Pre-Existence (Intro)

What does the Bible teach about pre-existence?  The first question we must ask ourselves is if a human being can pre-exist his existence.  Can a person have a beginning before they begin?

God has set certain rules, or laws, for this universe.  He did not set these parameters only to break them Himself or try to confuse His creation.  He created our brains and He did not intend for us to dismiss the obvious and simple concepts by saying, “it is a mystery,” or “you have to just believe blindly.”  In contrast, the Bible says that we can know and understand God by what has been made.  In addition, we can have greater understanding if we read the Bible since all that is written is for us so that we might believe.

Pre-Existence, Reincarnation, Or Miracle?

For this reason, unless you are Morman or believe in reincarnation, you should understand the Bible’s simple teaching about Jesus.

Jesus was miraculously created in the womb of Mary and started to exist AT THAT TIME.  He was created by God’s spirit, just as God created the world by His words.  Jesus had his beginning just like every other human being (except Adam and Eve), at conception.

The only difference, his conception was a miracle because there was no sperm.  Just like Adam and Eve did not have human parents, Jesus did not have a human father.  Adam and Eve were still human beings.  They were just miraculously created, and this did not take away from their humanity.

100% Human

God gave us the understanding as to what 100% means.  If you score 100% on a test, we all know that it means that you got them all right.  If there are 100 questions on an exam, you cannot score 110.  There are only 100 questions.

According to Merriam-Webster the definition of 100% is:  completely, entirely.  If to consider Jesus being 100% human, we understand that he is completely and entirely human and cannot be any percent anything else (before or after being human).  If he is truly 100% human, he cannot be any percent of anything else.  A person cannot be 100% human and 100% angel, God, or any other being  You have to be one or the other.

God’s Pre-Existent Plan

The only thing pre-existent with Jesus or any other human being is the plan God had for them before they came into existence.  The Bible says that God knew us before we were born.  This does not mean that we were with him before we were born.  He is God and He can know things before they happen.  This does not mean that He makes them happen before they happen.  He just knows they will.

Merriam-Webster defines something that is pre-existent as existing earlier or before.  So, if a person existed before they came into existence, that is an oxymoron!

Was Superman Human?

No.  Superman was not human, he was a Kryptonian, a fictional extraterrestrial race of humanoids.  Although he looked like a human, talked like a human and lived like a human, he was not a human being.  He could fly and humans cannot fly.  He was like humans in many ways, but he was not a human.

1 John Test Says No Pre-existence

^{We are told to test what we hear because there are many false prophets.  There is a spirit of truth and a spirit of error.  The spirit of error says that Jesus pre-existed, that is, he had an existence before he came into existence.  On the contrary, 1 John 4:2 tells us that Jesus was a human being (came in the flesh).}

By this, you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

The true Christ (Messiah) must be a human.  Since human beings do not exist before they come into existence, Jesus did not pre-exist.  If he were part God in any way (before his birth or after the resurrection) this would disqualify him as a human being.

Using the Mind God Gave Us

In order to understand the idea that Jesus pre-existed, one must lay aside the commonsense and understanding that God gave human beings.

God set this world in motion with certain rules and laws that govern everything.  He gave us a mind to understand who He is as Creator and who we are as His creation.  God is not a man (or even “man”) and man is not a God.

The Scriptures are simple if to read them with the mind and understanding that God gave us.  Fact:  There is a God.  He created the human race.  He chose one human from among many to be His Messiah to save the planet and mankind.  End of story.  Anything else is a myth.