Does the fourth gospel teach that Jesus existed long before his conception, even before the creation of the cosmos?Most readers think so.But in this episode, Dr. Dustin Smith argues that rightly understood, this gospel neither assumes nor teaches that Jesus “preexisted,” that is, existed before he was a human. He argues that we should read the gospel according to John in light of Jewish assumptions about human beings and the Messiah, taking care to understand the author’s distinctive language and his “misunderstanding motif.”
Prof. Dale Tuggy and Dr. Smith discuss a number of passages which people often read as implying Jesus’s preexistence, including John 1 (“In the beginning was the Word…” and “he was before me”), John 3 (“the one who descended”), John 6 (“ascending to where he was before”), John 8 (“Before Abraham was, I am.”), John 16 “I came from the Father and have come into the world”), and John 17 (“the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed…”).
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Author: Dale Tuggy
Keywords: Trinity, Triunity, Three in one, God the Son, 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 1:1-3, John 1:14, 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
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