Christology,{{sfn|Mack|1995}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2003}}<ref name="Ehrman_HJBG_CG">Bart Ehrman, ''How Jesus became God'', Course Guide</ref> as witnessed in the Gospels.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} According to the evolutionary model, the earliest Christians believed that Jesus was a human who was exalted, c.q. [[Adoptionism|adopted]] as God's Son,{{sfn|Loke|2017|pp=3–4}}{{sfn|Talbert|2011|p=3}}{{sfn|Brown|2008|p=unpaginated}} when he was resurrected,<ref name="Ehrman_HJBG_CG"/><ref>Geza Vermez (2008), ''The Resurrection'', pp. 138–139</ref> signalling the nearness of the [[Kingdom of God]], when all dead would be resurrected and the righteous exalted.{{sfn|Fredriksen|2008|p=unpaginated}} Later beliefs shifted the exaltation to his baptism, birth, and subsequently to the idea of his eternal existence, as witnessed in the Gospel of John.<ref name="Ehrman_HJBG_CG"/> Mark shifted the moment of when Jesus became the son to the [[baptism of Jesus]], and later still Matthew and Luke shifted it to the moment of the [[Virgin birth of Jesus|divine conception]], and finally John declared that Jesus had been with God from the beginning: "In the beginning was the Word".{{sfn|Brown|2008|p=unpaginated}}

Since the 1970s, the late datings for the development of a "high Christology" have been contested,{{sfn|Loke|2017|p=5}} and a majority of scholars argue that this "High Christology" existed already before the writings of Paul.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=125}} This "incarnation Christology" or "high Christology" did not evolve over a longer time, but was a "big bang" of ideas which were already present at the start of Christianity, and took further shape in the first few decades of the church, as witnessed in the writings of Paul.{{sfn|Loke|2017|p=5}}<ref group=web name="Bouma.2014">{{cite web|last=Bouma|first=Jeremy|title=The Early High Christology Club and Bart Ehrman – An Excerpt from 'How God Became Jesus'|url=https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/how-god-became-jesus-bart-ehrman-high-christology-excerpt/|website=Zondervan Academic Blog|publisher=[[HarperCollins]] Christian Publishing|access-date=2 May 2018|date=27 March 2014}}</ref><ref group=web name=BE_2013.02.14/><ref group=web>Larry Hurtado (10 July 2015 ), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/early-high-christology-a-paradigm-shift-new-perspective/ {{"'}}Early High Christology': A 'Paradigm Shift'? 'New Perspective'?"]</ref>

According to Ehrman, these two Christologies existed alongside each other, calling the "low Christology" an "[[Adoptionism|adoptionist]] Christology, and "the "high Christology" an "incarnation Christology".{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|p=125}} While adoptionism was declared [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]] at the end of the 2nd century,<ref>{{cite book|last=Harnack|first=Adolf Von|title=History of Dogma|year=1889|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma1.II.III.III.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iAvGNlIWg9IC&q=adoptionism+heresy&pg=PA23 |title= The Popular Encyclopedia of Church History: The People, Places, and Events That Shaped Christianity |author1= Edward E. Hindson |author2=Daniel R. Mitchell | page=23|publisher= Harvest House Publishers|year= 2013 |isbn= 9780736948074 }}</ref> it was adhered to by the [[Ebionites]],<ref>{{Cite book | editor1-last = Cross | editor1-first = EA | title = The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1989 | contribution = Ebionites | editor2-last = Livingston | editor2-first = FL}}</ref> who regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his [[divinity]] and his [[Virgin birth of Jesus|virgin birth]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177608/Ebionites | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | title = Ebionites}}</ref> and insisted on the necessity of following [[Halakha|Jewish law and rites]].<ref>{{Cite book | first = Kaufmann | last = Kohler | chapter-url = http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=22&letter=E | chapter = Ebionites | editor1-first = Isidore | editor1-last = Singer | editor2-first = Cyrus | editor2-last = Alder | title = [[The Jewish Encyclopedia]] | date = 1901{{ndash}}1906}}</ref> They revered [[James, brother of Jesus|James the brother of Jesus]] (James the Just); and rejected [[Paul the Apostle]] as an [[Antinomianism#Supporting Pauline passages|apostate from the Law]].<ref name="Maccoby 1987">{{Cite book| author = Hyam Maccoby| title = The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity| pages = 172–183| publisher = HarperCollins | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-06-250585-8| author-link = Hyam Maccoby}}, [http://ebionite.tripod.com/mac15.htm an abridgement]</ref> They show strong similarities with the earliest form of Jewish Christianity, and their specific theology may have been a "reaction to the [[Paul and Judaism|law-free Gentile mission]]".{{sfn|Dunn|2006|p=282}}

In the "pre-existence" Christology, Christ's resurrection and exaltation was a restoration of the exalted status he already had, but had not grasped at, as described in Philippians|2:6-11.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Philippians|2:6-11|NRSV}}</ref><ref>Capes, Nelson Raymond, [https://ir.stthomas.edu/sod_mat/6/ "Philippians 2:6-11: Pre-Existence or Second Adam Christology? A Comparison of the Exegeses of Three Modern Scholars with that of St. John Chrysostom"] (2012). School of Divinity Master’s Theses and Projects. 6.</ref><ref group=web name=EB_ih>EB, [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus/Incarnation-and-humiliation Incarnation and humiliation]</ref>{{refn|group=note|name=EB_restoration|EB: "Session at the right hand of the Father was apparently a Christian interpretation of the first verse of Psalm 110. It implied the elevation—or, as the doctrine of preexistence became clearer, the restoration—of Christ to a position of honour with God. Taken together, the Ascension and the session were a way of speaking about the presence of Christ with the Father during the interim between the Resurrection and the Second Advent."<ref group=web name=EB_ih/>}}