Refining the original title while retaining the essential product keywords and omitting unnecessary details, here is the revised title: Jesus Made God: The Corruption of the Gospel

The original gospel of the first Christians diverged significantly from later theological developments, particularly the doctrine that Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity. Kermit Zarley's book, "The Gospel Corrupted: When Jesus Was Made God," serves as a concise precursor to his comprehensive work, "The Restitution: Biblical Proof Jesus Is Not God," delving into this historical shift.

Zarley, a former Trinitarian, recounts his 28-year exploration of Jesus's identity, sparked by passages like the Olivet Discourse where Jesus implies limitations to his knowledge. His research led him to affirm much of traditional Christian doctrine regarding Jesus, except the assertion of his deity. Central to Zarley's argument is the assertion that the New Testament gospel, crucial for salvation, does not proclaim Jesus as God but rather emphasizes his lordship, sacrificial death for humanity's sins, and resurrection by God.

A pivotal chapter in Zarley's book examines Acts, highlighting a conspicuous absence: despite 24 evangelistic messages or summaries attributed to disciples like Peter and Paul, there is no explicit declaration of Jesus as God. This absence, Zarley argues, indicates a fundamental divergence between the original gospel preached by Jesus's immediate followers and the later doctrinal developments of church fathers influenced by Greek philosophy.

Zarley contends that these later theologians departed from Jewish monotheism, reshaping the gospel to fit philosophical constructs of divine plurality. This departure, according to Zarley, corrupted the essence of the original gospel message, substituting Jesus's exalted Lordship with a doctrine of his deity as part of a triune Godhead.

In essence, Zarley's work challenges the theological evolution that occurred after the early Christian era, presenting a critical analysis of how and why the concept of Jesus's deity became entrenched in Christian orthodoxy despite its purported absence in the foundational teachings of Jesus and his disciples. By focusing on Acts and the recorded evangelistic messages, Zarley builds a case that the early gospel message, which emphasized Jesus's role as Lord and Savior, was altered over time to introduce the notion of his divine nature.

Ultimately, Zarley's thesis invites readers to reconsider the historical context and theological motives behind the development of the doctrine of the Trinity and Jesus's deity, urging a return to what he posits as the original, unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ preached by his apostles—a message centered on Jesus as Lord and Savior, whose sacrificial death and resurrection provide redemption, rather than as God incarnate.

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