Regarding Jesus’ Pre-Human Existence

“Don’t add anything to what I command you, and don’t take away anything from it.”
Deuteronomy 4:2 (The Voice)

Abbreviations:

• PHE: Jesus’ Pre-Human Existence
• NPHE: No PHE

I was asked about my appraisal of the explanatory power of NPHE by a NPHE believer. My response:

Thank you for asking. I see scriptural evidence and even explicit statements from Jesus for PHE. I also see NPHE believers making cases for NPHE by explaining away or downplaying the evidence and explicit statements.

Explicit statements
In John 8:21-24 Jesus uses “above and below” dualism and identifies it as locational. In verse 21 he said (NET Bible) “I am going away, and you will look for me but will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” In other words, ‘I am going to a different location, and you will look for me in your current location, but will die in your sin. This different location I am going to you cannot come.’

When pressed for clarification, he answered: “You people are from below; I am from above. You people are from this world [a location]; I am not from this world [a location]. 24 Thus I told you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

They will not be able to find Jesus if they reject him as Christ because they will not be able to follow him into heaven. Jesus literally ascended into heaven (a location) at Acts 1:9, “the above” he is going to that his enemies cannot enter.

However, NPHE scholar Kegan Chandler in his “Hermes & John” paper said John 8:23 is ethical dualism and not locational. By saying this, I note he isolated verse 23 from the context and especially from Jesus’ identifying locational language in verse 21. Thus, he had to work very hard to make a case for NPHE. Ethical dualism can be a corollary, but the primary dualism here is locational.

To recap, Jesus identified “above and below” dualism in this context as locational not ethical. If NPHE is true then Jesus was from our world and his argument collapses into nonsense.

Another example of working very hard to make a case for NPHE is in verse 58. Trinitarianism errs by translating it as “before Abraham came into existence, I am!” where “I AM” is said to be the divine name from Exodus 3:14. But for that to be correct, more Greek words would have to be present, as in “before Abraham came into existence, I existed as the I AM!” On the other hand, NPHE posits that Jesus’ words should be understood as being “before Abraham ever existed, I am the Messiah.” (Buzzard, Sir Anthony. The One God, the Father, One Man Messiah Translation – New Testament with Commentary. 2014)

Here though more words are added that are not in the Greek, and are inserted per NPHE. Additionally, this NPHE NT holds that this interpretation of inserting “the Messiah” refers to “the Messiah planned in God’s great design for humanity.” (Footnote 608.)

To review, Trinitarianism doesn’t add words but reads the text in a way that demands more words. NPHE on the other hand adds words and then reads the revised text in a way that demands even more words, as in “before Abraham ever existed, I am the Messiah in the sense of being planned in God’s great design for humanity.”

Is this not a sad state of affairs? Rescuing Bible readers from exegetical oblivion is the more mundane translation of Jesus’ reply: “before Abraham was born, I have been” (1960-1973 NASB with marginal reading), “before Abraham came into existence, I have been” (NWT), and “I existed before Abraham was even born!” (1996 NLT). No dangling “I am” with a blank to be filled in. No, Jesus was indeed attempting to answer their derisive question of seeing Abraham or not—and it was his answer affirming pre-Abrahamic existence that was the final straw.

Pauline Descent Narratives of Ephesians 4:9 and Philippians 2:5-8
Buzzard’s translation presents Ephesians 4:9 as: “it says he ascended, but that means he also had previously descended.” This translation ends the verse prematurely without any explanation and fails to include the highly relevant and qualifying ending of “to the lower regions, namely, the earth.” Hopefully this was an unintentional omission, especially since this omitted phrase may be seen as a significant contribution to the debate, for NPHE interprets these as a descent into the grave. But Ephesians 4:9 says he descended to the earth, not the grave. Thus, NPHE had to truncate this scripture, unintentionally or not, to make room for its exegesis. Either way, this is embarrassing.

When discussing Philippians 2:5-8, to his credit Dale Tuggy in Podcast 49 said it’s possible that this passage can support PHE, but he then had to tear it down and make a case for NPHE.

So yes, in the end I see much evidence for PHE and NPHE believers tearing down arguments for PHE and making cases for why a PHE text has to mean NPHE. One example is John 6:62 where Jesus said: “if you should see the Son of man ascending to where he was before.” Tuggy takes this as an assent from the grave to the surface of the earth, but Jesus identified his location before as heaven in John 3:13, 6:32, 33, 38, 50, 51. I’m afraid Tuggy has to miss Jesus’ point and make a contrary argument. (Coming Down, Cannibalism, and Ascending in John 6 – Part 2.)

I also think that Jesus had a virgin birth which is powerful evidence for PHE. I don’t see it being compatible with NPHE.

Two blog entries I recommend are:

• Jesus’ life before his birth
  jimspace3000.blogspot.com/2017/05/jesus-life-before-his-birth.html
• Attributes of Exaltation
  jimspace3000.blogspot.com/2017/09/attributes-of-exaltation.html

Appendix

1. God sent out his Son

God sent out his Son

Another Pauline text to take into account is Galatians 4:4, which says: “But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman.” (NET Bible) That uses ἐξαποστέλλω (exapestello), meaning: 1) to send forth and 2) to send away.

The use of ἐξαποστέλλω is seen in other scriptures, providing a precedent:

• Acts 7:12, NASB: “in Egypt, he sent our fathers.”
• Acts 12:11, NASB: “that the Lord has sent forth His angel.”
• Gal. 4:6, NASB: “God has sent forth the Spirit.”

So, it appears to be used as going from one location to another. In Galatians 4:4, from one location (the spirit realm) to the earth to be born. The BDAG lexicon supports this in its definition of ἐξαποστέλλω:

1. to send someone off to a locality or on a mission, send away, send off, send out …
b. for fulfillment of a mission in another place [citing Galatians 4:4] …
3. to send someth. off in an official sense, send, dispatch.

Thus, moving from one location to another, only supporting PHE in opposition to NPHE, to be born from a woman.