An updated and more complete version of these lessons on the Birth of Christ may be found here: http://birthandlifeofchrist.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/5/
Outline
A. Introduction
B. Prophecy
C. Preexistence
D. Genealogy
1. Matthew
2. Luke
C. Our Lord’s Preexistence.
The following verses we study will also further define what is meant by “long ago” and “days of eternity.” We will study John 1:1-2. In this entire passage, of which we’ll only study the first two verses, John establishes both the deity of Jesus Christ in the flesh and His existence before His Incarnation. John also shows how Jesus, as the Word, was intimately related to the Father as an equal in essence. He used the term, “the Word,” ὁ λόγος HO LOGOS to describe our Lord. It was a highly charged word in that current Greek vernacular, through, as we will study, he brought new meaning to it. This Word or Logos was entirely new, superior and greater than any other having existed. This Logos is personal God!
He begins the verse with the simple phrase ἐν ἀρχή EN ARCHE which, in this context, is translated “In the beginning.” There is actually no definite article in the Greek, so this is an anarthrous construction. In the Greek, the omission of the definite article has meaning, indicating quality, in this case the highest quality. We add the definite article in the English translation for a smoother English reading. When you add the next word, the imperfect active indicative of εἰμί EIMI, a verb of absolute status quo, it indicates that this beginning wasn’t a beginning at all. The imperfect tense, because it indicates linear aktionsart in past time, portrays this state of being as occurring in the past with no indication that the action is ever completed.[1] Yet, the noun, “beginning” indicates by definition of very definite point of time. Therefore, these words speak of eternity, which is in the past, as far as we’re concerned because we life in time. This is language of accommodation for us.
Time, which we live in, is a part of God’s creation. He is outside of time. He invented time. So this phrase describes a definite status quo outside of time. This verse teaches that object existed eternally before God created time. Furthermore “the imperfect tense of the verb εἰμί EIMI refers to an absolute status quo, to exist eternally. In other words, this verb “was” is saying in effect that Jesus Christ is God. The word “was” indicates eternal life, and anyone who pre-existed eternal life is God. An interpretive translation, which I have borrowed from RB Thieme, Jr, is “In the beginning which was not a beginning was…”
The next two words form the object “in the beginning was.” Those two words are the definite article ὁ HO with λόγος LOGOS, translated, “the Word.” How do we know that “the Word” refers to Jesus Christ? Where did this title come from? What does it mean when we talk about our Lord? Let’s take some time to answer these questions. Again, giving credit to whom credit is due: my thanks to RB Thieme Jr. for this analysis. “This is the first title used for the Lord Jesus Christ as the eternally existent One. This word, LOGOS was a technical word in Greek philosophy; a term often used for infinity. It was used to indicate the Supreme Mover, the one who was behind everyone, the one who brings order into the human race. The word is also used in different contexts throughout the New Testament for the Lord Jesus Christ. John personalized this highly charged Greek technical term in Jesus Christ.
As an example of another use of LOGOS, in Colossians 1:18 we have a phrase, “the Word of the Cross.”
For the Word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
The Greek says, “the Logos of the Cross.” The cross was the lowliest, meanest, most demeaning thing to come out of the Roman Empire. The most disgraceful and humiliating death that anyone could die was crucifixion. So the cross was the lowest and the LOGOS, the highest; Jesus Christ is called the LOGOS of the Cross. In other words, the One who went to the cross was not only true humanity who was humiliated for us, but He is also eternal God.
HO LOGOS connotes three things:
1. The first principle behind the use of this Greek word is revelation. Jesus Christ is the visible expression of the world of the invisible. He is the revelation of God the Father whose substance or essence is invisible. Jesus Christ is the visible manifestation of the Godhead. According to Hebrews 1:1-3, Jesus Christ is the only member of the Godhead who is ever revealed. We only understand the Godhead by means of Him. Jesus Christ, the revealed member of the Godhead had to become a human in order to be seen. The LOGOS is the only visible member of the Godhead because He took upon Himself the form of man. Now perhaps I should put this into the past tense because He is not on the earth now, though He is still in the form of glorified man. The New Testament records the accounts of witnesses who saw Him revealed. That He revealed Himself is not only a matter of historical record but that He is to come again.
2. The second connotation of the word LOGOS is the communication of intelligent thought. In order to think you must have a vocabulary: words. You cannot think without words. Since LOGOS means “word,” it refers to the organization of words into thought. It takes a vocabulary to develop concepts and categories and principles of doctrine. He has communicated to us, though both the Written Word and through the Spirit, His thinking. 1 Corinthians 2:16 the Bible is called “the mind of Christ.”
The third concept of LOGOS is order; putting design and purpose into all things. Jesus Christ is the designer of the dispensations, therefore the designer of history. He is the designer of the plan in which you find yourself. The very plan which He has provided is a plan of order and design.
Now, let us return to the study of John 1:1.
So the imperfect tense of the absolute status quo verb, EIMI indicates eternity and with the next two words, the eternally-existent one. Here is one who always existed and will always exist. Many grammars, commentaries and other writings abound with grammatical and syntactical reasons why this phrase indicates our Lord’s deity, indicated by His preexistence. For our purposes here, we need not go further than John’s purpose for writing the book, the overall context, to understand that this passage indicates His preexistence as the Second Person of the Trinity. So, an interpretive translation of the verse so far reads this way: “In eternity, outside of time, the Word existed.”
The verse continues with these words: “and the Word was with God.” “The Word,” refers our Lord who preexisted time. “Was” is again, the same verb in the same form as before, indicating eternal absolute status. “With” is the preposition πρός PROS. This translation, “with,” is just not sufficient however, to express the Greek idiomatic meaning. Much better is “face to face with,” because this communicates an intimacy with God not indicated by “with.” For Him to be face to face with God indicates intimate eternality.
The last phrase in John 1:1, “and the Word was God.” doesn’t quite do justice to the original Greek. Whenever an English translation doesn’t do justice to the Greek, false doctrines abound because of misunderstandings which result. Let us straighten this out! Again, the word, “was” is in the imperfect tense, linear aktionsart indicating the absolute status quo of something in past time, as far as we are concerned. Remember that God preexists time. It should read, “and God kept on being the Word” or “God was the Word.” In other words, Jesus Christ always was and will always be God; there never will be a time when He isn’t God.
He preexisted His being in Hypostatic Union as the second member of the Godhead. The term, Hypostatic Union, describes our Lord Jesus Christ as being completely human and undiminished Deity. It comes from the Greek word, ὑπόστασις HUPOSTASIS.
So to sum up what John has communicated to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: John takes us beyond time – “in the beginning” takes us from time into eternity. In eternity, the LOGOS manifests God. Remember, eternity is outside of time, without past, present or future. The LOGOS is the second person of the Trinity who was always face to face, intimate with God and Spirit because He is God. God was always the LOGOS. The last two phrases emphasize that we are dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ, the subject of this entire Gospel. The story of His humanity must always be understood from the perspective of His preexistent Deity, and, to introduce another facet of His preexistence, His being the God of the Old Testament.
“This second verse further emphasizes His essence. “The same” is literally “the same one.” “The same one kept on existing in the beginning [in eternity] face to face with God.” The word “with” is PROS plus the accusative again and it should be translated “face to face with God.” This emphasizes His deity. Jesus Christ is God.” Thieme, R. Thieme's Gospel of John.
Paul, when writing to the Philippian believers addressed the subject of Christ before His First Advent and His attributes of Deity. This is Philippians 2:6:
“…who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,” Philippians 2:6
Only the first phrase of this verse is germane to our subject, the preexistence of Christ. We will limit our discussion is this lesson to the phrase: “…He existed in the form of God...” The rest of this verse and verses following teach the doctrine of Kenosis, which we will teach at another time. Using the Greek word order, the phrase, “in the form of God” comes first. The first word in the Greek word order is the preposition, ἕν EN, meaning “in.” It precedes a noun, as we will see in a minute, in the locative of sphere. Next is in the Greek word order is μορφή MORPHE, translated “form.” This word is not preceded by a definite article (anarthrous), as we would expect. The lack of a definite article in the Greek indicates greatness of quality of the quality of this form. Of course we are speaking of the form of the 2nd member of the Trinity before He took on humanity. Our Lord, before the incarnation, possessed the entire essence of God. He was eternal God. There is no greater quality possible. This word “formed” is defined by the next word, θεός THEOS in the possessive genitive singular, God. So this form refers to the totality of the divine essence.
The essence of Jesus Christ before the incarnation is the essence of God. He was, is, always will be eternal God, therefore He shared, and continues to share every attribute of deity with the Father and the Spirit. MORPHE, in this context, then, does not refer to the visible shape of an object. God has no physical, outward shape, because He is Spirit. This refers to the essence of a person, in this case, God. So it refers to the entire essence of the Godhead. So this again teaches that Jesus was and still is, divine. Our Lord possessed, and still does, the entire essence of God. THEOS is not preceded by a definite article (anarthrous), denoting, again, the highest quality possible.
Next in the Greek word order is ὑπάρχω HUPARKO, often translated as, “to be, to exist or to be identical.” This is the present active participle of the verb. Though this is a present participle, we translate the participle as a concessive, in order for the following verses to be translated correctly. Changing this to a causal participle would render translations as being contradictory with the overall context and message of the chapter. So, without going into a lot of grammar and syntax, we are going to translate this participle as “exist.” Because we are speaking of Jesus Christ’s eternally existing as the identical essence of God, we will translate it as a past tense, “preexist.” That past tense specifically referring to eternity before our Lord created universe and renovated the earth for human habitation. He existed then as the exact image of the essence of God, existed as a human being in hypostatic union as the exact image of God, and now continues to exist as the exact image of God, in hypostatic union, seated at the right hand of the Father. “[Jesus Christ] who though he preexisted” is the corrected translation.
Daniel B. Wallace. (1999; 2002). Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics - Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (634). Zondervan Publishing House and Galaxie Software.
These few verses we’ve looked are not the only passages which teach our Lord’s preexistence, nor do they reflect the entirety of subjects which deal with our Lord’s preexistence. We have not looked at His being the God of the Old Testament, His appearances as Theophanies or Christophanies, nor to His preexistent work. In this lesson we’ve but introduced this truth! Now, let us turn to our next subject, His human genealogy.
[1] Heiser, M. S. (2005; 2005). Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology. Logos Bible Software.
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