Embraced  by  Truth . . .
                                    reflections on theology and life

Theology > Jesus > Incarnation > Preexistence of Christ


PREEXISTENCE OF CHRIST

The preexistence of Christ speaks of His existence before His manifestation in Bethlehem. Paul affirms that He is “the Lord from heaven” (I Cor. 15:47). The One who came to earth was originally in heaven clothed with the glory of God (Jo. 17:5). The One we know as Christ, the One we worship, did not begin in Bethlehem. That is not His beginning; in fact, He had no beginning. He is from eternity, without beginning—He is “Alpha”—the One “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8; 22:13).

From eternity He came into time; He who created all things assumed the being of a creature for the purpose of Revelation and Salvation. Christ Himself claimed prior existence; note the following quotes from the fourth gospel:

No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of man who is in heaven (Jo. 3:13);

I am the bread which came down from heaven (Jo. 6:41; see: v. 51);

What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before (Jo. 6:62);

For I know where I came from and where I am going (Jo. 8:14);

I am with the Father who sent Me (Jo. 8:16);

I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me (Jo. 8:42);

Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM (Jo. 8:58);

And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (Jo. 17:5).

To Nicodemus Jesus affirmed that He was from heaven: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven” (Jo. 3:13). As with other affirmations of Christ, there are only two options: acceptance or rejection; one either believes or does not believe (see: Significance of Truth). There is no middle ground. To accept Christ is to believe what Christ claims about Himself: He came from above and before He came He shared glory with the Father.

Paul refers to Christ as “the spiritual Rock that followed them [the nation of Israel]” (I Cor. 10:4), and affirms that before Christ appeared as a man, He was “in the form of God” (Phil. 2:6). To the Colossians Paul simply states that Christ is “before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Col. 1:18), and to the Galatians he writes: “When the fullness of time had come God sent forth His Son” (4:4).
The faith is articulated in the refrain to a Christmas hymn sung in the Orthodox Church: “A new-born child, God before the ages” (Romanos the Melodist, The Festal Menaion, 277).


Return to: Incarnation; Next Article: Affirming the Incarnation

For overview of THEOLOGY, see: Site Map - Theology
Copyright © Embraced by Truth
All rights reserved.
Materials may be freely copied for personal and academic use;
appropriate reference must be made to this site.
Links are invited.