Nothing really changes

He [Edwin Lewis, Methodist theologian from the mid-20th century] stood up and said, “Now, I can divide you right down the middle on one question. Your answer to that question will tell me whether you have a gospel to preach or not, and that question is this: Was Jesus the son of Mary who became the Son of God? Or was He the eternal Son of God who became the son of Mary? And if you go with the first, you have no gospel because there is nothing saving that is in us. Salvation is in God and in God alone. So if Jesus emerged out of us, He can do nothing more for us than we can do for ourselves. But if He came to us out of the nature of the eternal Deity, then He can do for us what only God can do.”— Lectures in Old Testament Theology, page 54

<idle musing>
Did he just read Ehrman's new book? Oh wait, he said that in the 1950s...nothing really changes, does it?
</idle musing>