Preexistence of Christ

Pre-Existence Christ The Pre-Existence of Christ The pre-existence of Christ is the central tenant of Christianity. This paper will review the pre-existence of Christ including supporting views and arguments against the pre-existence of Christ, proving that Christ did exist before His incarnation. Christ existed before the dawn of ages; he was not an afterthought in the mind of God, but rather, always was, and ever will be, as stated in the scriptures.

To think otherwise would be heretical; such a statement is counter to every doctrine ever derived from the Gospels. For centuries humankind has debated the origins of life; Christianity however, has supported the notion that life stems from Christ, and Christ comes from God, as the only manifest Son of God.

Christ confirms this, as stated and proved in the book of John when Christ says,[footnoteRef:1] "And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Christ is the substantive reality, the Divine essence from which the world was formed according to the doctrine of the Trinity, which suggests that Christ is the Logos, the Word, or the existence of Christ before his actual conception.

The biblical passages written by John 1:1-18 clearly prove that Christ is the pre-existent Logos, the Word, according to what some refer to as the Trinitarian vantage. [1: John 1:1-18 KJV. Christ is identified with the pre-existent divine hypostasis called Logos.] Trinity and Pre-Existence The Trinity is the belief that the Godhead exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It lays the foundation for the pre-existence of Christ, stating that Christ existed before the world was formed.

In God's omnipotence, and all-knowing which laid the foundation for all things, God pre-formed Christ, and new that He was, even before He was (Farnell, 1998). This is clearly stated in the scriptures, and is described in terms of Christ being the Word, the Logos of all there is. The Trinitarian view as some call it, states: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made[footnoteRef:2]. [2: John 1:1-4] Other scriptures supporting this belief include Genesis 3:13-15 (Burt, 2006: Farnell, 1998). Burt (2006; 1996) and many others (Roy, 1963; Moon & Reeve, 2002) note that the belief in a "one living and true God, and three persons in the Godhead" is essential to the truth of the pre-existence of Christ. There are many places in scripture that speak of Christ as Lord.

He reflects the word and wishes of the Father, because He is from the Father, created by the Father, came from the Father from the beginning of ages. This is reflected in other theology, as in the Nicene Creed.

There are some religions through time that have broken from mainstream to suggest that the man Christ was a man alone, divinely inspired, but these have lost the central tenants of truth, which one can see if they examine scripture closely, suggest only that Christ is God, comes from God, and pre-existed within God and from God, with all of the powers of God to do the things that God inspired by covenant with His people from love.

Without this belief, Christianity cannot exist, and the authority of Christ in God would have absolutely no power. The authority of Christ would be essentially defunct, useless, usurped by untruths and mythological beliefs, much like any other false or impure religious belief. This is why pre-existence is such an important tenant of the Christian faith, and is much more than a belief or idea to be upheld. Without it, Christianity would fail miserably.

Without it, atonement would not exist, salvation would not come, and the Logos and Word would not exist. The pre-existence of Christ is the central foundation of Christianity. It is the foundation on which the church stands. Without this belief, the atoning work of the cross comes into question. The pre-existence of Christ has been taught since the early Church, since approximately A.D. 33, the time of the earliest churches.

It has been re-affirmed during the New Testament; the acceptance of this premise affects all of Christology and the understanding of central premises of Christianity. The traditional teaching of Christianity rest on the notion that Christ existed before he incarnated into the man Jesus Christ. God the Son is the second person of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Trinity. Without the pre-existence of Christ, the incarnation of God into Christ Jesus could not occur, nor could the salvation of humankind.

The covenant created on the Old Testament could not have occurred, nor could the salvation come into full force. God new of the pre-existence of Christ well before Christ incarnated. Christ was formed in the mind of God before Jesus became the deity Jesus Christ. This is clearly established in Old and New Testament scriptures. To argue otherwise would be heretical and counter to all written in scripture. This is one of the primary reasons pre-existence of Christ is so critical and central to scripture and Christology.

The most famous passage quoted is that of Bernard Ramm (1993) "It has been standard teaching in historic Christology that the Logos, the Son, existed before the incarnation." This is the pre-existence of Christ (p. 47). Among other texts and scriptures used to support this thesis includes John 14, 8:58, Corinthians 8:6, Hebrews 1:2 and others. According to Ramm, the expression of the pre-existence of Christ refers to the idea that Jesus was never an afterthought in the mind of God; he was also something God planned for the eternity of humanity (Ramm 47).

This is an important concept because it affirms the notion that Jesus is not a mythological creature or leader, much like many of the heroes of times past. Rather, Jesus is God; he came into the world by choice, and came into the world as planned from the beginning of creation. He was not introduced because of a cultural influence, or because of a particular situation, but because He is God and the Almighty, because of the humanity (Elert, 1960, 2003; Ramm, 1993).

Pre-Existence and New Testament There was no question in Jesus mind regarding His pre-existence. There are many instances in the New Testament where Paul, John and other authors affirmed the pre-existence of Christ. These writers understood the importance of the pre-existence of Christ. In the Gospel of John, Jewish leaders argue with Jesus, interrogating him regarding his authority. They question him regarding his identity, asking him who he is.

He states, "Before Abraham, I am." He states his own divinity, putting himself equivalent to God, using the same terms that God used when speaking with Moses in Exodus 3:14, when god states to Moses that he should say to the sons of Israel when they question Moses regarding who sent him, that he shall state, "I AM" hath sent him[footnoteRef:3] (McCready 1997).

Jesus recognized in His own pre-existence, as did the people around him, whether or not they accepted it, as the Jewish leaders did, although they felt threatened, as they did, by demanding he be stoned. [footnoteRef:4] [3: John 8:58 "Ego eimi" I am, also Exodus 3:14, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am sent me to you…] [4: Bradley, Delon. Liberty Baptist; Knox, John, 1967. The humanity and divinity of Christ: A study of Pattern in Christology.

p.10] There are many passages in John affirming Jesus' pre-existence, as in Paul; affirming statements that state "All things came into being through Him…" and "For by Him all things were created."[footnoteRef:5] It is clear that there is nothing in the world existed before Christ, or that was without Christ. Much of the bible clearly states that God offered his own son as atonement, as a sin offering for our own sins.

Looking back to the Old Testament, God metaphorically asks if humankind would do the same as a token of loyalty to God. Consider Abraham for example, when asked if he would give his own son, Isaac, to God as an offering, a sign of his loyalty. At the last moment, angels rush in to hold his hand. But, because Abraham is willing to do this, all of Abraham's descendants receive the gifts of Christ. This divine act is a momentous occasion, linked to God's own love for his people.

There are many common themes linked to God's grace and justification, attributes that are similar to Christ. [5: Reference back to John 1:3 again, and cross-reference to Col. 1:16, Bruce 1990.] Opposing Views to Pre-Existence There are some that oppose the view of Christ as pre-existence. Many of these hold a view of enlightenment. Many who disbelieve the truth of pre-existence state that Christ's pre-existence is mythology, and state that this is an idea in the mind of god. Some state the only the spirit of God lived before Christ, made in the flesh.

Others believe that God the Son was born on the earth, making a certain time frame of existence for Christ the man on earth. This limits the ability and atonement for Christ on earth. This also makes Jesus to be a God-filled or spirit filled man rather than God incarnated as man on earth. This disqualifies pre-existence, and nullifies the power of God on earth. Some state that a humanitarian Christ cannot exist if he is pre-existent, because both cannot exist at the same time[footnoteRef:6].

This idea supposes however, that all things are not possible with god however, and supposes that the Trinity of God is not possible. This weakens the power of the Almighty and limits the power of God to one or the other, which discredits the entire bible. If you limit god to a box, then you have a box-like God who is limited in power and authority. Then you limit all of Christianity.

This idea in itself should discredit Knox and all of his supporters or anyone that attempts to limits the all-Almighty who can do anything, according to the bible and historically, according to all of Christianity. [6: Knox, John. The Humanity and Divinity of Christ.] Jesus Disciples Perhaps there is no better testimony to Christ's pre-existence than that of his own disciples, John and Paul, and many others.

In the epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians, Paul discusses the preeminence of Christ: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are of heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions of principalities or powers all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consists.

And He is the head of the body, the church, which is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell."[footnoteRef:7] [7: Col. 1:15-18] This suggests that Christ was pre-existent and preeminent, meaning that he was supreme to all others, before all others, and created before all others, he created all others, and all other things were created in Him and by Him.

The earliest disciples recognized this, and taught about this. If the earliest teachers of the scripture taught this, than how can later church leaders argue otherwise? In Christ dwells the fullness of the Godhead; Paul focuses the attention of the church back on Christ, where it should be, noting the supremacy of Christ, showing that He is the firstborn of all creation, noting that he existed before all creation, and that all other philosophy is destructive in nature.

It is destructive not only to mankind, but also to the church and to Christology. All other desires are selfish and take away from the Lordship of Christ. This idea is further emphasized in Thessalonians where Paul continues saying "God from the beginning chose you for salivation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth."[footnoteRef:8] Only a pre-existent and pre-eminent Christ and God could choose humankind from the beginning and illuminated truth from the beginning of time to the end and from then on.

Christ's name is above all names, exalted in heaven, and exalted above all names on earth, and every tongue is asked to confess the name of Jesus Christ. These are truths that are expanded on in the bible; in Philippians 2:9-11, in Colossians, in Thessalonians, in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. [8: Thessalonians, 2:13, 15] Christ himself recognizes his Father and himself as the Divine Godhead. There are many places in the bible where Christ's authority is questioned.

He never once however, questions authority, because He knows authority comes from the Father, and He knows of His pre-existence in the Father, and from the Father. Christ asks the disciples why they do not recognize the Father in Him. He often tires of this line of questioning, and this is often the cause of conflict and man's doubt of righteousness and worthiness. This is why man can only be made right through Christ.

Christ knows that the people are not righteous, and cannot recognize the Father because they do not know Him. That is why the Father sent him, to redeem the righteous, and to forgive sins. Only the Father has the ability to forgive sins. If Christ did not exist from the beginning of time, as part of the Godhead, could he forgive sins? As an all-knowing deity, he could predict his resurrection and atonement, and follow the wishes of the Father.

Conclusions Christ pre-existed with God; He is the Word, the Logos that was and is in the beginning, in the end, and in the everlasting. There is no belief contrary to this; the only other beliefs that exist are mythological beliefs that usurp the power of the Almighty God. Any other belief contrary to the Trinitarian belief is heretical, or mistaken. The affirmation of the pre-existence of Christ affirms that Christianity is the truth, that Christ is the Logos, the Word, and that He existed in the beginning, with God.

It is the one true faith founded by the Father, as stated in the bible, in Genesis, and in the Gospels of Christ. This is one reason it is so critical to understand the pre-existence of Christ, especially if one is to evangelize and to understand the foundation of the Christian faith. If one cannot support the pre-existence of Christ, than one cannot support the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Cupitt (1979) and others do make good points in noting that interpretation is everything.

There has never been 100% agreement regarding interpretation with regard to the bible. There are still those that agree that in deed, Jesus holds the Divine authority of God, yet is not God. One can debate hours on this concept; who is correct; two thousand and more words may be written. One can only conclude that one that has within them the spirit of God is indeed made up of God, and therefore is.

God's ability to be omnipresent, to exist before man and within all creation, cannot exist without the fundamental belief in.