Pre-Existence of Christ

The Nature of Jesus : 

The Nature of Jesus Christadelphian Presentation

Introduction : 

Introduction First Principle Subject Familiar Subject Major Difference between Christadelphians and the Churches Affects practical Christian worship Basic Answer Jesus was a man born of the virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit; Jesus is a resurrected man mediating between God and men

Nature of Jesus (1) : 

Nature of Jesus (1) As regards his physical nature, Jesus was a man - this was his biological (heart, lungs, brain, etc.) nature. Was Jesus God? As regards having power? As regards his mind?

Nature of Jesus (2) : 

Nature of Jesus (2) In all these aspects of mental life, God the Father is not bound by human limitations. Nevertheless, we share these qualities with the Father as we are in His image. With regard to Jesus, his powers surpassed ordinary men, however he was limited in his knowledge (Mark 13:32), and he ascribed his powers to his Father (John 5:30). Furthermore, as with other men, he was tempted, although without sin (Heb 4:15), and we know God the Father cannot be tempted (Jms 1:13).

Nature of Jesus (3) : 

Nature of Jesus (3) God the Father has thoughts as indeed we do (Isa 55:9); He has emotions, as indeed we do (1 John 4:8); He has attitudes, as we do (Exod 34:6-7); He has a Will as we do (Mal 3:6); He has knowledge and understanding (Pss 39:6), as we do; He forms intentions and purposes (Isa 45:18-23), as we do; He reasons as we do (Isa 1:18); He observes and hears, as we do (Pss 94:9); and so on.

The Nature of Jesus (4) : 

The Nature of Jesus (4) It would seem then that the mental life of Jesus showed greater capacities and abilities than ordinary men. As a result he manifested the character of his Father (John 14:9). But his mental life was not different in kind to the mental life of men. As regards the nature of Jesus Christ then, there doesn't appear to be a basis for saying that he possessed the nature of God the Father in respect of the nature of his mental life any more than we do, even though the content of his mental life was vastly superior to our own, reflecting that of his Father.

The Question of Divinity : 

The Question of Divinity Many texts are read in such a way as to prove that Jesus was … Fully God on earth Phil 2:5-8 Col 1:16-20 Heb 1:10-12 John 8:58 Main text is John 1:1-14 (Prologue) Last discussed by the class in 1997 Here we go again

The Word (Logos) : 

The Word (Logos) word, matter, thing, complaint, statement, assertion, declaration, question, prayer, preaching, prophecy, command, report, story, proverb, proclamation, instruction, teaching, message, reckoning, saying… reason, motive (Acts 10:29, 18:14)

Uses of Logos in John’s Writings : 

Uses of Logos in John’s Writings In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 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. John 1:14 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. Rev 19:13

Who is the Word? : 

Who is the Word? The title is not referring to anything pre-existent or heavenly God the Son A divine being- the first created being The mind of God The reason of God The purpose of God How do we know this?

The Beginning : 

The Beginning Beginning is not the Genesis Beginning The Genesis Beginning is a type “Beginning” in John’s Gospel For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. John 6:64 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. John 8:25 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. John 15:27

The Beginning (2) : 

The Beginning (2) 1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God

The Beginning (3) : 

The Beginning (3) “The word which [God] sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ...That word, [I say], ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached...” Acts 10:36-37 “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was conformed unto us by them that heard [him]...” Heb 2:3, cf. John 19:39

With God : 

With God Translation Bias VEn avrch/| h=n o` lo,goj( kai. o` lo,goj h=n pro.j to.n qeo,n( kai. qeo.j h=n o` lo,gojÅ “was toward God” “to, towards” 88x in LXX/NT (“with” 2x here in John)

With God (2) : 

With God (2) Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Hebs 2:17 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins Hebs 5:1  And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. Exod 4:16

With God (3) : 

With God (3) Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God Exod 18:19 Priesthood, mediatorship – not reason or purpose (Church idea).

The Instrumentality of the Word : 

The Instrumentality of the Word Jesus begins to be the Word at the start of his ministry. The intention is clearly to place Jesus as the Word in a position parallel to what God says: ‘...and God said...’ (Gen 1:3ff). The parallel involves the idea of doing something by an agent or doing something by some instrument. The original creation was created by God the Father by the angels by his delivery of commands. The new creation is now being created by God the Father, by the Word, by angels.

Christ in Us : 

Christ in Us Christ is the anti-type to the word of Genesis 1, these commands type Christ. This is no more unusual than saying that the light of Genesis 1 types Christ, or that an ark, mercy seat, or the Holy of Holies, type Christ. When we think of Christ as ‘the Word’, we think of him as the creative word of God, and what is created is meant to be a mirror of him. With the new creation, what is created is Christ in us (Gal 4:19), a reflection of the word of God (1 Pet 1:23).

Was God? : 

Was God? Moses was a man ‘toward God and God’ And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. Exod 4:16 Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God Exod 18:19 “...the Word of Life...toward the Father and... mani­fested to us...” 1 John 1:1-2

All Things : 

All Things pa,nta diV auvtou/ evge,neto( kai. cwri.j auvtou/ evge,neto ouvde. e[nÅ o] ge,gonen evn auvtw/| zwh. h=n( kai. h` zwh. h=n to. fw/j tw/n avnqrw,pwn\ kai. to. fw/j evn th/| skoti,a| fai,nei( kai. h` skoti,a auvto. ouv kate,labenÅ All things through him became, and without him became nothing. That which was made by him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not comprehended it. John 1:3-5

The Word was Made Flesh : 

The Word was Made Flesh “In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was made flesh and tabernacled (KJV dwelt) amongst us...” John 1:1, 14 This sequence is interpreted as saying that there was a ‘time’ before the Word was made or became flesh. And so it is argued that the Word existed before being made flesh. To avoid this conclusion, an ancient proposal is that the Word as God’s purpose was in the beginning, and it was this that was made flesh.

Opposite is true : 

Opposite is true The Word is towards God and is ‘God’, and these are things we would say of a person not a purpose. Instead of seeing a sequence from a beginning (v. 1) to a later event (v. 14) — the Word becoming flesh, we can see that the reverse is the case: the time reference for John 1:14 is the birth of Christ, and the time reference for John 1:1 is the beginning of the ministry.

Indicators : 

Indicators v. 15, ‘we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father’. v. 13, talks of being born of the will of God, and this connects to the thought of being begotten of the Father.

Early Heresy : 

Early Heresy We might have expected to read, ‘and the word was born’, but that Jesus was made flesh was clearly an emphasis required by the early heresy that bombarded the church, viz. that Christ had not come in the flesh (1 John 4:1-3, 2 John v. 7). Irony – a text designed to prove the humanity of Christ is used to prove his divinity.

Made flesh by God : 

Made flesh by God God has formed men in the past. Adam was the first man to be made (Gen 2:7), and he was made out of the dust of the ground. If Christ is the second Adam, it is part of this typology to think of him as being made, just as Adam was made or formed. So, John is remarking that, ‘the Word was made flesh’ (by God).

Exodus Beginning : 

Exodus Beginning As well as the Genesis beginning, John alludes to the Exodus beginning. The Exodus beginning is relevant because the Word was made flesh and tabernacled amongst the disciples. Jesus was “God with us” (Immanuel)

Exodus Typology (1) : 

Exodus Typology (1)

Exodus Typology (2) : 

Exodus Typology (2)

Exodus Typology (3) : 

Exodus Typology (3)

Angel of the Lord (1) : 

Angel of the Lord (1) Apart from one incidental occurrence (Gen 44:3), the first mention of ‘light’ after Genesis 1 is Exod 10:23, ‘...all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings’. The Angel of the Lord first gave Israel light during the plague of darkness. The Angel of the Lord then appeared as a light, first to Moses at the bush, and then to Israel when taking them out of Egypt (Exod 13:21). He then stood as a pillar of light to protect the nation at the Red Sea (Exod 14:19-20, Num 14:14), and then led Israel through the wilderness, again as a pillar of fire and a cloud (Exod 40:38).

Angel of the Lord (2) : 

Angel of the Lord (2) An insight into the work of the Angel of the Lord is provided by the remark made to Moses, ‘I will make of thee a great nation’ (Exod 32:10, Num 14:12). This remark shows the angel’s own perspective upon his Exodus work — it concerned making something. The allusions in John’s prologue then direct our attention to the Exodus and the work of the Angel of the Lord. This work was a creative work in which a ‘world’ was made, and this ‘world’ was the nation.

Making the World (1) : 

Making the World (1) The Word as the Passover Lamb He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.

Making the World (2) : 

Making the World (2) The first detail to examine in v. 10 is “through him” (diV auvtou/, RSV). This expression is used of an agency: someone does something through someone else. Thus, God sent his son into the world so that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16); or again, God did signs and wonders through Christ (Acts 2:22). Accordingly, John 1:10 is not affirming that Jesus is the maker of the world, but that the world was made through “him”. This is clearer in the RSV than the KJV which has ‘made by him’.

Making the World (3) : 

Making the World (3) The question is: who made the world through Jesus? While ‘God’ is an obvious answer, the text so far has presented John the Baptist and the Angel of the Lord, and we have seen that the Angel of the Lord “made” Israel through his actions in Exodus. While God is the agency behind the Angel of the Lord, we should focus on the Angel of the Lord and ask the question: how did the Angel of the Lord make the world through Jesus?

Making the World (4) : 

Making the World (4) The Angel of the Lord prevented the destroying angel from annihilating the firstborn of Israel, by not allowing the destroyer to enter houses where the blood of the Passover lamb was on the lintels. (Exod 12:23). In a sense, therefore, it was this blood that saved Israel, and it was because of this sacrifice that Israel could be re-born through the waters of the Red Sea. John’s statement that ‘the world was made through him’ is a reference to this particular Passover sacrifice as “Jesus” and the means through which the “world” was made.

Passover Sacrifice (1) : 

Passover Sacrifice (1) Just as a Passover sacrifice stood at the beginning of the Mosaic “world”, a renewed Passover sacrifice is the starting point for the New Cre­ation of those who would be part of the “all things”. It is stressed by John: “...Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world' (John 1:29-36, 3:17).

Passover Sacrifice (2) : 

Passover Sacrifice (2) That “made through him” is a reference to a sacrifice is shown two other texts: 1) In John 3:17, the world is “saved” through him. 2) In Rms 5:9, believers are justified by his blood and thereby “saved” through him (cf. Col 1:20).

Type and Anti-Type (1) : 

Type and Anti-Type (1) That John is using language typologically is indicated by his description of Jesus or the Word as the ‘true Light’, for ‘true’ here denotes the anti-type. Other examples of this use of ‘true’ which involve typology include ‘true riches’ (Luke 16:11), ‘true bread’ (John 6:32), ‘true vine’ (John 15:1), ‘true tabernacle’ (Heb 8:2), ‘figures of the true’ (Heb 9:24) and ‘true witness’ (Rev 3:14).

Type and Anti-Type (2) : 

Type and Anti-Type (2) This deployment of typology is similar to Paul’s use of ‘the rock’ (1 Cor 10:1-5). The people journeyed through the wilderness with a rock, and Paul comments that this rock was Christ. So they journeyed with Christ through the desert. But the rock that was struck was a literal rock, and the water was provided by the Angel of the Lord who led them through the wilderness. He sustained them by day with manna (also Christ) and water. So Christ went with them and sustained them, if only they had eyes to see the doctrine being taught in their midst. Christ was there in type, as Paul says, the Exodus was a type, and the things that happened to the Israelites were types.

Summary : 

Summary