Quotes from Larry W. Hurtado

But Christianity did not become successful through Constantine giving it imperial approval. Instead, Constantine adopted Christianity likely because it had already become so successful despite earlier efforts to destroy the movement.

unusual in the Roman period.2 In the eyes of many of that time, early Christianity was odd, bizarre, in some ways even dangerous. For one thing, it did not fit what "religion" was for people then. Indicative of this, Roman-era critics designated it as a perverse "superstition." Yet the very features of early Christianity that made it odd and objectionable in the ancient Roman setting have become now unquestioned assumptions about religion in much of the modern world.

Paul portrays "God's" redemptive purpose as the conforming of the elect to "the image of his Son, in order that he [Jesus] might be the first-born [pr?totokos] among many brothers" (Rom 8:29).

These are all theological claims that arose as reflective responses to the acts of this God that exhibit these qualities and attributes.

short, the Christian practice of addressing "God" as "Father" originates as a profoundly christological statement.

Moreover, this living God is also supremely the one who created life and continues to give life.

In keeping with this, the human knowledge of this God advocated in the NT is to be exhibited primarily by participating in this relationship and not simply by ritual performance.

The statement in Daniel 12:1-4 (NRSV) that "many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" is usually cited as the earliest clear expression of this hope in the Bible.

For Jesus' resurrection is not presented as a restoration to ordinary life but was seen as a catapulting of Jesus into the glorious/glorified life of the world to come.

example, in Romans 6 and 8, Paul presents Jesus' death as able to have mortifying effects on the sinful tendencies of believers and Jesus' resurrection as able to provide powerful new moral resources to live changed lives that please "God.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you.

The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit" (1 Cor 15:45 NRSV),

In the OT the divine Spirit is typically manifested as a special power from "God" given to individuals to enable them for particular tasks or roles.

pattern of devotion in which "God" and Jesus feature as distinguishable and yet uniquely linked subjects and recipients of reverence in the setting of corporate worship.

NT texts discourse about the divine Spirit is shaped by this link with Jesus.

It is remarkable that the intense Jesus-devotion reflected in Paul's letters, which constitute our earliest extant Christian writings, is more presupposed than expounded

When we consider the extracanonical texts of ancient Jewish tradition, the divine Spirit is most often associated with prophecy.8 This is the case in texts from a Palestinian provenance (e.g., Jub. 25:14; 31:12; 1 En. 91:1; 1QS 8:15-16)

Furthermore, they portray their experiences of the Spirit as a foretaste and confirmation of eschatological hopes and signs that full redemption is near. This contributes to the excitement that one detects in

In sum, it appears that the sort of Jesus-devotion reflected in Paul's letters was shared among Jewish believers in Roman Judea as well as among Paul's churches.

and those that reflect a more overtly Hellenized influence (Philo, but also Josephus). In his extensive analysis of references to the divine Spirit in selected Jewish texts, Levison concluded, "Among the effects of the [divine] spirit prophecy is most pervasive," noting that Philo, Josephus, and Pseudo-Philo even occasionally add references to the divine Spirit in discussions of OT prophets/prophecy,

Wainwright recognized these difficulties but simply accepted Bousset's claim that Paul came around to an acceptance of Jesus' divine status under the influence of anonymous "Hellenistic Christians" during his sojourn in Damascus and Arabia after his conversion experience.31

Levison pointed out, however, that in ancient Jewish texts the divine Spirit is also associated with creation of the world, sanctification of the righteous, eschatological blessings, and human enablement.

Indeed, in Revelation there is also a particularly notable emphasis that proper worship of and allegiance to "God" includes Jesus ("the Lamb") as well, the divinely

In Revelation there is still another distinctive emphasis on God as "the one who sits on the throne" in heaven, the all-powerful cosmic ruler (e.g., 1:4; 4:2, 9-10; 5:1, 7, 13; 6:16; 7:10, 15; 19:4; 21:5).