John and Jewish Preexistence: Christology of the Fourth Gospel

The Gospel of John has been a hotbed of arguments, disputes, and disagreements ever since it was composed some two thousand years ago. Even now, modern preachers and theologians have become accustomed to interpreting the Fourth Gospel to the exclusion of the voices represented in its Synoptic counterparts, often going so far as pitting John’s christology directly against what is taught in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. More to the point, christological treatments of John’s Gospel are regularly detached from the vital and necessary context of the Jewish mindset in which the author lived and breathed. The unfortunate side effect of such interpretations results in expositors preferring their reading of the christological texts in John over and against the other voices in the Bible. The historian Roger Haight states that this observation is not simply a modern phenomenon, noting that, “[a]fter the New Testament period, the understanding of Jesus Christ became governed by the framework and language of the Prologue of John’s Gospel. The Jesus who was the subject matter of christology ceased to be the Jesus of the synoptics.”1 Is this not, in effect, a canon within the canon?

A variety of texts within John’s Gospel (John 1:1; 6:62; 8:58; and 17:5) are regularly cited as proof that Jesus literally preexisted his birth. I readily admit that when these are read in a wooden and straightforward manner they indeed convey a literal state of preexistence belonging to Jesus. However, the keen interpreter has the responsibility to ask whether a literal reading is the most appropriate way to interact with these texts, which are written out of the mindset of a Jewish Christian author who was steeped in the cultural thoughts and expectations of his Judaic heritage.2 I am convinced that once these texts are properly placed within the context of Jewish preexistence ideas and concepts, which were widely held and taught in the ancient world, then the conclusion of Jesus literally preexisting his birth becomes increasingly questionable and highly doubtful.

This essay will set forth this very context, beginning with drawing attention to the key Jewish texts in which the nature of Jewish preexistence can clearly be ascertained and observed. From there attention will be given to similarly flavored texts located within the books of the Bible so as to demonstrate that the biblical authors were conscious of and utilized such a concept of preexistence. Finally, this framework of thought will be set as the foundation upon which christological texts from the Fourth Gospel will be interpreted in an attempt to achieve a plausible reading, both historically and theologically. The intended outcome of this essay is to equip and empower the reader to confidently understand the nature of Jewish preexistence expounded in the Fourth Gospel so that they may effectively accomplish the work of evangelism and disciple-making.

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Author: Dustin R. Smith

Keywords: Trinity, Triunity, Three in one, God the Son, notional preexistence, literal preexistence, Preexistence, Pre-existence, Christ's preexistence, Christ's pre-existence, Christ preexisted, Christ pre-existed, Jesus preexisted, Jesus' preexistence, Jesus' pre-existence, Jesus pre-existed, Preexistence of Jesus, Preexist, Pre exist, Jesus was the Word, The Word was Jesus, Word was God, Messiah, Deity of Christ, Deity of Jesus, Jesus's preexistence, Jesus preexisted before he was born, Spirit of Messiah, Jewish preexistence, Jewish concept of preexistence, Jewish concept of pre-existence, Jewish understanding of pre-existence, Jewish understanding of preexistence, Jewish understanding of preexistence of Messiah, Messiah's preexistence, Messiah preexisted, Messiah pre-existed, Messiah's pre-existence

Bible reference(s): 2 Kings 19:25, Psalms 139:16, Prov. 8:22, Jer. 1:5, Matthew 25:34, John 1:1-2, John 6:33, John 6:38, John 6:58, John 8:58, John 17:5, John 17:24, Acts 2:23, Acts 15:18, Romans 4:17, Romans 8:29, Romans 16:25, 1 Corinthians 2:7, Galatians 1:15, Ephesians 1:4, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 7:9, 1 Peter 1:20, Revelation 13:8, Revelation 17:8

Source: “John and Jewish Preexistence: An Attempt to Responsibly Set the Christology of the Fourth Gospel in its Proper Historical and Theological Matrix of Thought,” 2015 Atlanta Bible College Theological Conference.

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