Existence of Christ before his incarnation as Jesus
God resting after creation – Christ depicted as the creator of the world,Byzantine mosaic inMonreale,Sicily. Depictions ofGod the Father became prevalent only by the 15th century, and Jesus was often shown as a substitute before then.[1]
Thepre-existence of Christ asserts the existence ofChrist prior to hisincarnation asJesus. One of the relevantBible passages isJohn 1 (John 1:1–18) where, in theTrinitarian interpretation, Christ is identified with a pre-existent divinehypostasis (substantive reality) called theLogos (Koine Greek for "word" or "reason"). There arenontrinitarian views that question the aspect of personal pre-existence, the aspect of divinity, or both.
More particularly, John 1:15, 18 says:
John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”...No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
The pre-existence of Christ is a central tenet of mainstream Christianity. Most mainstream churches that accept theNicene Creed consider the nature of Christ's pre-existence as the divinehypostasis called theLogos or Word, described inJohn 1:1–18, which begins:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.
In Trinitarianism this "Logos" is also calledGod the Son or the second person of the Trinity. TheologianBernard Ramm noted that "It has been standard teaching in historic Christology that the Logos, the Son, existed before the incarnation. That the Son so existed before the incarnation has been called the pre-existence of Christ."[9]
Douglas McCready, in his analysis and defense of the pre-existence of Christ,[10] notes that whereas the pre-existence of Christ "is taken for granted by most orthodox Christians, and has been sinceNew Testament times",[11] during the past century the doctrine has been increasingly questioned byless orthodox theologians and scholars.[11]
James Dunn, in his bookChristology in the Making, examines the development of this doctrine inearly Christianity, noting that it is "beyond dispute"[12] that in John 1:1–18, "the Word is pre-existent, and Christ is the pre-existent Word incarnate,"[12] but going on to explore possible sources for the concepts expressed there, such as the writings ofPhilo.
Tertullian inAgainst Marcion Ch.21 sees a pre-existent appearance of Christ in thefiery furnace of one who is "like the son of man (for he was not yet really son of man)."[15] The identification of specific appearances of Christ is increasingly common inevangelical literature from the 1990s onwards. For example, W. Terry Whalin states that the fourth person in the fiery furnace is Christ, and that "These appearances of Christ in the Old Testament are known asTheophanies or 'appearances of God' ".[16]
According to theCatholic Church,Saint Augustine defined the Word as the eternal and perfect thought that God has of Himself, generated by the Father as a living and personal divine concept, which had no beginning and expresses God’s perfect self-knowledge. ForSaint John Damascene, the Word is the perfect and revealing image of the Father, eternally generated without separation, just as light generates the ray, and through Him God created the world and revealed Himself to humanity.Saint Thomas Aquinas described the Word as the divine concept generated by God’s knowledge of Himself, generating a Person consubstantial with the Father, eternal and the agent of creation, through whom God acts and communicates.[17][18][19]
According toThomas Aquinas, "the human nature" of Christ was created and began in time, where "the subsistent subject" is both uncreated and eternal.[20]
A clear idea of Christ's pre-existence is given inManichaean thought, where he is conferred the nameJesus the Splendour. Considered a divine being, he was believed to have been the entity to leadAdam into eating from theTree of Knowledge instead of the Devil (AKAPrince of Darkness) who, according to Manichaeism, actually wanted humanity to stay away from it so they would remain trapped in matter and never findgnosis. Likewise, Manichaeans associated Christ with theTree of Life and saw him as a holy emanation of theFather of Greatness.[21]
Some accept the pre-existence of Christ without accepting his full divinity in the Trinitarian sense. For example, it is likely thatArius and most early advocates ofArianism accepted the pre-existence of Christ.[22] However, Thomas Aquinas says that Arius "pretended that the Person of the Son of God is a creature, and less than the Father, so he maintained that He began to be, saying 'there was a time when He was not.'"[23]
Today, several nontrinitarian denominations also share belief in some form of the pre-existence of Christ, including theChurch of God (Seventh-Day) and theJehovah's Witnesses, the latter group identifying Jesus as thearchangel Michael,[26] interpretingJohn 1:1 by translating with the phrase "a god," rather than "God".[27] TheLatter Day Saint movement teaches Christ's pre-existence as the first and greatest of the spirit children of God the Father.[28]
Among the many churches which separated from theWorldwide Church of God, also referred to as the "Sabbatarian Churches of God" or, more pejoratively,Armstrongites, there is a shared belief inbinitarianism, and that Jesus was the God of the Old Testament through whom God the Father created the world (based on Ephesians 3:9 and John 1:1–3), and that it was Jesus Christ who personally interacted with Adam and Eve, Noah, the patriarchs, ancient Israel, and the kings and prophets of the Old Testament. It is held that in his incarnation, Jesus was sent to reveal the Father who was previously unknown. This is based on an interpretation of John 5:37, Luke 10:22, and by the large number of references Jesus made about the Father in the New Testament compared to the very few, almost figural references to God as Father in the Old Testament. This belief is also based on an interpretation of verses where Christ is believed to be discussing his personal presence in the Old Testament and interaction with ancient Israel, and on a Christological interpretation ofMelchizedek.[29]
Members ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement, believe that Jesus Christ (and all people) was a pre-existent spirit who then gained a physical body at birth. In that regard, neither Christ nor the spirits of all humans were actually “created” (D&C 93:29). They believe the spirits of all humans are the literal offspring of God the Father (Acts 17:29; Hebrews 12:9) and that His being is a permanently joined spirit and physical body, the same as the post-ascension Christ (D&C 130:22). They believe Christ to beJehovah of the Old Testament, who was in a spirit prior to birth by Mary (Ether 3:14-17). As the first fruits of the resurrection, through His divine redemption and resurrection, Christ will bring His followers into the same divine nature as He and His Father (2 Peter 1:3-4; Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 3:18; 4:4), to possess the same blessings and life they do. Church members refer to this asexaltation, the highest reward given to faithful followers of Christ (D&C 76:50-70, 94,95; 132:19). During the premortalgrand council where in the presence of all of God's pre-existent children, the pre-existent Christ (God the Son) was chosen by God the Father to fulfill His role as the Savior and Redeemer of all God’s creations (Abraham 3:22-28).
Church members believe the appearance of God the Father and Jesus Christ toJoseph Smith in 1820 (known as theFirst Vision) affirmed this doctrine. In 1830, the LDS Church was founded with Smith as itspresident and prophet. Since that time, the church'sprophets who succeeded Smith have taught and testified of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, His mission and role as Savior and Redeemer, including His pre-eminence and Godhood in pre-existence.
Oneness Pentecostals are nontrinitarianPentecostal Christians who do not accept the pre-existence of Christ as distinguished from God the Father, believing that, prior to the incarnation, only "the timeless Spirit of God (the Father)"[30] existed. Afterwards God "simultaneously dwelt in heaven as a timeless Spirit, and inside of the Son of God on this earth."[30] However, theUnited Pentecostal Church International, a large Oneness denomination, says in their statement of faith that "The one God existed as Father, Word, and Spirit" prior to the incarnation.[31]
Although Oneness Pentecostals accept that "Christ is the same person as God,"[30] they also believe that "The 'Son' was 'born,' which means that he had a beginning."[30] In other words, "Oneness adherents understand the term [Son] to be applicable to God only after the incarnation."[32] They have consequently been described as holding an essentially unitarian position on the doctrine,[33][34] and of denying the pre-existence of Christ.[35][36] However, some members of the movement deny this interpretation of their beliefs.[37]
Throughout history there have been various groups and individuals believing that Jesus' existence began when he was conceived.[38] Those who consider themselves Christians while denying the pre-existence of Christ can be broadly divided into two streams.
Second, there are those who also deny the virgin birth. This includesEbionites, and Unitarians, such asSymon Budny,Joseph Priestley,[44][45][46] andThomas Jefferson.[47][48] This view is often described asadoptionism, and in the 19th century was also calledpsilanthropism.Samuel Taylor Coleridge described himself as having once been a psilanthropist, believing Jesus to be the "real son ofJoseph."[49]Friedrich Schleiermacher, sometimes called "the father ofliberal theology",[50] was one of many German theologians who departed from the idea of personal ontological pre-existence of Christ, teaching that "Christ was not God but was created as the ideal and perfect man whosesinlessness constituted his divinity."[50] Similarly,Albrecht Ritschl rejected the pre-existence of Christ, asserting that Christ was the "Son of God" only in the sense that "God had revealed himself in Christ"[50] and Christ "accomplished a religious and ethical work in us which only God could have done."[50] Later,Rudolf Bultmann described the pre-existence of Christ as "not only irrational but utterly meaningless."[51]
InEastern Orthodox theology, the Old Testament titleAncient of Days, signifying God's eternal and uncreated nature, is commonly held to identify the pre-existence ofGod the Son. Most of the eastern Church Fathers who comment on the passage in Daniel (7:9-10, 13–14) interpreted the elderly figure as a prophetic revelation of the Son before his physical incarnation.[53] As such, Eastern Christian art will sometimes portray Jesus Christ as an old man, the Ancient of Days, to show symbolically that he existed from all eternity, and sometimes as a young man, or wise baby, to portray him as he was incarnate. Thisiconography emerged in the 6th century, mostly in theByzantine Empire with elderly images, although usually not properly or specifically identified as "the Ancient of Days."[54]
^George Ferguson, 1996Signs & symbols in Christian artISBN0-19-501432-4 page 92
^abCreation and Christology: A Study on the Johannine Prologue in the Light of Early Jewish Creation Accounts by Masanobu Endo 2002ISBN3-16-147789-8 page 233
^Thiessen, Matthew (2013). "'The Rock Was Christ': The Fluidity of Christ's Body in 1 Corinthians 10.4".Journal for the Study of the New Testament.36 (2):103–126.doi:10.1177/0142064X13506171.
^Dunn, James D. G. (1996).Christology in the Making: a New Testament inquiry into the origins of the doctrine of the Incarnation (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.ISBN978-0-8028-4257-2.
^At the following words: "I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Fatherbefore all ages." The expression "Before of all ages" means before the time and creation ofGenesis 1. Cf.Charles Lee Irons (29 September 2020)."The Only Begotten God. Eternal Generation in the Nicene Creed".Credo Magazine.19 (3).
^John Marshall,Locke, Socinianism, "Socinianism", and Unitarianism, from p. 111 in M. A. Stewart (editor),English Philosophy in the Age of Locke (2000),
^Richard G. Kyle,The Religious Fringe: A history of alternative religions in America, InterVarsity Press, 1993,ISBN0-8308-1766-2, p. 164: "They deny the preexistence of Christ."
^John Ankerberg and John Weldon,Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions: Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Mind Sciences, Baha'i, Zen, Unitarianism, Harvest House Publishers, 1999,ISBN0-7369-0074-8, pp. 366–387: "their denial of the pre-existence of Christ"
^Eckhard J. SchnabelEarly Christian Mission: Paul & the early church 2004 Page 1041 "A Christian community is documented for Bostra for a.d. 250 at the latest: Eusebius mentions Beryllos, the "bishop [episkopos] of the Arabs in Bostra," who denied the preexistence of Christ and who was the subject of discussion at a synod in..."
^Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Trinity > Unitarianism: "ThisRacovian Catechism identifies the God of Israel with the Father of Christ... Both the Trinity and the doctrine of two natures (divine and human) in Christ are argued to be both contradictory and unsupported by the Bible. It is argued that Christ is a man who did not pre-exist his miraculous conception in Mary, though he's denied to be 'merely' a man, but affirmed to be the unique Son of God, the Messiah, worthy of worship and a proper recipient of prayer."
^J. BiddleA Twofold CatechismArchived 12 June 2011 at theWayback Machine, Chap. 4: "How was Jesus Christ born?" as well as "How many Lords of Christians are there, by way of distinction from the one God?" and "Doth the Scripture avouch Christ to be the Son of God because he was eternally begotten out of the Divine essence; or for other reasons agreeing to him only as a man?"
^Lardner N.Letter on the Logos (1759) in The works of Nathaniel Lardner in five volumes, Volume 5, pp. 380–3.Online: "All these texts seem to me sufficient to satisfy us, that by 'the Word,' which St. John says, 'was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God,' he does not mean a being separate from God, and inferior to him, but God himself, or the wisdom and power of God, which is the same as God, even the Father, who alone is God, nor is there any other." as well as "Jesus is the Son of God, upon account of his miraculous conception and birth. Luke i. 31–35." (pp. 82–3).
^Alan Hayward,Did Jesus Really Come Down from Heaven?, pamphlet from the Christadelphian Auxiliary Lecturing Society, 1975: "The third view is held by Christadelphians and some others. According to this view Jesus did not live personally in heaven before he was born on earth; and the verses which refer to his heavenly origin must be understood figuratively.... The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ was the result of a mighty miracle. His mother was a young unmarried woman of excellent character. She was a virgin."
^Joseph PriestleyAn history of early opinions concerning Jesus Christ 1786 Volume 3 Chapter 3 "Of the Conduct of our Saviour himself, with respect to his own supposed Pre-existence and Divinity." p. 64: "He never told his disciples that he had pre-existed, or that he had had any thing to do before he came into the world; much less that he had made the world"The Corruptions of Christianity.
^Sanford, Charles B.The religious life of Thomas Jefferson 1984 p. 112 "The question of the virgin birth occupied a good part of Priestley's book The Corruptions of Christianity [1782]. The account of the miraculous birth of Christ is only found in the first chapters of Matthew and Luke. Priestley suggested that the earliest copies of Matthew and Luke did not have these introductions..."
^Priestley, J., 1791c [1783], A General View of the Arguments for the Unity of God; and against the Divinity and Pre-Existence of Christ; from Reason, from the Scriptures, and from History, in Tracts. Printed and Published by the Unitarian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue. Vol. 1, London: The Unitarian Society, pp. 179–214. [Reprint: in Three Tracts by Joseph Priestley, Morrisville, North Carolina: Lulu.com, 2007.]
^Smith, Gary ScottFaith and the Presidency: From George Washington to George W. Bush 2006 p. 463 "In his letter to Priestley, Jefferson identified four possible views of Christ's person: "a member of the God-head," "a being of eternal pre-existence," "a man divinely inspired," "the Herald of truths reformatory of the religions of mankind." He argued that all views of Jesus should be tolerated but clearly preferred the latter." (Smith truncates the original final sentence: "the religions of mankind [in general, but more immediately of that of his countrymen.]")
^Steven WaldmanFounding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America 2008 p. 72 "In 1819, he started over and created a new version called 'The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth,' often referred to now as theJefferson Bible. In Jefferson's version, Jesus was not divine. The virgin birth – gone."
^Samuel Taylor Coleridge,Biographia Literaria, Volume I (1817), Chapter 10: "For I was at that time and long after... yet a zealous Unitarian in religion; more accurately, I was a Psilanthropist, one of those who believe our Lord to have been the real son of Joseph"[2] Later, however, Coleridge changed his mind (Chapter 24): "But this I have said, and shall continue to say: that if the doctrines, the sum of which I believe to constitute the truth in Christ, be Christianity, then Unitarianism is not, and vice versa."[3]
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