For modern Christians, the notion that Jesus was the longed-for messiah is so widely understood and accepted that to question it is nigh-on heresy. That was also the case for the followers of Jesus, who seem to have quickly proclaimed him to be the redeemer and rescuer that had been predicted by earlier Jewish thinkers. The mystery here lies with Jesus himself: Did he think that he was the messiah?
Religious scholar Bart Ehrman argues that it’s likely Jesus really did think he was all that, noting that the Gospel of John has Jesus calling himself the Son of God and directly referring to himself as the messiah, and making comments that imply he’s existed for a long time and is only on a brief, earthly sojourn from heaven. However, Ehrman admits that this could all be an invention of the gospel writer, and it’s not clear if the real Jesus said these things. (John was written sometime between A.D. 90 and 100, a full generation after Jesus died.)
What’s more, while speaking to NPR, Ehrman pointed out that it’s really only John where these statements crop up. The other Gospels, all of which were written earlier, don’t have anything direct to say about it. And if Jesus was making such an immense claim as to propose that he was the messiah, why would Matthew, Mark, and Luke have never mentioned it?
