The Father sent the Son into the world to become the ultimate sacrifice for sin. Does this mean that Jesus pre-existed in heaven as the Son of God? Many have seen the fact that Jesus was sent by the Father as proof of multiple ‘persons’ within the Godhead. Does this make Jesus a ‘member’ of the Godhead?
It is true that Jesus was sent, but in order to understand what this means we must understand how Jesus was sent, from where, and when. The Book of John tells us that the Son was sent into the world as the Savior.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
John 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
Having two natures, Jesus could speak as God or as man. Jesus was not speaking as God. Jesus was speaking from his humanity. He was speaking as a man about his priesthood and mission. This does not mean that he pre-existed as a man.
Being sent does not imply pre-existence. John the Baptist was also sent.
John 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
Jesus sends us into the world in the same way that he was sent.
John 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Neither of these accounts requires the one being send to pre-exist. We were not sent from heaven into the world to spread the Gospel, yet we were sent in the same way that Jesus was sent into the world.
The Father sent the Son into the world as the Savior, but he wasn’t begotten until he was born in Bethlehem.
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
The Son pre-existed only in the plan of God as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The Son of God wasn’t slain before he was born in Bethlehem.
Being sent shows the humanity of Jesus. Jesus was not sent as God. Jesus was God, but he wasn’t send by another God. He was God manifest in flesh.
1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Jesus pre-existed as God. Not as the Son of God which didn’t exist until he was born in Bethlehem, but as the one God that created all things. Being sent into the world doesn’t make Jesus a member of the Godhead. The Godhead was in Jesus.
Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
The Father sent the Son into the world to become the ultimate sacrifice for sin. This means that God was manifest in flesh to shed His blood for us, purchasing our salvation with His own blood. This in no way supports that idea that the Son of God pre-existed the incarnation as the Son. We were also sent into the world to spread the Gospel, yet this doesn’t require us to pre-exist. We were sent when God chose us for His purpose. Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, yet he wasn’t born until Bethlehem. Before Bethlehem, the Son of God was in God’s plan for our redemption.
If Jesus was divine — as I believe to be true — how do you square that fact with “sonship” and understand the relationship between “Father” and “Son” in a monotheistic context? Fathers and sons are separate entities, but there is one God. I see an ontological tension here that isn’t resolved by Paul’s observation of Jesus “emptying himself” of some divine attributes.
Frank,
Thanks for visiting my site and for your question. The relationship between the Father and the Son is a relationship between God and man- Deity and humanity. Trinitarians would acknowledge the very same relationship, but where I differ from the Trinitarian view is that I do not see the Deity of Jesus as a Son. Instead, I see the Deity of Jesus as the one God. If we view God as a single being, without separation of persons or personalities, we can see this one God was manifest in flesh, being God and man simultaneously- 100% God and 100% man. In his Deity he is the one God. In his humanity he is the son of God. This is why Jesus could pray from his humanity to God. He didn’t need to be one person in the Godhead praying to another. He prayed as a man, as the son of God, from his humanity- his “sonship”. I see the answer to this in his dual nature. The Father and Son are different, as you pointed out. The two are not the same and they are not interchangeable. This is why I never say the son is the father. One of my favorite books on this subject is “God in 13 Dimensions” by the late Kenneth V. Reeves. Speaking of books, I checked out your website. Your book looks interesting.
Randy