Thanks for your elaborate response. I was roughly aware of how the Christian Bible took its shape but thanks for filling in some further details. However, I would disagree that Jesus was not "claiming he was God or God’s equal."

Gospel of John, accepted by Apostolic tradition and Gnostics alike (quoted and mentioned by Irenaeus and Ptolemy respectively), contains the famous phrases, "I and the Father are one" and "Before Abraham was, I am" that are clear declarations of equivalence with God (referring to Exodus 3:14). On top of it, when folks tried to stone Jesus for these claims because they perceived them as blasphemous, he quoted Psalm 82:6 ("I have said you are “gods”").

In Vedic tradition these pronouncements could be loosely associated with Mahavakyas, especially the pretty clear and straightforward, "I am Brahman" and "You are that".

Well, Jesus' position was rather unfortunate as he tried to bring Abrahamic tradition back to its original non-dual roots. There are traces (see link below) of a common ancestor of Zoroastrianism, Vedic Advaita, and Judaism and accounts of Abraham and Melchizedek clearly hint at the presence of such non-dual school of thought in the region.

https://senderspike.medium.com/from-animism-to-non-duality-c12eb05fb439

However, because priests, due to socioeconomic and political reasons, meanwhile transformed Judaism into a sort of legalistic henotheism, what Jesus attempted was at the time punishable by death (which also happened). Such status quo must have been quite convenient for the priestly elites because knowledge of non-duality is antithesis to religion and hierarchic society as such. It's also worth noting that he died "because of our sins" not "for our sins" (as per claims of substitutionary atonement theology).

https://senderspike.medium.com/wounded-because-of-our-sins-37a177ae5903

But that is merely a cherry on top of the whole cake because, while Jesus was definitely what we could call an "enlightened teacher", there is a serious doubt whether even any of his direct disciples (and certainly not Saul) reached enlightenment and entered the kingdom of God / Heaven. Even if they did, by the time of Irenaeus there was most probably no Christian with direct gnosis.

https://senderspike.medium.com/against-heresies-and-irenaeus-fdecb4272025