By Nab & Jinane B.
March 3, 2017
Updated Nov, 2025
My article was research notes written with the tireless help of my late wife, Jinane, regarding verses that were unclear to us. I included them here to show that Jesus did not, and couldn't, exist before his earthly birth!
I know how radical my claim is! But hear me. I'm only interested in God's truth and nothing more. Not only do I not believe the Trinity doctrine, but I also do not believe that Jesus Christ existed before his earthly birth (except in God's mind until an appointed time to reveal him to humanity).
My view is not influenced by any group. This was an issue for me for quite some time. I couldn't voice my opinion back then because of how controversial it was for others and even for myself! Later, through prayer and study, it was finally revealed to me. To my shock and delight, I found out that other Christians (not many) have the same beliefs and views.
You might ask, What difference does it make if Jesus pre-existed or not? The best answer came from my wife when she discovered the same about Jesus Christ. With a sigh of relief and sweetness in her voice, she said, "Now! I feel I can relate to Jesus Christ!" This has been her experience and mine ever since.
My article highlights verses that may appear, in cursory reading, to validate Jesus' pre-existence. But on a closer look, you will see that they do not!
Most scriptures below are accompanied by very brief comments. Study them carefully and slowly, and let the Spirit of Christ guide you!
Be aware that this critical study deals only with passages that may seem to support Jesus' preexistence. We left out the easy passages for obvious reasons. Also, this study does not deal with whether Jesus is God or not. For this, refer to my other nine articles in the section, "Exposing the Trinity!"
Our article is divided into two sections: First, what Jesus said about himself that might imply a preexistence. Second, what the Apostles said about Jesus that might convey the same. Once the harder passages are dealt with scripturally and in context, the clearer passages will be easier to navigate.
Matthew 22:41-46
"Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?...If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?”
Please note that the above passage DOES NOT prove Jesus existed before David! It simply pointed to the exalted role of the Messiah, who is David’s Lord.
While it may have appeared to the people that the Messiah was supposed to be David's son. But, in reality, He was not. Jesus is God’s Son. Jesus emphatically pointed out that he was "David’s Lord" because David called him so by inspiration.
Psalm 110, which Jesus quoted above, was too familiar to them; they couldn't argue. They were confounded by Jesus' Lordship over David's, making him God's ultimate promised Messiah!
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John 16:28
"I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father."
Here, it shows that God is his Father—his source. Jesus came out of the Father and into the world.
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John 6:38
"I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
Jesus' origin is from the Father who is in heaven. Heaven (God) is His source. This is the same as saying "born from above" or "I’m the bread from heaven". A born-again doesn’t descend from heaven, but the source of his new birth is from heaven (from God)!
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John 3:13
“And no man hath ascended to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man [who is in heaven]"
(the phrase in brackets is not found in many MSS)
Jesus said to Nicodemus that no one can speak of heavenly things unless he is from above, of God. The phrase "came down" in Greek is the aorist tense, which denotes "descending" or 'coming down'.
Jesus is the bread from heaven ( from His Father ) that continually comes down to us.
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John 6:51
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven.”
Jesus is born of God. His real home is with the Father in heaven, not on earth.
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John 6:62
“What if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?"
Jesus is alluding to his ascension to heaven, which his disciples will witness. "Where he was before" refers to Christ's return to his Father, where his origin began as the "logos" in God's mind, but now a mighty life-giving Spirit.
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John 8:23
“And he said to them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above; ye are of this world; I am not of this world.”
This indicates his origin is his heavenly Father. Recall that Jesus also said of His believers, they “are not of this world”. That did not mean they pre-existed in heaven before his prayer!
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John 8:56-58
“Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” ‘You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham!’ Jesus said to them, ‘Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am.’”
Jesus is saying he is the Messiah in whom Abraham put faith. The promises of God to Abraham were all fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
The “I am” phrase that Trinitarians love to use is not Yahweh. The phrase should not be capitalized either! The expression simply meant ‘I am He’ or ‘I am the One'. Basically, he wanted to say, "I am the Promised Messiah".
In John 18:6, the same expression is translated correctly as ‘I am he’. Translation bias is evident in John 8:58 to support the Trinity. For more on John 8:58, please see the article What Jesus Meant by Saying, 'I AM'
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John 17:5
(Trinitarians' preferred verse!)
"And now glorify Thou Me, Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had before the world is with Thee.”
This verse merits a whole study, which we will do in the future. But for now, we will give a brief comment.
The glory here is not some physical reward. Don't get me wrong, there were spiritual rewards for Jesus. But, the context pointed to Christ’s imminent death by which God’s plan of salvation was hanging on. In a few hours, God’s glorious plan was about to be fulfilled for “The hour has come", he said.
Jesus prayed that the glory of God would be manifested through His death and not some physical reward! That is how the Father and the Son are glorified.
Note how God the Father is glorified in John 15:8,
"Herein (by this) is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."
God is glorified when believers bear spiritual fruits and become His Son's disciples. Such glorifies both God and Jesus Christ.
How did Jesus exist before the world? Not literally. He existed only in God’s foreknowledge until the appointed time to reveal Him. Christ was God's gift to humanity. He existed as the logos, plan, or blueprint in God's mind from the beginning.
When God's plan ( logos ) became flesh ( Jesus ), it did not mean that Jesus left His spirit realm to become a man. "The word became flesh" simply means God's plan (good news) became a reality when Jesus was born for the very first time!
For example, 2 Timothy 2:9 shows that each believer was given grace “Before the beginning of time”. Does anyone think that they pre-existed with God? Of course not! It just means they were born by the Spirit as God had planned from the beginning of time.
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John 17:24
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation [foundation, plan; down-casting, Concordant Greek NT] of the world.”
Please apply the same reasoning as in John 17:5 above. Here, Jesus asked the Father to allow Him to show His glory to His followers. "The glory given to Jesus before the foundation of the world" is what the Father had in mind for Him since the creation, when Christ was only an idea, a "logos" in God's mind.
What glory did Jesus need his followers to see? He wanted them to experience him as the life-giving Spirit, imparting to them the Holy Spirit he received from the Father, and walking and guiding them. Jesus has been doing that since the day of Pentecost until now.
1 Corinthians 8:6
“Nevertheless, for us, there is one God, the Father, out of whom all is, and we for Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all is, and we through Him.” (Concordant)
This does not mean Jesus created the physical world in his preexistence in heaven. The verse deals with Christ's role in God's new spiritual creation. It goes something like this:
Everything is OUT OF God
(Everything was physically created by God.)
Everything is THROUGH Jesus Christ
(Everything is being spiritually created by God,
through Jesus Christ)
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1 Corinthians 15:6
“The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.”
This does not mean Jesus travelled from heaven to earth! It simply means God is his heavenly Father, especially so after His death,
"Christ glorified not himself... but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, TODAY have I begotten thee." (Heb 5:5)
Although Jesus was God's Son, He became a truly begotten Son of God after his death. Jesus could not have become "the second man" unless he died first? This is the reason Paul wrote the above ONLY after Christ's death and resurrection, not before!
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Colossians 1:16-17
"For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth"
The above verse is how most translations render this verse! Now notice how the Concordant NT Translation renders it, which is closer to the original:
“For in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him, and He is before all (preeminence), and all has its cohesion in Him."
The Concordant Translation renders in the aorist tense (a past action being perfected presently) "For in Him is all created...all is created through Him...all has its cohesion in Him." In other words, even though Christ already died and rose, He is still spiritually recreating humans. He is not yet finished!
The above text has nothing to do with Christ's preexistence, but rather his PREEMINENCE among God's creation! God's "New Creation" is so sublime that it cannot be compared with Adam's old creation.
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Hebrews 1:2
"Through whom (Christ), He (God) made the universe."
Let me read the above verse from the Concordant Literal Translation for better rendering:
“In the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through whom He also MAKES the eons (ages, not world or universe)”
Based on the above, everything in the old creation has been and continues to be made new – spiritually – from the day of Pentecost to this day and beyond.
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(From the OT)
Micah 5:2
"Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
The word ‘eternity’ or ‘everlasting is a mistranslation! The Hebrew word ‘Olam’ means long duration, an age, ancient time, age lasting. The Messiah was God’s PLAN or the LOGOS in God's mind for a long duration. It definitely does not mean Jesus existed for eternity!
Here is Micah 5:2 translated in other Bibles more accurately:
"Whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (NIV)
"Coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." (ESV)
"His comings forth are of old, From the days of antiquity.” (YLT)
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Hebrews 10:5-7
“When Christ came into the world, he said: 'Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings, you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.'"
The writer is simply applying OT prophecies concerning Jesus' coming into the world, to be born for the first time, at the appointed time, as God had planned.
In the passage, it contrasts animal sacrifices to Christ's body of flesh as the ultimate sacrifice, "Sin Offering," which Jesus willingly offered to God on our behalf.
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Hebrews 2:7
“What is man, that You remember him? Or the Son of man, that You are concerned about him? You have made him for a little while lower than the angels.”
This doesn't prove that Jesus preexisted in heaven and was later made lower than angels. Rather, it proves Jesus was born at first as a Son of Man, fully human. And for "a little while" — during his earthly life — Jesus had a lower status than the angels, as all humans are.
After his death and resurrection, the Father exalted Jesus to a status above every authority, as seen in Phil 2:9-10,
"God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow."
True believers will follow the same pattern,
“Bringing many sons unto glory...for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.” (Heb 2:10,11)
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1 Peter 1:10-11
“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”
The Spirit of Christ is the same as the Spirit of God. It does not mean he pre-existed. The Spirit of God was at work in the prophets, inspiring them to pin down God’s Plan (logos) in scriptures concerning His Christ.
For example, was the spirit of Elijah any different from the Spirit of God? Was Elijah operating in his own spirit or God's? (Luke 1:17). Was the Spirit of John the Baptist any different from the Spirit of God working through John? (Luke 1:15).
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1 Corinthians 10:4,6
“And all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them ('them'; not found in the Greek text); and the rock was Christ...Now these things were our examples (types).”
Note how the ROCK symbolized Jesus Christ:
This was "a spiritual rock" (v.4)
“The rock was Christ,” or typified Christ (v.4)
"These things were our examples" [types in the Greek]" (v. 6)
First, Jesus did not exist when the Israelites were in the desert. He did not go with them! Paul said, it was "'a spiritual rock". He was using Israel's story typologically. The "rock" was a "type", an "example" of Christ, whom the Corinthians ought not to try as did Israel.
Types are not new in the NT. For example, "The Manna" and the "bread of life" typified Christ. (John 6:35,58) "The living Water" also typified Christ. (John 4:14)
The spiritual rock "which followed them" doesn't mean it travelled literally with them. It simply meant that the water God had provided Israel from the rock followed (prefigured) a spiritual type of Rock, which is Christ.
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Revelation 3:14
“These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning (Gk., archē: beginning, origin) of the creation of God”
The word "beginning" (Gk., arché) has a temporal sense and a figurative sense. In both cases, it doesn't refer to preexistence, but rather to PREEMINENCE.
Jesus is the firstborn of God's new spiritual creation (and not the old one!). He is prominent as Lord of all things.
"He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." (Col 1:18)
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It is our sincere desire that our research will encourage you to further search the scriptures with an open mind, without bias or preconceived doctrines.
Let the scriptures convey their meaning to you, which is what "exegesis" really means. We did it to find the "true Jesus," and not "another Jesus" (2 Corinthians 11:4) invented by some church institution.