Pre-existence of Christ

The Church of God (Anderson) affirms that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, existed eternally before His incarnation in human flesh. He is the divine Logos spoken of in John's Gospel, who was with God and was God from the beginning. All things were made through Him, and He sustains all things by His powerful word. This is not a matter of God's mere foreknowledge of Christ but the actual, eternal, personal existence of the Son.

Christ's pre-incarnate existence is witnessed in Old Testament theophanies where the divine presence appeared to Abraham, Moses, and other patriarchs. The Son's role in creation and providence establishes His equality with the Father and the Spirit. The incarnation was not the beginning of Christ's existence but rather the entering of the eternal Son into human flesh for the purpose of redemption. Understanding Christ's pre-existence is essential to appreciating the incarnation as the descent of the eternal God into time and space.