A Hymn Older Than the Gospels Calls Jesus Divine

Many claim that the idea of Jesus’ divinity was a late invention of the church, evolving decades after his death. But what if the earliest Christians were already worshiping him as divine—within just a few years of the crucifixion? In this episode, we examine a hymn quoted by Paul that predates his letters and the Gospels, showing that high Christology wasn’t a gradual development—it was there from the start. Even atheist scholars agree this poem is one of the earliest pieces of Christian tradition. Could it rewrite the story of how Christianity began?