Interesting Questions-90

Christ - the very first in God's plan of Creation
(John 1:30; John 8:58)

Letter to the Editor:
PASUGO, December 1998, p.3

IN ONE CORNER of our ship (I am serving on-board a bulk ship), I found a copy of Pasugo magazine. I was overwhelmed with the teachings it contains which are convincing and biblically true.

I wrote to ask for your explanation of the verse John 1:30 where John the Baptist said that "A man is coming after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born" (TEV). Also, please explain John 8:58 where Christ said that "...before Abraham was, I AM (NKJV)."

Eric C. Lucena
MV Robert Stove

Editor's reply:

     In John 1:30, John the Baptist was referring to the Lord Jesus Christ as the man who would come after him and who is greater than him. John the Baptist said that Christ existed before Him or, in other versions of the Bible, “was before” him because Christ was already foreknown or planned by God even before the foundation of the world. The Scriptures say:

      “Foreknown, indeed, before the foundation of the world, he has been manifested in the last times for your sakes.” (I Pt. 1:20, Confraternity Version)

      Even before the foundation of the world, Christ was already in the mind of God. The plan of God concerning the sending forth of Jesus Christ found fulfillment when Christ was created through the Holy Spirit and was born of a woman named Mary (Gal. 4:4; Mt. 1:18, 20).

      So, Christ was the very first in God’s plan of creation though He was not the first to be created by God. This is also the reason Christ said in John 8:58 that “…before Abraham was, I AM.” He was already planned by God even before Abraham.

      However, the verses you brought up have been mistaken to mean that Christ is God. But these verses do not say that Christ is God. In fact, it was not only the Lord Jesus Christ who was foreknown before the foundation of the world. There are people chosen by God for the adoption of the Lord Jesus Christ even before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4-5, NIV).

     To assert that Christ is God because He was foreknown before the foundation of the world would to be assert that those who were chosen by God for the adoption of the Lord Jesus Christ before the creation of the world are also gods. But there is only one God, the Father (Jn. 17:1, 3), who declared that “…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me” (Is. 46:9. NKJV).

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Bible Study Suggestion: If you have further questions, please feel free to visit the Iglesia ni Cristo congregation nearest you. A minister or an evangelical worker would be happy to answer any biblical question you have in mind.