Did Jesus Always Exist?


See if you can spot the clues in these verses?

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with GOD; and the Word was GOD."
John 1:1

"I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my son, today I have begotten you"."
Psalms 2:7

"And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, 'Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee'."
Acts 13:32-33

Elucidation:
1. In John 1:1, 'In the beginning was', implies time, since eternity has no beginning, and it has no ending. "The Word", was already in existence when GOD created time in Genesis 1:1-5. Consequently, the Word existed before the beginning of time, He thus being outside of time. The Word already 'was' in the beginning. The Word is therefore eternal.
2. In Psalms 2:7, 'today I have begotten you', very clearly refers to a happening in time, by use of the word of time, 'today'.
3. Acts 13:32-33, 'raising Jesus', also implies to a happening in time, and a repeat of the 'today' of Psalms 2:7.
4. We can conclude then that the Word always existed outside of time, but Jesus was born into time.

"But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."
Galatians 4:4-5

"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus."
Luke 1:31
The imminent coming of Jesus in future tense.
It is necessary that we define some terms for which the reader might not be familiar:

1. Hypostasis: Any of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. The essential person
of Jesus Christ in which His human and divine natures are united.
2. Hypostatic union: The mystery of the union of the divine nature of Christ with His
human nature. Christ has two minds and two wills, united in the Divine Word.

Did the Hypostatic Union always exist?

No, it did not and could not, since the human nature of Christ did not exist before the conception of Jesus in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Hypostatic Union began with the conception of Jesus.
"And Mary said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.""
Luke 1:38
That verse was the beginning of the human nature of Christ, whose name would be Jesus,
and thus that of the Hypostatic Union as well.

"The Hypostatic Union of Christ's human nature with the Divine Logos (the Word) took place at the moment of conception."
"There never was a mere man Jesus before the connection and unification of GOD with Him."
"Mary's true Divine Motherhood demands that the conception of Jesus and
the beginning of the Hypostatic Union should coincide in time."
Dr. Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, pg 150.

It stands to reason that there could be no Hypostatic Union without the human nature of Christ, whose name is Jesus.

Isa 7:14, Mt 1:22-23,4:1-11, Lk 2:51,5:21-26, Gal 4:7, Heb 1:1-14, 2Jn 1:7

Some of the attributes of the two natures of Christ in the Hypostatic Union:

As GOD in His Divine Nature

As Man in His Human Nature

He is eternally begotten, Gen 1:1-5, Jn 1:1.

He was born into time, Lk 2:7.

He is worshiped, Mt 2:2,11, 14:33.

He worshiped the Father, Jn 17:1-26.

He was called God, Jn 20:28, Heb 1:8.

He was called man Mk 15:39, Jn 19:5.

He was called Son of God, Mk 1:1.

He was called Son of Man, Jn 9:35-37.

He is prayed to, Act 7:59.

He prayed to the Father, Mt 26:39.

He is sinless, 1Pet 2:22, Heb 4:15.

For our sake He made him to be sin, 2Cor 5:21.

He knows all things, Jn 21:17.

He grew in wisdom, Lk 2:52.

He gives eternal life, Jn 10:28.

He died, Rom 5:8.

He is the fullness of deity, Col 2:9.

He has a flesh and bone body, Luke 24:39.


The triple birth of Christ:
1. He was begotten of the Father without a mother. He was born into eternity, John 1:14, Colossians 1:15.
2. He was born of a mother without a father. He was born into time, Luke 2:7,11
3. He was born into us at Baptism, Galatians 2:20.

Christ is mentioned in the Old Testament as:
1. "The Messiah", Dan 9:25-26, King James (KJ).
2. "The Anointed One", 2Chron 6:42, Psa 132:10, Dan 9:25-26, Revised Standard Version (RSV).
3. "The Christ", 1Sam 2:10, 2Sam 23:1, Psa 2:2, Psa 84:9, Lam 4:20, Dan 9:25-26, Hab 3:13, Douay Rheims (DR).
The correct title of Jesus is, Jesus the Christ

Did Christ always exist?
Christ existed for all eternity. He is the only begotten Son of the Father, the second person of the Holy Trinity.

Did Jesus always exist? 
Jesus, the human nature of the Divine person of Christ, did not always exist.
He was born into time. His existence began with His conception in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
There was no human nature of Christ in heaven before the incarnation of Jesus.

"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall (denotes future tense) conceive, and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel (GOD with us, a title)."
Isaiah 7:14
"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus."
Luke 1:31
See this flowchart for a different way of presenting this subject.

©
Written by Bob Stanley, June 1, 2003
Updated June 13, 2003
Posted July 29, 2008

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