Did Jesus Christ Always Exist – His Pre-Existence Explained

It’s one of the most profound and mind-bending questions a person can ask about the Christian faith. We all know the Christmas story—the baby in a manger, the shepherds, the wise men. That narrative is a beginning. But was it the beginning? Or was it just the beginning of a new chapter in a story that was already ancient? The question, “Did Jesus Christ always exist?” cuts to the very core of who he is. Is he a created being, even the most magnificent one? Or is he, in his essence, eternal God?

For many, this is a complex theological puzzle. It challenges our linear understanding of time, where everything has a birthday, a starting point. This article isn’t about dogma; it’s about an exploration. We will journey past the nativity scene in Bethlehem, back through the words of the apostles, and into the very first verses of the Bible to understand the doctrine of Jesus’s pre-existence. This isn’t just an abstract idea; it changes everything.

More in About Jesus Category

Is Jesus Christ Alive

Did Jesus Christ Sin

Key Takeaways

• The Christian doctrine of the Incarnation means Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem was his human beginning, not his absolute beginning.
• The Gospel of John explicitly identifies Jesus as the eternal “Word” (Logos) who was “in the beginning with God” and “was God” (John 1:1).
• Jesus himself claimed eternal pre-existence, most famously by using the divine name “I AM” in John 8:58 (“Before Abraham was, I AM”).
• Apostles like Paul (Colossians 1:15-17) and the author of Hebrews (Hebrews 1:2-3) taught that Jesus is not a created being but is, in fact, the agent of all creation.
• This doctrine is essential because it establishes Jesus’s full divinity, which in turn gives his sacrifice on the cross its infinite, world-redeeming value.

But Isn’t Christmas His Birthday?

I remember being a kid, maybe seven or eight, staring at our little porcelain nativity scene. My mom would let me set up the figures. I’d put the baby Jesus in the manger last, on Christmas morning. For me, that was the “start” of Jesus. It was his birthday. And in a very real and important sense, it was.

That event, the Incarnation, is the hinge upon which all of human history swings. It’s the moment God took on flesh and “moved into the neighborhood,” as one translation puts it.

But a human birthday is not the same as an absolute beginning. The classic Christian understanding is that in Bethlehem, the eternal Son of God added humanity to his divinity. He didn’t begin to exist. Think of it this way: when a king puts on a commoner’s clothes to walk among his people, the king doesn’t start existing when he changes outfits. He was already the king. The Incarnation is infinitely more profound, but the analogy helps. The person, the Son of God, already was. The human nature, the baby named Jesus of Nazareth, had a starting point.

This is the mystery. He is fully God and fully man. His humanity had a beginning. His divinity did not.

So, Where Was Jesus Before Bethlehem?

This is the real question, isn’t it? If he wasn’t just “created” in Mary’s womb, where was he? What was he doing? For this, we have to turn to the biblical texts, which describe a person who was not just waiting but was active from the very dawn of time.

What Does the Gospel of John Say About “The Word”?

The Gospel of John doesn’t start with a manger. It starts before time.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3, NIV)

This is perhaps the most direct statement in the entire Bible about Jesus’s pre-existence. John introduces a figure he calls “the Word” (in Greek, the Logos). This “Word” has three stunning attributes:

1. He is eternal: “In the beginning was…” Not “was created.” He already existed when the “beginning” began.
2. He is relational: “The Word was with God.” This implies a distinct person, in perfect fellowship with God (the Father).
3. He is divine: “And the Word was God.” John doesn’t mince words. This person is of the very same essence as God.

John doesn’t leave us guessing who this “Word” is. A few verses later, in John 1:14, he writes: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” This eternal, divine, creator-Word is the very same person who was born as the baby in Bethlehem.

Did Jesus Ever Talk About His Own Pre-Existence?

Yes. And his claims are what got him into so much trouble with the religious leaders of his day. They understood exactly what he was implying.

His most explosive statement is in John 8:58. Jesus is in a heated debate, and he says, “Very truly I tell you… before Abraham was, I AM.”

This is not a grammar mistake.

He didn’t say, “Before Abraham was, I was.” He used the specific phrase “I AM.” This was a direct echo of God’s own name, revealed to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14. Jesus wasn’t just claiming to exist before Abraham; he was claiming the eternal, self-existent name of God himself. The response of his audience? “At this, they picked up stones to stone him.” They knew this was a claim to divinity.

This wasn’t a one-off, either. In his final prayer before his crucifixion, Jesus speaks to his Father, saying, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (John 17:5). Jesus was explicitly conscious of a pre-human, pre-creation existence of glory at the Father’s side.

What Do Other New Testament Writers Believe?

This teaching isn’t isolated to John’s writings. It’s a foundational belief of the early church, woven through the letters of the apostles. They, too, grappled with the question: “Did Jesus Christ always exist?” Their answer was a clear “yes.”

How Does Paul Describe Jesus’s Role in Creation?

The Apostle Paul gives us one of the most majestic descriptions of Christ in his letter to the Colossians. He writes that Jesus:

“…is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17)

Let’s break that down.

• “Firstborn over all creation”: This phrase has confused some. In ancient Jewish culture, “firstborn” didn’t just mean “first one born.” It was a title of supremacy and inheritance. The firstborn son was the heir, the one who held authority over the estate.
• “For in him all things were created”: Paul clarifies his own meaning. Jesus isn’t part of creation; he is the source of it.
• “He is before all things”: This is an unambiguous statement of pre-existence.
• “In him all things hold together”: This is even more staggering. Jesus isn’t just the one who started the universe; he’s the one who sustains it, moment by moment.

For Paul, Jesus wasn’t a created being. He was the Creator.

What About the Book of Hebrews?

The author of Hebrews opens his letter with a very similar, high-altitude view of who Jesus is. He starts by saying that in these last days, God has spoken to us “by his Son.” He then immediately defines who this Son is:

“…whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:2-3)

Again, we see the same themes. The Son (Jesus) is the “heir,” the “exact representation” of God’s being, and the one “through whom” God “made the universe.” The testimony of the New Testament is remarkably consistent. The man who walked the dusty roads of Galilee was the same eternal person who spoke creation into existence.

I Still Struggle With This. Is it Normal to Doubt?

Absolutely. In fact, I think it’s a sign of an engaged mind.

I’ve always been a bit of a “Doubting Thomas” myself. I’m a practical guy. I like things I can see, touch, and measure. The idea of an eternal, invisible existence before a physical birth is… well, it’s a lot. It’s not something we encounter in our everyday lives. It requires a different kind of “seeing.”

Thomas, the disciple, gets a bad rap, but I relate to him. He wasn’t willing to believe in the resurrection until he could physically touch the wounds of Jesus. He needed tangible proof. When confronted with the living Christ, he made one of the greatest confessions of faith: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

We are in a similar position. We can’t see Jesus’s pre-existence. We can’t “prove” it in a lab. We, like Thomas, are faced with a testimony. Our testimony is the scriptural witness. We are asked to believe in the unseen—that the man whose wounds Thomas could touch was the same Word who existed before the world began. It’s okay to wrestle. That’s what faith is—a confident trust in what we cannot see, based on the reliable testimony of what we can see (the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus).

Does the Old Testament Ever Hint at This?

This is where things get even more interesting. For centuries, Christian theologians have looked back into the Old Testament and seen shadows and hints of the pre-incarnate Christ.

Who Was the “Angel of the LORD”?

One of the most mysterious figures in the Old Testament is the “Angel of the LORD.” This figure is not just “an” angel. He often appears, speaks as God, accepts worship (which angels are forbidden to do), and is yet somehow distinct from God.

• He appears to Hagar in the desert and says, “I will so increase your descendants…” (Genesis 16:10)—a promise only God can make.
• He appears to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:2), and then “the LORD” speaks from the bush (Exodus 3:4).
• He wrestles with Jacob, who then says, “I have seen God face to face” (Genesis 32:30).
• He appears to Gideon, who fears for his life because he has “seen the Angel of the LORD face to face” (Judges 6:22).

Many scholars believe this “Angel of the LORD” is a “Christophany”—a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God. He is the visible, personal manifestation of the invisible God, sent on a mission from the Father.

What About the “Wisdom” of God in Proverbs?

In the book of Proverbs, “Wisdom” is personified as a woman who was with God during creation. Listen to this beautiful passage from Proverbs 8:

“The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works… I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be… I was there when he set the heavens in place… Then I was constantly at his side, I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.” (Proverbs 8:22-31)

Early Christians immediately connected this personified Wisdom, who was “with God” and “delighting” in creation, to John’s Logos (Word), who was “with God” and through whom all things were made. They saw this as a beautiful, poetic description of the pre-existent Son, the eternal Wisdom of God, long before he became flesh.

Why Does Jesus’s Pre-Existence Even Matter?

This is the most important question of all. Is this just abstract theology for scholars to debate? Or does it actually matter for the average person?

It matters completely. In fact, it’s the foundation of everything.

Does It Change Who Jesus Is?

Yes. It is the dividing line between Jesus as a “good moral teacher” and Jesus as “Lord and God.”

If Jesus did not always exist, then he is a created being. He might be the highest angel, the first creature, or a prophet chosen by God. But he would not be God. He would be on our side of the creator/creation divide.

But if Jesus did always exist—if he is the eternal Word, the “I AM,” the agent of creation—then he is, in his very nature, divine. He is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. This is the difference between Arianism (the belief that Jesus was a created being) and historic, orthodox Christianity.

How Does It Affect the Cross?

This is where it hits home. The pre-existence of Christ is what gives the cross its power.

If Jesus was just a good man or even a perfect angel, his death would be a profound and tragic martyrdom. But it would be the death of a creature. How could the death of one creature pay the debt for all of creation?

But if the man on the cross is the eternal, pre-existent Son of God—the very one “through whom also he made the universe”—then his death is something else entirely. It is a cosmic event. It is the Creator himself, in human flesh, entering his own creation to absorb its sin, death, and brokenness. The one who holds all things together allowed himself to be broken, to redeem and remake everything.

The value of the sacrifice is determined by the worth of the one being sacrificed. If Jesus is eternal God, his sacrifice has infinite, eternal value—enough to cover the sins of the whole world.

This is why it matters.

• It establishes Jesus’s full divinity.
• It gives his sacrifice on the cross its infinite worth.
• It confirms he wasn’t just a prophet or teacher, but “Immanuel” — God with us.
• It shows the staggering depth of God’s love. As John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” He didn’t send a representative. He came himself.

What’s the Official Church Teaching on This?

This very question caused one of the biggest crises in the early church. In the 4th century, a popular teacher named Arius began teaching that Jesus was the first and greatest created being—that “there was a time when he was not.”

This idea tore the church apart. It so threatened the core of the faith that the Emperor Constantine convened the first-ever ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD. The bishops and theologians gathered to settle the issue based on the scriptures.

The result was the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that has united Christians for over 1,700 years. On the pre-existence of Christ, it is crystal clear. It states that Christians believe in “one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages. … God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.”

This council affirmed what the apostles taught: Jesus wasn’t made. He was begotten—a term of relationship, not creation. He is of the very same “substance” (or essence) as the Father.

So, Did Jesus Christ Always Exist? A Final Thought.

The testimony of the Bible, from John’s Gospel to Paul’s letters and affirmed by the early church, is a powerful “yes.”

The man Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem. The person, the Son, the Word, has no beginning.

This is the central mystery and glory of Christianity. It’s a concept that stretches our minds, precisely because it is not a human idea. It’s a divine reality. The baby in the manger isn’t the start of the story. It’s the moment the story’s eternal Author wrote himself onto the page of human history.

FAQ