First, read Isaiah 9.5 in the Septuagint:
because a child was born for us,
a son also given to us,
whose sovereignty was upon his shoulder,
and he is named Messenger of Great Counsel,
for I will bring peace upon the rulers,
peace and health to him
Now, read Galatians 4.14
Instead, you welcomed me as though I were an angel of God, as though I were Christ Jesus himself
So, Jesus was a messenger of God? Umm….
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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Was he Arian? My short answer: no! My long answer was published in the WUNT II series! Fee talks about this verse in his big book, and I add important wider contextual matters in my own. Hope to see you at SBL this year?