Christology and the concept of Christ's pre-existence in early Christianity

Christology

The Nature and Person of Christ

Christology is a field within the larger project of Christian theology that has as its central focus the continuing examination of the nature and person of Jesus Christ, Scholars in this field focus on the letters of the New Testament as well as the canonical gospels to help them determine the complexities of the relationship between Christ's person and his nature and how these connect with as well as differ from the nature and person of God the Father. Christology looks for evidence about the nature of God the Son by concentrating on every detail of both Christ's earthly life and the teachings that he shared with his followers. All of these different foci converge to help scholars -- and indeed all Christians -- to derive a clearer and more complete picture of who Christ was, what his teachings meant, and how Christ is involved in the salvation of individuals' souls.

The central questions of Christology have shifted from one generation and one century to the next, reflecting the changes in church doctrine as well changes in the larger society. During the Apostolic Age, Christology tended to focus on the writings of Saint Paul and Paul's advocacy for the idea of the pre-existence of Christ, an issue that is no longer central to Christian theology or scholarship.

However, at the time, the idea of Christ's pre-existence was one of the major touchstones of the Trinitarian doctrines of Christianity. The pre-existence of Christ was the literal belief that Christ had an ontological or fully realized personal existence of Christ before he was conceived in the body of Mary. Christologists (as well as other Christians who took the Trinitarian perspective) took as evidence of this pre-existence of Christ passages such as John 1:1-18. In these verses, Trinitarians argue Christ is clearly identified with the pre-existing hypostasis of the Word or the Logos:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him and cried out, 'This was he of whom I said, "He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me." ' From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

New Questions about Christ's Nature During the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages -- running roughly from the fifth century through the fifteenth -- saw a range of issues come to the fore in Christology. These centuries saw the debate turn not so much on finer theological points as had been the case earlier but rather on the fullness of Christ's nature and character vis-a-vis personal experiences of Christians. So, for example, one of the central debates was between Christ as a figure removed from the common person or as a newly configured tender-hearted Jesus, almost like a personal friend, an individual who would provide love and ongoing support and comfort throughout a Christian's lifetime (Astley, Brown, & Loades, 2009, p. 109).

Other issues that were central to Christology during the Middle Ages were a formalization of Christian theology through the work of Thomas Aquinas. His work to systemize questions of Christology and theology resolved many of the long-standing problems and contradictions about the teachings and nature of Christ that had been debated for centuries.

Modern Questions of Christology

The modern phase of Christology can be seen in essential ways as more ecumenical than the debates that dominated earlier eras in the church. Although Christendom is now so divided by sects and practices that even the idea of Christendom is barely sensible any more, there are strong convergences among Christian scholars about the most important current debates over the nature of Christ.

According to theologian Karl Rahner, modern Christology should and must focus on a clear understanding of the ways in which "God became man and that God-made-man is the individual Jesus Christ," an understanding that will be agreed-to by all members of the Christian community (Rahner, 2004, p. 755). Whether there could ever be this degree of agreement among 21st-century Christians is doubtful. However, given that most Christian scholars and so most of those focused on questions of Christology are from relatively closely aligned sects there is just a very small possibility that there will be more light than heat in this generation of Christologists.