Christ, preexistence of?
General considerations:
- The doctrine of the "preexistence" of Christ depends almost entirely on one
book of the NT, John. Was John the only NT writer to understand this "truth", or
to be inspired in this matter? Other fundamental Bible teachings are found
scattered throughout the Bible. Could it be that John has been
misunderstood?
- Consider the contrast with Matt and Luke, where the
straightforward teaching is that Jesus began life as a little baby in a manger.
Cp Luk 1:32: "He SHALL BE great... SHALL BE called Son of the Highest", with Luk
2:11: "A Savior, which IS Christ the Lord."
- Did Jeremiah preexist (Jer
1:5)? Did John the Baptist preexist (Joh 1:6). Did the saints preexist (Eph
1:4)?
- Rev 13:8: "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world": But did
Christ die before the world began? Of course not. The language signifies only
that it was in God's plan from the beginning that His Son would in the future
die!
- 1Pe 1:19,20: "A lamb without blemish, foreordained before the
foundation of the world, but manifested in these last days": Foreordained in the
beginning, but not then actually formed!
- The idiom of John is not ordinary
English: consider, eg, "life... death" in 1Jo 3:14; "beneath... above" in Joh
8:23; "overcome the world" in Joh 16:33; etc. (Such language is not at all
common in the other gospels.)
- Consider Christ's plain human nature and his
sacrifice: How can that which is immortal become mortal? How could Jesus be
"tempted in all points like us his brethren" if he had the memory of life in
heaven? And how could an "eternal, preexistent god" actually die!?
- 1Co
15:46: "First natural, and then spiritual". And Christ was the firstfruits of
this process!
