Before Abraham was–I am? (Part Two)
Did the Jews and Jesus both agree on who and what is God? Was Jesus really the God of the “Old Testament” as some claim, and the God of the fathers, and the Yahweh (YHWH) who revealed himself to Moses? Did Jesus ever state that he was the “I am who/what I am” who spoke to Moses? Who then was and is Jesus and the God of the Bible? We do not find in the book of John a definitive statement made by Jesus that he is God, and in the context of his argument with the Pharisees we see that both he and the Jews affirmed that God was the Father. However, what we do find in Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisees is that Jesus uttered the expression “before Abraham was, I am” as a means to affirm the strength and authority of his testimony. Now, unlike Jesus’ other statements where he used the words “I am” with qualifying clauses that created metaphors for his life (manna, bread of life)–sometimes referred to as the “seven I am(s)”–we do not have such a conditional clause when Jesus affirmed he was the one Abraham foresaw as a matter of faith in the promises of God. Bringing us to ask if Jesus was implying an existence that preceded Abraham–making him a contemporary of Abraham–which allowed the Pharisees to confusingly think Jesus was claiming to be alive in the days of Abraham? Now, in discussing the meaning of what Jesus said, we find some people using the term “pre-existence” to describe the life of Jesus before being born of Mary, assuming he was once an all-knowing, all-powerful co-creator spirit-being, who then transformed into a humanly limited god/man-being, whose life ceased to exist, requiring a resurrection back to a god/man-being who was eventually transformed into a lesser spirit-being compared to God the Father. The absurdity of this ought to be obvious when compared to what we find in Scripture. The problem with a term like “pre-existence” is that it does not match anything described in the Bible, and the term does not hold up under the scrutiny of examination, because respective to Jesus a pre-existence would imply a current-existence, with no-existence, then a re-existence and finally a post-existence–in various forms and capacities–all in the lifetime of the Apostle John. It represents at best a mixture of confused and unfounded interpretations–while implying the possibility of additional unknown existences–which is certainly not what is presented to us from the Bible. What the Bible does present to us has no conflict of interpretation–as it is based on the agreement between the prophets and the apostles–and it tells us that Jesus was conceived of the holy spirit and was born of Mary, years later he died and was resurrected by the Father, becoming the firstborn of “many brethren,” whereupon he was given an immortal and incorruptible spiritual body, made a quickening spirit, and entrusted with the power to impart the holy spirit and resurrect us from the dead (I Jn. 3:2; I Cor. 15:45). If, however, we think of Jesus in terms of a “pre-existent” god-being then it implies Jesus is a lesser God than the Father, and if this pre-existent god-being is said to be the “I am,” then he who codified the law on tablets of stone didn’t understand “obedience” or suffering until he learned it as a human being, which further implies that God didn’t know what he was creating until he experienced temptation himself. And, if Jesus had a “pre-existent” form prior to his birth, and he had to be “qualified” to replace Satan, and to be qualified to inherit the throne of his father David–ruling the nations–and also to be qualified to become the mediator between God and humankind, then it would tell us that Jesus–as the supposed co-creator–was subordinate to the devil and unable to govern his creation until he was qualified of God (Lk. 1:32; Eph. 2:1-3; I Tim. 2:5; Heb. 5:8). (Such ideas certainly challenge what some people think they mean by “fully God,” and “fully man.”) Are the contradictions of a “pre-existent” Jesus not evident? Now, according to the Bible, God has a continuous and uninterrupted eternal existence, and his beginning and ending have no measure, and God himself expresses to us that his character is also continuous and unwavering when he said, “for I am the Lord [Yahweh], I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6). Telling us in no uncertain terms that God does not have to be qualified to rule or to learn obedience, and his eternal existence is affirmed in the memorial that is his name, being the same name by which God identified himself to Moses, and by his proclamation identified himself as the God (El Shaddai) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ex. 6:2-3). But the same is not said of Jesus. Noting in Luke’s account of Jesus’ beginning–confirmed as such by his research and collection of accounts related to Jesus–that Mary knew Jesus was a consequence of the holy spirit causing a conception in her body. This is how Jesus is understood to be “from above,” and one who “came down from heaven,” and who “came out from God,” making him the “only begotten” of God the Father, in whose name we are to believe (Jn. 3:16-18). Continuing then in Luke’s account we read what the angel told Mary, “and the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Lk. 1:30-33). (Jesus was the child of Mary who had legitimate siblings, and therefore Mary was