The pre-existence of Christ
An important part of the false Doctrine of the Trinity is the idea of the “pre-existence of Christ”. This teaches that Christ existed in Heaven with God the Father, and was sent to earth by God as His Son to become the Savior of mankind. If this is so, then Christ existed before or previous to the time that he was born of Mary. We have discussed this doctrine briefly in the last article, in connection with the Son ship of Christ.
This is a subject in which it is possible to be saying similar things in different words. So let us remind ourselves of the charge to “avoid disputing about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers” (2 Tim 2:14). We will try to use Biblical terms and words as much as possible. Also, let us acknowledge that the birth of the Son of God is a unique event, outside ordinary human experience. Therefore there are bound to be things about this event which are difficult or impossible for our limited human minds to understand. To put it another way, Jesus is the only Son of God. There is no other. So again, we cannot fully understand what it was like for him and how he did what he did. However, the Bible is a message given by God for us to understand. So let us try to see what it is saying to us, and neither add to it, or subtract from it.
He came in the flesh
We are commanded to acknowledge the coming of Jesus in the flesh as a Son (1John 2:22; 4:2,3; 2John 7). His flesh was made the same as ours for a purpose. That purpose was so that he could, through his death, destroy the power of sin and death. Therefore “he himself likewise partook of the same” nature as men and women, flesh and blood (Heb 2:14). Now Jesus was one person; he was not partly Son of God, and partly Son of Man; he was both at once in one person, just as we are a child of both our father and our mother. He came in the flesh as Son of God as well as Son of Man. We cannot say that some things about him are due to his flesh and some other things are due to some other part of him. He was the Word made flesh. All of God’s plan was being carried forward in him.
Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:31-35). From that point on, we are not informed of anything unusual about her bearing of him or of his early development except, “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40). The fact that he never sinned, even as a child, indicates the wisdom (wise tendencies) referred to in the quotation, was what he had as Son of God. On the other hand, the text doesn’t go beyond this. A child who was quick to learn, and a good person is described.
Able to be tempted
Having come in the same flesh1as we have, he was tempted (Heb 2:17-18; Matt 4:1-11) like we are and could have sinned. If it wasn’t possible for him to sin, he couldn’t be tempted and he wasn’t in the flesh. And he couldn’t have gained the sympathy and understanding which he has for us and our temptations, if he wasn’t really in the flesh. James tells us that, “God cannot be tempted” (James 1:13). Comparing Scripture with Scripture in this way shows immediately that Christ was not God because Christ was tempted.
But Jesus was in the flesh and there were other things for him to experience besides temptation. Like an ordinary human child, one of his most important activities was to learn; increase in knowledge (John 5:19- 20; Luke 2:46), increase in wisdom (Luke 2:52) and learn about life and how to cope with it and still be completely obedient to his Father. “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Heb. 5:8). So, on the one hand, we see his childhood as almost within the scope of an exceptionally bright and obedient child of ordinary human parents (but beyond it in that he never sinned). On the other hand, he had to learn obedience to his Father. Thus there was nothing about his childhood (or early life) that indicates or requires that he had “pre-existed”.
And having to learn, especially having to learn obedience, is inconsistent with his having “pre-existed”. There would be no meaningful connection between the Jesus Christ in the flesh, and a pre-existent Christ in Heaven if Jesus Christ in the flesh had no awareness or memory of a pre-existent Christ in Heaven and didn’t remember anything about a previous existence. If he did have awareness and remembrance of a previous eternal existence, then there could be no need for learning anything, especially obedience. Heb 5:9 tells us that Jesus was perfected. In the Bible, this has the meaning of becoming complete. The things which Jesus learned made him complete in God’s eyes. The things that he learned were not trivial. They were necessary in order for him to become our Savior.
Avoid man’s reasoning
Jesus was in the mind of God before the creation. He was the Son of God. These things are what are revealed in the Scriptures. Was there some further way in which he was influenced because he was the Anointed Savior sent by God? Is there some way he was influenced which we are not told about in the Scriptures? Possibly, but we should base our beliefs on the Scriptures, not on speculation, not on the ideas, theories, and reasoning of men. We especially should avoid the influence of human philosophy, originally developed by pagans.
Those who think of Jesus as God come down to earth really do not give him credit for what he accomplished. God, who has all power and strength, would have no difficulty with temptation and no fear of death. Jesus, born a man of the same flesh as we, overcame temptation and all the weakness of the flesh, including the fear of death. He obeyed his Father’s command to lay down his life for us even though he did not deserve to die, having never sinned. He is thus the greatest man who has ever lived, the Son of God.
To summarize, the facts that Jesus was subject to temptation, and that he had to learn, among other things, obedience, rule out the idea that he existed previous to his birth. These are just not the characteristics of a divine being who has already existed eternally. James spells out for us what we should realize for ourselves, “God cannot be tempted” (James 1:13).
Arguments for the doctrine
Having considered some of the Scriptural problems with the idea of the “preexistence” of Christ in this study and in the previous ones, let us now consider some of the Scripture used to support it, beginning with the Old Testament.
First, Gen 1:26. The fact that God said, “Let us make man in our image”, using plural pronouns, is thought by those who argue for the pre-existence to show that God and Christ worked side by side to create man. The Hebrew word translated God in the first five chapters of Genesis is always “elohim” or mighty ones (a plural word). “Mighty ones” is a good description of the angels: “Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!” (Psa 103:20 ESV). Thus it is reasonable to think of the above verse as referring to the association of the angels with the Father in the work of creation. Elohim is translated “angels” in Psa 8:5, at least in the KJV, “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels..”. The writer of Hebrews quotes this passage and renders elohim as “angels” (Heb 2:7).
“God” in the Old Testament is usually from “elohim”, though not always. Now, it should go without saying, that the angels are not God. But, as we brought out when discussing the revealing of God in previous articles, many places in the Old Testament where God is spoken of, it is clearly angels speaking and acting for God. This was necessary because of God it is said “no man has seen or can see [Him]” (1Tim.6:16). So, it is quite reasonable to assume that plural pronouns are used in Gen 1:26 because the angels were involved in the creation. In light of the reasons to believe that Christ did not pre-exist, this view is the best interpretation of the passage.
We will discuss angels further in connection with the next passage, Gen 18:1 – 19:1. We are told that the LORD (Yahweh) appeared to Abraham, who saw three “men”. Later, two of them go on to Sodom, and we are told in 19:1 that they are angels. The LORD remains and talks with Abraham. Those who believe in “pre-existence” contend that the LORD is Christ. There is no basis for this in the Scripture itself, but let us think about the matter a little further by considering the Divine Name, Yahweh. This name was declared to Moses as recorded in Exodus 3. In vs. 2, we are told “the angel of the LORD [Yahweh] appeared to him”. Next, “God called to him”, and among other things, declared to him that the Name of God is Yahweh (vs 14, “I Am Who I Am”, or , “I Will Be Who I Will Be”).
Angel delivered message
It is clear from Exod 23:20-23 and Acts 7:30-38 that the angel who appeared in the burning bush, Exod 3:2, also delivered the message (made the pronouncement, Exod 3: 6, 13-14). The angel spoke for God in the name of Yahweh. In Exod 23:20-23, Moses was told, “my Name [Yahweh] is in him” (the angel being sent “before you”). In Acts 7:35, Stephen tells us that God sent Moses “as both ruler and deliverer by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush.” So the Lord who appeared to Moses and to Abraham was an angel representing or “manifesting” God. If it were Christ that appeared to them, Stephen would certainly have made that plain in his comment regarding the appearance to Moses.
The next passage sometimes used to support “pre-existence” is Dan 10:4-6, where the prophet has a vision of the appearance of a being who appeared very similar to the vision which the Apostle John had of Christ in Rev 1:12- 16. The contention is that Christ appeared to Daniel, and that therefore he existed at the time. First, Daniel repeatedly says that this was a vision (vs. 7-8), weakening the assumption that this was some sort of literal appearance of Christ. Second, there are many connections between Daniel and Revelation. Many of the elements of the beasts in his visions in chapters 7 and 8 are used extensively in Revelation 12, 13, and 17. The prophecies in Revelation are more detailed versions of those in Daniel, or the giving of a later phase or recurrence of the same type of activity. Daniel was given revelations of the future, and this passage in chapter 10 is such a revelation. Moses and the Jews were also given revelations about Christ in the form of the Tabernacle, the Mercy Seat, the altars, and the sacrifices. These were also prophecies of Christ, as are many other parts of the Old Testament. There is thus a great variety of ways in which Christ was prophesied, and Daniel’s vision is one of these many. There is no indication that Christ actually appeared and so no support in Daniel 10 for the pre-existence of Christ.
New Testament passages
Turning now to the New Testament, let us consider Paul’s exhortation to humility in Phil 2:5- 11. The key passage relative to our study is in vs. 5-6, “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God” (ESV). The question is whether “in the form of God” refers to a previous existence or has some other meaning. There is reason to believe that this passage is a quotation of an early hymn. The NIV and the Jerusalem Bible indicate this by setting it out in the form of a poem, as is done with the Psalms. When this is done, the parallelism between “the form of God” in vs. 6, and “the form of a servant” in vs. 7 becomes very apparent. It thus helps us to understand the first by considering the second.
So then, in what sense did Christ take “the form of a servant”? The thrust of the passage is that he had the humility of a servant (and in this is, as always, our supreme example to follow) and was willing to humbly serve his Father. He took on the place of a servant (Luke 22:27). In John 13, Jesus explains the statement of Luke 22:27. By washing the disciple’s feet, Jesus shows how they should serve one another. He explains in vs. 13-14, “You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” He had acted as a servant, but he was their Lord.
We see that “in the form” does not mean “nearly identical with” but rather perhaps “resembling in some (important) ways”. Thus, Jesus being in the form of God means that during his ministry, he was like God in very important things about him. This is brought out elsewhere as in 2Cor 4:4, “Christ, who is the likeness (NASB – image) of God.”, and Heb 1:3, “He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature”. Christ bears the stamp of God’s nature, being the Son of God. A son resembles his father, but is not identical to Him, and in the Bible, is never equal to Him.
Him only shall you serve
Christ’s role as servant of his Father is brought out clearly in his temptation at the beginning of his ministry, (Matt 4:1-11). Each temptation begins with an appeal to his status as Son of God: “If you are the Son of God”. This might be paraphrased, “If you are in the form of God”. Christ ends the matter with a quotation about serving God: “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve”, vs 10, quoted from Deut 6:13-14. Thus Christ assumed the role of servant to man, but he is mankind’s Lord. He, like all of us, is a servant of God, and is subject to God. Chapters 42, 49, 50, and 53 of Isaiah tell us that the Messiah is God’s servant. See also Acts 3:26, 4:27, 30 in modern Bible versions.
Returning to Phil 2:6-11, the passage is now clear. The Son of God did not reach for equality with his Father, but served in the role of servant of God, and of Lord and servant of mankind perfectly. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name which is above every name”. God has exalted and bestowed! There is no hint here of the restoration of a glory which Christ had before. The sense of the passage is that Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh as Son of God, and as Son of Man, has been exalted from the flesh, and from his role as servant of man, to immortality and divine Lordship of all.
“That Rock Was Christ”
“For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1Cor 10:4), is clearly symbolism. Few would claim that a pre-existent Christ took the form of a rock. At the end of 1Cor 9, Paul is using symbolic runners or athletes to teach us how we should exercise personal discipline in all parts of our life to strengthen our spirits in faith and obedient service. He is leading up to an exhortation about idolatry (which begins in 1Cor 10:7). Athletes cannot “worship idols” such as lots of rich food or a perfect home and grounds, which interfere with their dedication and preparation for the race that they want to win. He then gives a lesson in symbolism (10:1-6) which helps the reader to understand the symbol of preparation for a race. In 10:4, he is also giving a hint to understand the important symbolism of Exod 17:6-7 and Numb 20:7-13. The striking of the rock to give water was a symbol of the crucifixion of Christ to give life. There is no indication that Christ was actually present, nor is there any reason to think so.
In the next article, we will consider subjects including the meaning of the world being created through Christ, Christ being subject to God, and more about Christ being a created person.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One