The institutional church has always claimed that the Bible says Jesus pre-existed as God in heaven and came down to earth to become a man, called “the incarnation.” The Nicene Creed says of Jesus, “For us men and our salvation he came down from heaven.”
The church also has claimed the incarnation is based on the Bible. Yet there is nothing in the first three gospels of the New Testament (NT) to indicate this. In contrast, the church has cited the Gospel of John as incontrovertible evidence of the incarnation (cf. John 1:1, 14). Indeed, this gospel presents a flurry of texts which seem to proclaim that Jesus pre-existed and that he came down from heaven to become a man (John 1:15, 30; 3:13; 6:27-63; 8:58; 17:5, 24).
But should these Johannine texts be interpreted literally? In the 3rd century, church father Clement of Alexandria referred to the Gospel of John as “the spiritual gospel,” and scholars ever since have rightly endorsed this label. It is because the Johannine Jesus used so many metaphors. The most well-known is when he told Nicodemus he needed to be “born again,” and he thought Jesus meant a second physical birth (John 3:3). At the end of Jesus’ ministry he told the Eleven, “I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will speak no more to you in figurative language but will tell you plainly” (16:25; cf. 10:6). He explained his mission and the disciples replied, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly, and are not using a figure of speech” (16:29). So, the Gospel of John provides the ultimate reality—the spiritual meaning that lies behind Jesus’ words.
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Author: Kermit Zarley
Keywords: preexistence of Jesus, Christ's preexistence, Preexistence of Christ, Jesus' preexistence, Jesus preexisted, Christ preexisted, Theophany, Christ's pre-existence, Pre-existence of Christ, Jesus' pre-existence, Jesus pre-existed, Christ pre-existed, preexistence, pre-existence, preincarnate, pre-incarnate, preincarnate Jesus, preincarnate Christ, pre-incarnate Jesus, pre-incarnate Christ, Christ preincarnate, Christ pre-incarnate, Jesus Preexistence in Heaven, Jesus Preexisted in Heaven, Jesus existed before Abraham, Christ existed before Abraham, Greater than Abraham, Existed before Abraham, Before Abraham, Trinity, Trinitarian, Jesus existed before he was born, Deity of Christ, Deity of Jesus
Bible reference(s): Joh 1:15, John 1:30, Joh 1:33, Joh 3:13, Joh 3:17, John 3:31, Joh 3:34, Joh 4:34, Joh 5:23-24, Joh 5:30, Joh 5:36-38, Joh 6:38-40, Joh 6:44, Joh 6:57-58, John 6:62, Joh 7:16, Joh 7:18, Joh 7:28-29, Joh 7:33, Joh 8:16, Joh 8:18, Joh 8:29, Joh 8:56-58, Joh 9:4, Joh 10:36, Joh 12:44, Joh 12:45, Joh 12:49, Joh 14:24, Joh 16:5, Joh 17:5, Joh 17:18, Joh 17:21, Joh 17:23-25, Joh 20:21, 1John 4:9-10, 1Jo 4:14
Source: “Did Jesus Come Down from Heaven?” The Restitution of Jesus Christ, 2008.
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