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Bible Study Definition: The Pre-Existence of Christ/Scripture

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WalterandDebbie

Sabbath Overseer
Sunday 4-7-24 1st. Day Of The Weekly Cycle, Adar II Day 27 5784 20th. Day of Spring

Pre-existence is defined as “existence in a former state or previous to something else.” In the case of Jesus Christ, His pre-existence means that, before He became a man and walked upon the earth. The Bible not only explicitly teaches this doctrine but also implies this fact at various points throughout the Gospels and Epistles. In addition, Jesus’ own actions reveal His divine identity and, as a consequence, His pre-existence.

The pre-existence of Christ asserts the existence of Christ prior to his incarnation as Jesus. One of the relevant Bible passages is John 1:1–18

John 1

The Deity Of Christ

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

The Preincarnate Work Of Christ

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

The Rejection Of Christ

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

The Rejection Of Christ

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Incarnation Of Christ

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
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Several places in the New Testament explicitly teach Jesus’ pre-existence. Jesus said, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:5). This passage alone is sufficient to show that the Scripture supports Jesus’ pre-existence, but it is just one of many such passages.

Jesus Himself explicitly taught His own pre-existence (John 3:13; 6:33, 38, 62; 8:23; 16:28). Christ even said that He existed prior to Abraham’s birth (John 8:58–59) even though Abraham’s birth preceded Jesus’ own birth by many centuries! Several texts present Jesus as pre-existing with His Father (Romans 8:3; 1 John 1:2; Galatians 4:4). Several passages even identify Jesus as the Creator (John 1:2–3; Colossians 1:16–17; Hebrews 1:2).

How did Jesus Come Into Existence?​

Friday 12-30-22 6th. Day Of The Weekly Cycle, Tevet 6, 5783 10th. Winter Day

In roughly 735 B.C. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be born of a virgin (the name Immanuel means ‘God with us’), as well as pointing to his deity.
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
Cross-reference: Matthew 1:18, Matthew 1:24-25, Luke 1:35

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
Cross-reference: Luke 2:11
At roughly the same time, the prophet Micah not only prophesied the location of Jesus’ birth as being in Bethlehem but also that he would be of the tribe of Judah. Further, Micah also points to the deity of Christ.

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;

whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)
Cross-reference: Matthew 2:1, Matthew 2:4-6, Luke 2:4-7, John 7:42
The word for ‘origin’ is also used in Matthew 1:1. There, too, it refers to Jesus’ ancestry as being human – his origin because of his line of descent through David to Abraham. Yet logically Jesus only comes into actual existence at the end of that line --his conception.

People also ask
Why was Jesus called Jesus?Archaeologists have actually found the name carved into 71 burial caves in Israel, dating from the time the historical Jesus would have been alive. This leads to the question of why, if there were evidently so many men named “Yeshua” running around at the time, the name “Jesus” was used for the Messiah.

Why Yeshua Is Actually The Real Name Of Jesus - All That's Interesting

allthatsinteresting.com/yeshua-jesus-real-name
How did God come into being?The Bible says that He has always existed: ” . . . even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God” ( Psalm 90:2 ); and, “Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting” ( Psalm 93:2 ).

Matthew 1:1
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The genealogy of Christ according to the First Evangelist descends from Abraham through three series of fourteen members each; the first fourteen belong to the patriarchal order, the second to the royal, and the third to that of private citizens.

Genealogy Of Christ 1. Of the house and lineage of David. The Davidic ancestry of Jesus Christ is an accepted fact in the NT (Matt 21:9; Mark 10:47f.; Rom 1:3). Apart from the two genealogies in Matthew and Luke, little attempt is made elsewhere to emphasize this fact. It is presented rather as historical truth. Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, was “of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4). Along with other Jews of his time, Joseph treasured his family records.

Genealogical registers were kept with great care, because they figured in legal matters concerning property, marriage, and religion. Centuries ago, as in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, such lists were kept and supervised (Ezra 2:62; 8:1; Neh 7:5). In Joseph’s case, his membership in the line of David had Messianic overtones (Jer 23:5f.; Ezek 34:23).

(Matt 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38).

The slightest comparison of the two genealogies reveals striking differences, the most difficult of these is the fact that both lists trace their line through Joseph, despite the fact that almost none of the names from David to Joseph coincide. The apparent discrepancy between the lists has a lways constituted a severe problem to interpreters.

Love, Walter and Debbie
 
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Vis-à-vis Christ, Messiah—like Jesus/Yeshua depending on which language you prefer—I’d rather say that God the son noncarnate became Jesus, became Christ. Ie that Jesus, that Christ, did not pre-exist. He is what the trans-existing logos became, Jesus, not what Jesus became, Christ, or what Christ became, Jesus (Jhn.1:14). I discount the idea that beyond the creation God’s son is anointed, or at least that within creation God’s son was anointed prior to the incarnation. IMO the anointing, the messiahship, began with the incarnation, and that it was only the eternal son in his temporal incarnate mode, who was anointed, chrismed, set aside for a purpose. But as to Yeshua being the permanent outraying of the eternal uncreated son, I uphold Christ’s deificity. I am both a trinitarian and an incarnationalist.

On Is.7:14, I discount the notion that Isaiah had virgin birth in his mind, although as the LXX shows, παρθενος was a legitimate way to translate him. As such it was employed by Matthew and carried the fuller meaning of the prophecy. In Isaiah’s days, it was merely a normal birth of a lad who was non-deific, but whose birth functioned as a timeclock to Ahaz. Prophets don’t always understand prophecy (Mt.11:3). IMO for getting Is.7:14, Mt.1:25, and Lk.2:33, right, the ISV/‌NET/‌NRSV seem best: https://archive.org/details/the-words-gone-global-exploring-bible-versions-2017-231024 pp 128-33.

Do names pre-exist? When was Queen Elizabeth 2 born? On the one hand, in some contexts it’s fine to say that it was on April 21, 1926. But that conceals that she, as Elizabeth Alexandra Mary—the connecting link—was not born then as queen. She was born queen on February 6, 1952, the day King George 6 died. That nontechnical shorthand can speak of Jesus as one may speak of the logos noncarnate, I accept. Yet I prefer systematic theology: too much goes wrong unless worded aright.

Indeed his genealogy remains “a severe problem to interpreters”, in that a definite pin-down seems impossible, since data is lacking. D A Carson focused on two main ideas, diverging over whether Luke’s tree was Mary’s or Joseph’s. Then he focused on variations of the latter more probable idea, as if one tree were the natural, and the other the royal, in simple, that one shows a nonhereditary line which married into the hereditary line (Matthew (EBC), 2010:192-5; https://archive.org/details/virginbirthofchr0000mach_v9i7/mode/1up pp 207-8). These latter theories fit the evidence.
 
Luke 1:26-38 Gabriel announces to Mary that of Christ's birth through her as she found favor in God. This all came about before her and Joseph were married so Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus.

Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

Notice in this verse that only Mary is mentioned as normally people would say the son of Joseph and Mary. Jesus had four half brothers, James, Joses, Juda and Simon and some sisters, but it's not known how many sisters he had or what their names were. The reason they were all half brothers an sisters is because Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus.

Mary's descent comes through David's son Nathan, Luke 3:31. To fulfill God's promise to establish David's throne forever, God honored Nathan by making him the ancestor of the promised King (Messiah) who would sit on David's throne throughout eternity, Luke 1:31-33. Mary having no brothers to inherit the throne the inheritance would come to her first son being Jesus.

This is why God found favor only in Mary as still being a virgin before she married. Joseph descent from David was broken in being heir to the throne of David as one of his ancestors named Jeconiah (Coniah) was so evil God cursed him and his descendants from ever sitting on the throne of David, Matthew 1:11, 12; Jeremiah 22:24-30; 1 Chronicles 3:17. This doesn't mean that Joseph was evil, but means none of his children could ever sit on the throne of David.
 
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