Source: Excerpts from Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Essays on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Paternoster, 2008).
2 Christological Monotheism in the New Testament.wav
The New Testament presents a "christological monotheism" where Jesus Christ is intentionally included within the unique identity of the one God of Jewish monotheism. This was not a later development but central to early Christian faith from its inception and was achieved by attributing to Jesus the key characteristics that defined God's unique identity in Second Temple Judaism: sole sovereignty, sole creation, the divine name, and the exclusive worship due to God.
Jewish Monotheism as Context: Bauckham emphasizes that Second Temple Jewish monotheism was characterized by a strict distinction between God and all other reality. The unique identity of God was defined by two primary features:
Sole Creator: God is the unique creator of all things.
Sole Ruler: God is the unique sovereign over all things.
This unique identity demanded monolatry, the exclusive worship of this one God. Worship was understood as the recognition of this unique divine identity.
Intermediary figures in Jewish texts did not blur this absolute distinction; they were either clearly outside God's unique identity (servants, not worshipped) or intrinsic to it (like Word and Wisdom).
New Testament Christology as Inclusion: Bauckham argues that the New Testament authors deliberately and comprehensively include Jesus within this unique divine identity, rather than placing him as a subordinate figure. They achieve this by applying to Jesus the very characteristics that defined God's uniqueness:
Participation in Unique Divine Sovereignty: Early Christians understood Jesus to be exalted to God's throne, participating in God's unique sovereignty over the cosmos. This was unprecedented and more radical than any exaltation of angels or patriarchs in Jewish literature.
This is supported by the frequent use of Psalm 110:1, understood as placing Jesus on the divine throne exercising God's rule.
The phrase "all things" in relation to Jesus' sovereignty echoes the Jewish monotheistic rhetoric reserved for God's rule over all creation.
Jesus' exaltation above all angelic powers (e.g., Ephesians 1:21-22) further emphasizes his unique status in relation to God's sovereignty.
Given the Divine Name: The exalted Jesus is given the divine name, the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), which identifies the unique identity of God.