The pre-existence of Christ asserts the existence of
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...
before his
incarnation
Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...
as
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. One of the relevant
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
passages is where, in the
Trinitarian
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the Fa ...
interpretation, Christ is identified with a pre-existent divine
hypostasis (substantive reality) called the
Logos
''Logos'' (, ; grc, λόγος, lógos, lit=word, discourse, or reason) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric and refers to the appeal to reason that relies on logic or reason, inductive and deductive reasoning. Ari ...
or Word. There are
nontrinitarian
Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian doctrine of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essenc ...
views that question the aspect of personal pre-existence or the aspect of divinity or both.
More particularly, John 1:15,18 says:
This doctrine is supported in when Jesus refers to the glory which he had with the
Father
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
"before the world existed" during the
Farewell Discourse
In the New Testament, chapters 14–17 of the Gospel of John are known as the Farewell Discourse given by Jesus to eleven of his disciples immediately after the conclusion of the Last Supper in Jerusalem, the night before his crucifixion.''Joh ...
.
[''Creation and Christology'' by Masanobu Endo 2002 page 233] also refers to the Father loving Jesus "before the foundation of the world".
Nicene Christianity
![Monreale god resting after creation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Monreale_god_resting_after_creation.jpg)
The pre-existence of Christ is a central tenet of mainstream Christianity. Most mainstream churches that accept the
Nicene Creed consider the nature of Christ's pre-existence as the divine
hypostasis called the
Logos
''Logos'' (, ; grc, λόγος, lógos, lit=word, discourse, or reason) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric and refers to the appeal to reason that relies on logic or reason, inductive and deductive reasoning. Ari ...
or Word, described in , which begins:
In Trinitarianism this "Logos" is also called
God the Son
God the Son ( el, Θεὸς ὁ υἱός, la, Deus Filius) is the second person of the Trinity in Christian theology. The doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus as the incarnation of God, united in essence (consubstantial) but distinct in ...
or the second person of the Trinity. Theologian
Bernard Ramm
Bernard L. Ramm (1 August 1916 in Butte, Montana – 11 August 1992 in Irvine, California) was a Baptist theologian and apologist within the broad evangelical tradition. He wrote prolifically on topics concerned with biblical hermeneutics, religio ...
noted that "It has been standard teaching in historic Christology that the Logos, the Son, existed before the incarnation. That the Son so existed before the incarnation has been called the pre-existence of Christ." In the words of the
Nicene Creed, Christ "came down from
heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
, and was incarnate."
Additionally, Trinitarian Christians see a connection between Christ and the enigmatic "
angel of YHWH" figure from the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
. Christian apologist David Wilber teaches that this figure is the pre-incarnate Christ:
Similar to how the New Testament teaches that Jesus is distinct from God and yet also is God, the Old Testament teaches that the Angel of YHWH is distinct from YHWH and yet also is YHWH (Genesis 16:7-13; 22:15-16; Exodus 3, Judges 6, etc.). In other words, YHWH and the Angel of YHWH are interchangeable from the Old Testament's perspective. Both are members of the one being who is God. One of those members, the Angel of YHWH, took on flesh and was born as the man Jesus.
Douglas McCready, in his analysis and defense of the pre-existence of Christ, notes that whereas the preexistence of Christ "is taken for granted by most orthodox Christians, and has been since
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
times",
[McCready, p. 11.] during the past century the doctrine has been increasingly questioned by
less orthodox theologians and scholars.
James Dunn, in his book ''Christology in the Making'', examines the development of this doctrine in
early Christianity
Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...
, noting that it is "beyond dispute"
[Dunn, p. 239.] that in John 1:1–18, "the Word is pre-existent, and Christ is the pre-existent Word incarnate,"
but going on to explore possible sources for the concepts expressed there, such as the writings of
Philo
Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.
Philo's de ...
.
Some
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
theologians
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
believe that God the Son
emptied himself of
divine attributes in order to become human. Others reject this.
Tertullian
Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...
in ''
Against Marcion'' Ch.21 sees a pre-existent appearance of Christ in the
fiery furnace of one who is "like the son of man (for he was not yet really son of man)." The identification of specific appearances of Christ is increasingly common in
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
literature from the 1990s onwards. For example, W. Terry Whalin states that the fourth person in the fiery furnace is Christ, and that "These appearances of Christ in the Old Testament are known as
Theophanies
Theophany (from Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of a deity") is a personal encounter with a deity, that is an event where the manifestation of a deity occurs in an observable way. Specifically, it "refers to the temporal and spatial manifes ...
or 'appearances of God' ".
Orthodox Christianity
Orthodox Christianity
Orthodoxy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Late antiquity, A ...
teaches that Jesus was personally identical with the eternally pre-existent
Son of God or Logos. He did not come into existence as a new person around 5 BC but exists personally as the eternal Son of God. To adopt tensed language from
Nicaea I
The First Council of Nicaea (; grc, Νίκαια ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman emperor, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, Constantine I in AD 325.
This ecu ...
("there never was
timewhen he was not" –
DzH 126) According to
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
, "the humane nature" of Christ was created and began in time, where "the subsistent subject" is both uncreated and eternal.
Manichaeism
A clear idea of Christ's pre-existence is given in
Manichaean
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
thought, where he is conferred the name
Jesus the Splendour
In Manichaeism, Jesus (Romanization of Parthian and Pahlavi: ) is considered one of the four prophets of the faith, along with Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha and Mani. He is also a "guiding deity" who greets the light bodies of the righteous after ...
. Considered a divine being, he was believed to have been the entity to lead
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
into eating from the
Tree of Knowledge instead of the Devil (AKA
Prince of Darkness) who, according to Manichaeism, actually wanted humanity to stay away from it so they would remain trapped in matter and never find
gnosis
Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge ( γνῶσις, ''gnōsis'', f.). The term was used among various Hellenistic religions and philosophies in the Greco-Roman world. It is best known for its implication within Gnosticism, where it ...
. Likewise, Manichaeans associated Christ with the
Tree of Life
The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A History ...
and saw him as a holy emanation of the
Father of Greatness
The Father of Greatness ( Syriac-Aramaic: ; zh, t=明尊, zhu=ㄇㄧㄥˊ ㄗㄨㄣ, w=Ming2-tsun1, p=Míngzūn, l=Radiant Lord) is the eternal divine manifestation of good in Manichaeism,Willis Barnstone, Marvin Meyer. ''The Gnostic Bible: Rev ...
.
Nontrinitarianism
Some accept the pre-existence of Christ without accepting his full divinity in the Trinitarian sense. For example, it is likely that
Arius and most early advocates of
Arianism
Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...
accepted the pre-existence of Christ. However, Thomas Aquinas says that Arius "pretended that the Person of the Son of God is a creature, and less than the Father, so he maintained that He began to be, saying 'there was a time when He was not.'"
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
,
William Ellery Channing
William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. Channi ...
, and
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
appear to have maintained belief in the pre-existence of Christ despite their rejection of the Trinity.
Today, several nontrinitarian denominations also share belief in some form of the pre-existence of Christ, including the
Church of God (Seventh-Day) and the
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
, the latter group identifying Jesus as the
archangel Michael
Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...
, interpreting
John 1:1 by translating with the phrase "a god," rather than "God". The
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...
teaches Christ's pre-existence as the first and greatest of the spirit children of God the Father.
Among the many churches which separated from the
Worldwide Church of God
Worldwide may refer to:
* Pertaining to the entire world
* Worldwide (rapper) (born 1986), American rapper
* Pitbull (rapper) (born 1981), also known as Mr. Worldwide, American rapper
* ''Worldwide'' (Audio Adrenaline album), 2003
* ''Worldwide ...
, also referred to as the "Sabbatarian Churches of God" or, more pejoratively,
Armstrongites, there is a shared belief in
binitarianism
Binitarianism is a Christian theology of two persons, personas, or aspects in one substance/ Divinity (or God). Classically, binitarianism is understood as a form of monotheism—that is, that God is absolutely one being—and yet with binitarian ...
, and that Jesus was the God of the Old Testament through whom God the Father created the world (based on Ephesians 3:9 and John 1:1–3), and that it was Jesus Christ who personally interacted with Adam and Eve, Noah, the patriarchs, ancient Israel, and the kings and prophets of the Old Testament. It is held that in his incarnation, Jesus was sent to reveal the Father who was previously unknown. This is based on an interpretation of John 5:37, Luke 10:22, and by the large number of references Jesus made about the Father in the New Testament compared to the very few, almost figural references to God as Father in the Old Testament. This belief is also based on an interpretation of verses where Christ is believed to be discussing his personal presence in the Old Testament and interaction with ancient Israel, and on a Christological interpretation of
Melchizedek
In the Bible, Melchizedek (, hbo, , malkī-ṣeḏeq, "king of righteousness" or "my king is righteousness"), also transliterated Melchisedech or Malki Tzedek, was the king of Salem and priest of (often translated as "most high God"). He is f ...
.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
In ways similar to the way orthodox Christianity views the preexistence of Christ, the belief is that the Christ that was born on this Earth is same Son of God or the Word who existed before this world. However, He is seen as having been created by God the Father. This is because within
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
the Trinity is seen as three separate beings, each with their own bodies and personage. In reference to the doctrine of John 1:15-18, the belief continues that the God who is worshipped in the Old Testament, the Great Jehovah, is the same being who is the Son of God. During this time before Earth life, He was speaking as a representative of God the Father, which is why in some instances He refers to Himself as God the Father. This was a customary practice in Jewish culture for a representative to speak as the master in the master's place. Though this scripture makes the assertion that no man has seen God the Father it is believed within the
Latter-day Saint
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
community that God the Father and God the Son were in the presence of Adam and Eve whilst they were in the Garden of Eden. As well as was seen by
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...
in what believer refer to as the
Sacred Grove
Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...
in New York in 1820 in an event commonly referred to as the
First Vision
The First Vision (also called the grove experience by members of the Community of Christ) refers to a theophany which Latter Day Saints believe Joseph Smith experienced in the early 1820s, in a wooded area in Manchester, New York, called the ...
.
Oneness Pentecostals
Oneness Pentecostals
Oneness Pentecostalism (also known as Apostolic, Jesus' Name Pentecostalism, or the Jesus Only movement) is a nontrinitarian religious movement within the Protestant Christian family of churches known as Pentecostalism. It derives its distinctiv ...
are nontrinitarian
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement Christians who do not accept the pre-existence of Christ as distinguished from God the Father, believing that, prior to the incarnation, only "the timeless Spirit of God (the Father)"
[The Incarnation](_blank)
at ApostolicTheology.com (Oneness Pentecostal theological website), accessed 27 May 2010. existed. Afterwards God "simultaneously dwelt in heaven as a timeless Spirit, and inside of the Son of Man on this earth."
However, the
United Pentecostal Church International
The United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) is a Oneness Pentecostal denomination headquartered in Weldon Spring, Missouri, United States. The United Pentecostal Church International was formed in 1945 by a merger of the former Pentecostal C ...
, a large Oneness denomination, says in their statement of faith that "The one God existed as Father, Word, and Spirit" prior to the incarnation.
Although Oneness Pentecostals accept that "Christ is the same person as God,"
they also believe that "The 'Son' was 'born,' which means that he had a beginning."
In other words, "Oneness adherents understand the term
onto be applicable to God only after the incarnation." They have consequently been described as holding an essentially unitarian position on the doctrine, and of denying the pre-existence of Christ. However, some members of the movement deny this interpretation of their beliefs.
Denial of the doctrine
Throughout history there have been various groups and individuals believing that Jesus' existence began when he was conceived. Those who consider themselves Christians while denying the pre-existence of Christ can be broadly divided into two streams.
First, there are those who nevertheless accept the
virgin birth. This includes
Socinians
Socinianism () is a nontrinitarian belief system deemed heretical by the Catholic Church and other Christian traditions. Named after the Italian theologians Lelio Sozzini (Latin: Laelius Socinus) and Fausto Sozzini (Latin: Faustus Socinus), uncle ...
, and early
Unitarians such as
John Biddle, and
Nathaniel Lardner
Nathaniel Lardner (6 June 1684 – 24 July 1768) was an English theologian.
Life
Lardner was born at Hawkhurst, Kent in 1684. He was the elder son of Richard Lardner (1653–1740), an independent minister, and of a daughter of Nathaniel Collye ...
. Today the view is primarily held by
Christadelphians
The Christadelphians () or Christadelphianism are a restorationist and millenarian Christian group who hold a view of biblical unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries. The movement developed in the ...
. These groups typically consider that Christ is prophesied and foreshadowed in the Old Testament, but did not exist prior to his birth.
Second, there are those who also deny the virgin birth. This includes
Ebionites
Ebionites ( grc-gre, Ἐβιωναῖοι, ''Ebionaioi'', derived from Hebrew (or ) ''ebyonim'', ''ebionim'', meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') as a term refers to a Jewish Christian sect, which viewed poverty as a blessing, that existed during ...
and later Unitarians, such as
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...
, and
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
. This view is often described as
adoptionism
Adoptionism, also called dynamic monarchianism, is an Early Christianity, early Christian Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Diversity in early Christian theology, theological doctrine, which holds that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus was adopted as ...
, and in the 19th century was also called
psilanthropism
Denial of the virgin birth of Jesus is found among various groups and individuals throughout the history of Christianity. These groups and individuals often took an approach to Christology which understands Jesus to be human, the literal son of hu ...
.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...
described himself as having once been a psilanthropist, believing Jesus to be the "real son of
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
."
Friedrich Schleiermacher
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (; 21 November 1768 – 12 February 1834) was a German Reformed theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional P ...
, sometimes called "the father of
liberal theology
Religious liberalism is a conception of religion (or of a particular religion) which emphasizes personal and group liberty and rationality. It is an attitude towards one's own religion (as opposed to criticism of religion from a secular position ...
",
[Robert Paul Lightner, ]
Handbook of Evangelical Theology: A historical, Biblical, and contemporary survey and review
', Kregel Publications, 1995, , pp. 74–75. was one of many German theologians who departed from the idea of personal ontological pre-existence of Christ, teaching that "Christ was not God but was created as the ideal and perfect man whose
sinlessness constituted his divinity."
Similarly,
Albrecht Ritschl
Albrecht Ritschl (25 March 182220 March 1889) was a German Protestant theologian.
Starting in 1852, Ritschl lectured on systematic theology. According to this system, faith was understood to be irreducible to other experiences, beyond the scop ...
rejected the pre-existence of Christ, asserting that Christ was the "Son of God" only in the sense that "God had revealed himself in Christ"
and Christ "accomplished a religious and ethical work in us which only God could have done."
Later,
Rudolf Bultmann
Rudolf Karl Bultmann (; 20 August 1884 – 30 July 1976) was a German Lutheran theologian and professor of the New Testament at the University of Marburg. He was one of the major figures of early-20th-century biblical studies. A prominent criti ...
described the pre-existence of Christ as "not only irrational but utterly meaningless."
In art
![Damian](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Damian._The_Ancient_of_Days.jpg)
When the
Trinity is depicted in art, the Logos is normally shown with the distinctive appearance, and
cruciform halo
A halo (from the Greek , ; also known as a nimbus, aureole, glory, or gloriole) is a crown of light rays, circle or disk of light that surrounds a person in art. It has been used in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacre ...
that identifies Christ; in depictions of the
Garden of Eden
In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...
this looks forward to an incarnation yet to occur. In some
Early Christian sarcophagi
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...
, the Logos is distinguished with a beard, "which allows him to appear ancient, even preexistent."
In
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
theology, the Old Testament title ''
Ancient of Days
Ancient of Days (Aramaic: , ''ʿatīq yōmīn''; Ancient Greek: , ''palaiòs hēmerôn''; Latin: ) is a name for God in the Book of Daniel.
The title "Ancient of Days" has been used as a source of inspiration in art and music, denoting the cre ...
'', signifying God's eternal and uncreated nature, is commonly held to identify the pre-existence of
God the Son
God the Son ( el, Θεὸς ὁ υἱός, la, Deus Filius) is the second person of the Trinity in Christian theology. The doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus as the incarnation of God, united in essence (consubstantial) but distinct in ...
. Most of the eastern Church Fathers who comment on the passage in Daniel (7:9-10, 13–14) interpreted the elderly figure as a prophetic revelation of the Son before his physical incarnation. As such, Eastern Christian art will sometimes portray Jesus Christ as an old man, the Ancient of Days, to show symbolically that he existed from all eternity, and sometimes as a young man, or wise baby, to portray him as he was incarnate. This
iconography emerged in the 6th century, mostly in the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
with elderly images, although usually not properly or specifically identified as "the Ancient of Days."
[Cartlidge and Elliott, 69-72]
See also
*
Christophany
A Christophany is an appearance or non-physical manifestation of Christ. Traditionally the term refers to visions of Christ after his ascension, such as the bright light of the conversion of Paul the Apostle.
Also, following the example of Ju ...
*
Logos (Christianity)
In Christianity, the Logos ( el, Λόγος, lit=word, discourse, or reason) is a name or title of Jesus Christ, seen as the pre-existent second person of the Trinity. In the Douay–Rheims, King James, New International, and other versions ...
, a term in Western philosophy
*
Trinity (Andrei Rublev)
''The Trinity'' ( rus, Троица, Troitsa, also called ''The Hospitality of Abraham'') is an icon created by Russian painter Andrei Rublev in the 15th century. It is his most famous work and the most famous of all Russian icons, and it is rega ...
*
Eternal Buddha In East Asian Buddhism, Shakyamuni Buddha of the Essential Teachings (Chapters 15-28) of the Lotus Sutra is considered the eternal Buddha. In the sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha reveals that he actually attained Buddhahood ...
References
Bibliography
* Borgen, Peder. ''Early Christianity and Hellenistic Judaism''. Edinburgh: T & T Clark Publishing. 1996.
* Brown, Raymond. ''An Introduction to the New Testament''. New York: Doubleday. 1997.
*
Dunn, J. D. G., ''Christology in the Making'', London: SCM Press. 1989.
* Ferguson, Everett. ''Backgrounds in Early Christianity''. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing. 1993.
* Greene, Colin J. D. ''Christology in Cultural Perspective: Marking Out the Horizons''. Grand Rapids: InterVarsity Press. Eerdmans Publishing. 2003.
*
Haight, R. ''Jesus Symbol of God''. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. 1999.
* Holt, Bradley P. ''Thirsty for God: A Brief History of Christian Spirituality''. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2005.
* Letham, Robert. ''The Work of Christ''. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. 1993.
*
Macleod, Donald. ''The Person of Christ''. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. 1998.
*
McGrath, Alister. ''Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought''. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 1998.
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pre-Existence of Christ
Systematic theology
Christian terminology
Christology
Gospel of John
Trinitarianism
Unitarianism
Nature of Jesus Christ