Original Faith Original Gospel

 God, the Most High and eternal Creator, is a supreme King above all gods. All spiritual powers, angels, and heavenly beings exist within His rule, and He stands unrivaled in authority, wisdom, and love. From the beginning, God has desired a relationship with humanity, inviting us to know Him, honor Him, and live under His gracious reign.

In the fullness of time, God chose and exalted Jesus as His anointed Son and lord, appointing him to reveal God’s character, carry out His purposes, and extend His rule over all creation. Jesus perfectly expressed God’s heart—showing mercy, healing, truth, and faithfulness—and he acted with the authority God entrusted to him. Though honored above all other powers, Jesus remained obedient to the God who sent him.

Jesus willingly offered his life for humanity, taking upon himself the burden of sin that separates us from God. In faithfulness to the One who appointed him, he accepted suffering and death for our sake. But God, the one true God, raised him from the dead and exalted him to His right hand, placing him above all angels, authorities, and cosmic powers. Through this resurrection and exaltation, Jesus became the great king who shares God’s throne and carries out God’s rule, though he will ultimately hand the kingdom back to God and remain eternally subject to Him.

Through Jesus, God now offers forgiveness, restoration, and the promise of life in the age to come. When we trust Jesus as God’s exalted Son, learn from him, and follow his way, we return to a right relationship with the Most High. This life is marked by honoring God, loving others, and living in the ways that Jesus taught with the authority God gave him.

Because God raised Jesus and granted him dominion over all powers in heaven and on earth, those who follow him share in the hope of resurrection and the life of the world to come. In Jesus’ victory, we see the triumph of the Most High God over all creation, both seen and unseen, and the promise that through God and His anointed Son we will share in the life and kingdom that endure forever.

Soon Christ will come again and reign, carrying out God’s rule until every enemy is brought low and the last enemy, death, is destroyed. And when all things have been subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. And in the completion of all things, God will confirm the Son in His place at His right hand, where He will reign beside the Most High forever in faithful subjection to the God who exalted Him.

Stephen D Green with AI wording

Henotheism heretically replaced by Trinitarianism

 Henotheism doesn’t demand a single unrivaled king-god

Henotheism ≠ strict monotheism.
It simply means:

• One god functionally supreme for a given people,
• without denying the reality or legitimacy of other divine beings.

In such systems, supremacy is relational, not metaphysical.
Positions can be shared, delegated, changed, or even reversed.

So henotheism does not require:

• only one ultimate high god,
• a timeless metaphysical singularity,
• or an eternal inability for another being to share the throne.

Instead, it allows:

• multiple high gods above lesser gods,
• shifting hierarchies,
• co-regency,
• voluntary subordination,
• elevation of a divine figure to co-rule.

Second Temple Jewish cosmology fits this flexibility

In the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple literature:

Two (or more) “kings” above the divine council is not impossible:

• YHWH is supreme, but:
• The “second figure” (Word, Wisdom, Son of Man, Angel of YHWH, Principal Angel) often acts with kingly authority,
• sometimes sharing the divine throne or name,
• sometimes ruling on YHWH’s behalf,
• sometimes functioning so closely to YHWH that ancient interpreters blurred them.

This is the root of the “Two Powers in Heaven” tradition — which is not a Christian invention but an earlier Jewish category.

Earliest Christian theology fits henotheistic co-regency

Under your framework:

Jesus = the second throne-holder

Early Christians (Paul, John, the Synoptics, Hebrews, Revelation) portray Jesus as:

• exalted into the divine realm,
• enthroned at the right hand of God,
• ruling over angels and cosmic powers,
• possessing the divine Name,
• exercising judgment normally reserved for God.

The original theology of henotheism did not require only one king-god, but could include two kings above all gods, with one voluntarily subordinate to the other — matching the original gospel belief.

• Two heavenly rulers,
• one greater (the Father),
• one elevated by the greater (the Son),
• both above all other divine beings.

Voluntary subordination is explicitly affirmed

Paul:

• “The head of Christ is God” (1 Cor 11:3)
• “The Son will subject himself to the Father” (1 Cor 15:28)

This is exactly what henotheism allows:
two kings above all gods, one subordinate to the other, yet both functioning as cosmic rulers.

“A great God, a great King above all gods” (Psalm 95:3)

The Hebrew text says:

• כִּי אֵל גָּדוֹל יְהוָה — “For YHWH is a great God,”
• וּמֶלֶךְ גָּדוֹל עַל־כָּל־אֱלֹהִים — “and a great King above all gods.”

Notice that nothing in the grammar requires:

• metaphysical exclusivity,
• absolute monotheism,
• or a denial of shared kingship.

It simply states:

• YHWH is a great God,
• YHWH is a great King,
• and higher than the other gods.

Henotheism allows:

• other gods to exist,
• other gods to be powerful,
• and even more than one “great king” above the rest.

It only insists YHWH outranks them all.

This naturally allows a second enthroned figure

Psalm 110:

“The LORD said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand…’”

Within henotheism:

• YHWH (“the LORD”) is the primary high God.
• “My lord” (אדני / Adoni) is a second royal figure.
• Being seated at the right hand means sharing royal authority, not usurping it.

This does not violate the henotheistic pattern, because that pattern:

• allows multiple high-ranking divine beings,
• allows shared rule,
• allows co-regency,
• and allows one exalted being to rule with and under the supreme one.

Thus:

YHWH = the great King above all gods

The enthroned “lord” = also a great king above all gods, but derivative, subordinate, and exalted by YHWH

Both are “over all gods,”
but one is ontologically primary,
and the other is exalted into that status.

This matches perfectly with Psalm 110, Daniel 7, and earliest Christian interpretation.

This is exactly the earliest Christian configuration

Paul:

• Christ “at the right hand of God”
• Christ reigning “until he puts all enemies under his feet”
• Christ then “subjects himself to God” (1 Cor 15:28)

Hebrews:

• Christ enthroned at God’s right hand
• Angels commanded to worship him

Revelation:

• The throne of God and the throne of the Lamb
• Two thrones, but one shared sovereignty

This is pure binitarian henotheism:

• One God is supreme.
• A second divine king is exalted to rule under and with Him.

It perfectly fits your statement:

The lesser lord can sit at the right hand of the greater God,
and both be great kings above all gods.

[Ed.] Paul and John very strongly condemned (called anathema, antichrist) any preaching of a Jesus different to this, any gospel different to the gospel they had preached.

[Ed.] Now we move forward to the centuries after the time of Paul, John, Peter.

Rabbinic Judaism and later Trinitarianism both collapse this earlier flexibility

Rabbinic Judaism:

• declares “Two Powers in Heaven” a heresy,
• demands a single monotheistic throne.

Nicene Christianity:

• declares the Son co-equal,
• eliminates voluntary subordination,
• rejects two-throne cosmology as ditheistic.

Thus both later systems erase the binitarian henotheism that your model reconstructs.

Conclusion

In the time of apostles of Jesus: Paul, Peter, John, …

• YHWH = the great king above all gods.
• The exalted lord = also a king above all gods, but subordinate and enthroned by YHWH.
• Both rule above the divine council.

It is exactly the cosmology presupposed by the earliest Christian gospel.

Wording by AI, prompted and edited by Stephen D Green

Biblical Henotheism

 In the henotheistic framework of Second Temple Judaism, the statement that “the LORD our God is a great God, a great King above all gods” does not require metaphysical exclusivity. The Hebrew text emphasizes YHWH’s supremacy without denying the existence or authority of other divine beings. YHWH is described as a great God and a great King, asserting his superiority among the gods while leaving room for other high-ranking figures to exist. Within this context, the exalted “lord” in Psalm 110, who is seated at YHWH’s right hand, can be understood as a second royal figure, sharing in the divine throne while remaining subordinate to the supreme God. This does not violate the henotheistic pattern, which allows multiple exalted figures to exercise authority, co-rule, and even share kingship over the divine council, provided that one remains ontologically primary. The exalted lord is thus a great king above all gods in his own right, yet his authority is derived from and oriented toward YHWH.

This binitarian structure is precisely reflected in the earliest Christian proclamation. Paul speaks of Christ as reigning at the right hand of God, exercising cosmic authority, and ultimately subjecting himself to God. Hebrews portrays Christ enthroned at God’s right hand, commanding angelic homage, while Revelation depicts both the throne of God and the throne of the Lamb, illustrating a shared sovereignty. In this schema, one divine figure is supreme, while the second is exalted to a throne that is subordinate but still over all other divine powers. This reading harmonizes with the original gospel faith, in which both YHWH and the exalted lord are “great kings above all gods,” yet the first retains primacy and the second functions in willing subordination.

Later developments in rabbinic Judaism and Trinitarian Christianity reconfigure this earlier flexibility. Rabbinic authorities declare the “Two Powers in Heaven” heresy and insist on a strictly singular divine throne, while Nicene theology affirms the Son as co-equal with the Father, eliminating the voluntary subordination and two-throne cosmology implicit in the earliest Christian henotheistic worldview. Despite these later changes, the henotheistic framework of the Second Temple period allows the understanding that YHWH is the great King above all gods, while the exalted lord can sit at his right hand, also recognized as a great king above all gods, participating in cosmic authority under YHWH’s primacy. This provides a coherent reading of the original gospel confession, preserving the notion of shared, hierarchical kingship within a cosmos populated by divine beings.

Worded by AI, as prompted by Stephen D Green 

AI-generated Schematic of Development of Trinitarianism and Strict Monotheism

 1. OT & SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM — HENOTHEISTIC COSMOS

   • YHWH supreme among other divine beings

   • Divine council, angels, Satan, powers

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2. JESUS & PAUL (30–60 CE) — GOSPEL WITHIN HENOTHEISM

   • Jesus as exalted heavenly being

   • Cosmic powers real

   • No strict monotheism

   • Paul: “Another gospel = ANATHEMA”

   • John: “Deny the Son = ANTICHRIST”

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3. EARLY CHRISTIANS CONTINUE HENOTHEISM (70–120 CE)

   • Binitarian patterns

   • ‘Two Powers in Heaven’ still acceptable

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4. RABBINIC JUDAISM SUPPRESSES HENOTHEISM (120–200 CE)

   • Declares “Two Powers” heresy

   • Establishes strict monotheism

   • Directly counters Christian claims

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5. CHRISTIANS UNDER PRESSURE (180–300 CE)

   • Accused of ditheism (“two gods”)

   • Must defend monotheism

   • Subordinationism increasingly rejected

   • Start redefining Jesus’ status

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6. FORMATION OF TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE (325–381 CE)

   • Son = same essence as the Father

   • Spirit added as third person

   • New strict-monotheistic structure emerges

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7. FINAL RESULT: TRINITARIAN GOSPEL

   • Substantively different from Paul & John’s henotheistic gospel

   • Falls under their own ANATHEMA / ANTICHRIST warnings