Advent #3: The Glory of the One Who Is, Was, and Is to Come
The Glory of Christ Incarnate • Sermon • Submitted
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· 20 viewsWhat we expect of Christ flows from His identity as God.
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Systematic Theology: Biblical, Historical, and Evangelical, Volume 1 C. Systematic Formulation > II. Jesus as Eternally Preexistent
SYSTEMATIC FORMULATION
1. The eternal preexistence of Jesus as the Son of God is a necessary corollary of his deity. It has “formed the seed-plot of all Christological and Trinitarian reflection.” Those who in Christian history have denied his deity have usually denied his preexistence; Arius, as noted, did make a place for created, but not eternal, preexistence.
2. The eternal preexistence of the Son of God makes possible an incarnational self-emptying of the Son. Any doctrine of kenōsis must proceed from the preexistence as well as from the deity of the Son of God.
3. The eternal preexistence of the Son of God is not merely a topic for abstract speculation, but it relates to divine salvation. It is designed to answer the question: Is the Redeemer eternal and divine? It poses the negatively designed query: Is God’s love in Christ truly “triumphant” if Christ be not eternal?
4. The eternal preexistence of the Son of God makes possible an immanental Trinity and not merely an economic Trinity.
5. There are limits to our understanding of the eternal preexistence of Jesus as the Son of God. “We cannot know the pretemporal as we do the earthly life of Christ, or even as we do (in a real sense) His life of exalted glory.”
Theodor Haering wrote:
The love of God which was effective for us in Christ as the Son, is so truly the love of God, the effective Revelation which he makes of His own nature, that it is eternally bestowed on Him, the Bringer of this eternal love, not only in the sense of ideal pre-existence, not only on Him as the correlative in the world’s history of the eternal love of God, but also, apart from His earthly existence, as the love of the Father to the Son in the mystery of the eternal life of God, and therefore, as no other word is available for us, in a state of real pre-existence.
The Eternality and Pre-Existence of Christ
The Eternality and Pre-Existence of Christ
Eternality
The subject of Christ’s eternality deals with the fact that He has always existed as a person from eternity past, with no beginning and no end. The Scriptures give at least three lines of evidence for this fact: direct biblical statements, the deity of Christ, and His role in creation.
Direct Biblical Statements
Four biblical passages clearly ascribe eternality to Christ. The first, Micah 5:2, declared that Judah’s future deliverer, who would rule in Israel on God’s behalf, would be born in the small town of Bethlehem. Because humanity is born, but deity is not, this part of the declaration revealed that the Messiah would be a human being.
The next part asserted that this same person’s “goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Concerning this statement, D. K. Innes wrote, “These words are suited to convey both the ancient lineage of Christ as a descendant of the family of David and also His eternal pre-existence” (“Some Notes on Micah” in Evangelical Quarterly, 41, no. 3 [1969], p. 170). Because eternal existence is an attribute of deity, but not of humanity, this part of the declaration ascribed deity to the Messiah.
Thus, Micah 5:2 indicated that the Messiah would be a God-Man, a unique being with deity and humanity existing in the same person. His humanity would have a beginning through conception and birth, but as a divine person, He is eternal—without beginning.
Two things should be noted regarding this prophecy. First, in spite of the fact that the mother and foster father of Jesus Christ lived in the city of Nazareth (Lk. 1:26–33), as the result of an imperial decree of Rome, He was born in Bethlehem (Lk. 2:1–7) in fulfillment of Micah 5:2.
Second, the ancient Jews understood Micah 5:2 to be speaking of the Messiah. This is revealed by the following events: Wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and asked King Herod, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” Herod asked the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah should be born. They answered, “In Bethlehem of Judæa,” and quoted Micah 5:2 as their proof (Mt. 2:1–6).
The second biblical passage that contains a direct statement about the eternality of Christ is Isaiah 9:6. In a context describing the future rule of the Messiah, this passage applied the name “The Everlasting Father” to Him. Franz Delitzsch stated that this name designated the Messiah “as the possessor of eternity” and as the one who would rule His people like a loving, faithful father (Isaiah, Vol. 1, Commentaries on the Old Testament, p. 253).
The third direct statement passage is John 1:1–3. Referring to Christ as “the Word,” the Apostle John stated, “In the beginning was the Word…The same was in the beginning with God” (vv. 1–2). He thereby asserted that Christ already existed with God before everything that had a beginning first began. Christ existed in eternity past before any part of creation came into existence. Concerning John’s statement, Leon Morris wrote, “The verb ‘was’ is most naturally understood of the eternal existence of the Word” (The Gospel According to John in The New International Commentary on the New Testament, p. 73).
The fourth biblical passage is Hebrews 7:3. The writer declared that Christ had “neither beginning of days nor end of life.” Concerning this declaration, Leon Morris stated, “The writer is, of course, speaking of the Son’s eternal nature, not of his appearance in the Incarnation” (Hebrews, Vol. 12, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 64).
The Deity of Christ
The deity of Christ is the second line of evidence for His eternality. Deity’s nature is to be eternal. Thus, the Apostle Paul signified that eternality is one of God’s attributes (1 Tim. 1:17). The Scriptures present the deity of Christ; therefore, He too must be eternal by nature. The biblical evidence for Christ’s deity will be examined in a later article.
Christ’s Role in Creation
The Apostle John asserted the following truth concerning Christ: “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (Jn. 1:3). Christ played a significant role in the creation of everything that has ever been created. That work required His existence in eternity past before creation began. If Christ had not existed before the beginning of creation, He could not have been involved in the creation of everything that has ever been created.
The Apostle Paul declared the same truth about Christ when he wrote, “For by him were all things created…all things were created by him, and for him; And he is before all things” (Col. 1:16–17).
Herbert M. Carson said, concerning these statements about Christ by John and Paul: “Here it is the Son in His eternal being who is being described, rather than the Son as incarnate. In fact, there is a close parallel between this passage and John’s teaching concerning the eternal Word or Logos. The only-begotten is also the agent of creation…Far from being in any way a part of creation, the Son is before all things….He is eternal, while creation is in time” (The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and Philemon in Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, pp. 42–43).
The Issue of the First-Born of All Creation
In Colossians 1:15 the Apostle Paul referred to Christ as “the first-born of all creation.” Some individuals and groups insist that this designation indicates that Christ was the first part of creation that God brought into existence. They claim that Paul was teaching that Christ is a created being, that He had a beginning in time and therefore is not eternal.
Does the expression “the first-born of all creation” mean that Christ was the first thing created? No, it does not. Paul was not saying that Christ is a created being. Several things prompt this conclusion.
First, Paul wrote Colossians to refute a heresy (Gnostic Judaism) that taught that Christ was part of creation.
Second, the idea that Christ was created is contrary to the context of Paul’s reference to Christ as “the first-born of all creation.” The context teaches that Christ created everything that has been created (vv. 16–17). Thus, F. F. Bruce wrote, “The context makes it clear that this title is not given to Him as though He Himself were the first of all created beings; it is emphasized immediately that, far from being part of creation, He is the One by whom the whole creation came into being” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians in The New International Commentary on the New Testament, p. 194).
Third, there was a Greek word (protoktistos) that meant “first-created.” Paul did not use it here, and it is never used of Christ in the Bible.
When Paul referred to Christ as “the first-born of all creation,” he was teaching that Christ existed before and is sovereign over all of creation.
Fourth, the word that Paul did use (prototokos) had two connotations: priority and sovereignty. Priority had two possible sub-connotations: the first part of something or existence before something. The context of the word determines which sub-connotation is intended. The Colossians 1 context demands the sub-connotation of existence before something (vv. 16–17). Thus, when Paul referred to Christ as “the first-born of all creation,” he was teaching that Christ existed before and is sovereign over all of creation. F. F. Bruce stated, “What the title does mean is that Christ, existing as He did before all creation, exercises the privilege of primogeniture as Lord of all creation, the divinely appointed ‘heir of all things’ (Heb. 1:2). He was there when creation began, and it was for Him as well as through Him that the whole work was done” (Ibid.).
Pre-Existence
Pre-existence and eternality are not necessarily the same. This is evident because a human being can exist before a certain event, but that does not mean he is eternal by nature. Thus, when reference is made to the pre-existence of Christ, the emphasis is not necessarily upon His eternality. Instead, it is upon the fact that He existed before His incarnation in human flesh. He existed before He was born of the virgin Mary.
There are several evidences for the pre-existence of Christ.
The Eternality of Christ
Several lines of evidence have been examined for the fact that Christ is an eternal being, without beginning or end. The fact that He is eternal by nature prompts the conclusion that He existed before His incarnation.
Christ’s Claim of Pre-Existence
On one occasion when Christ was confronted by enemies, He said, “Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad” (Jn. 8:56). His enemies challenged Him by saying, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” (v. 57). Jesus responded with an astonishing claim: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (v. 58). The word translated “was” in this statement literally means became or came to be and refers to Abraham’s birth (William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 157). Thus, through that statement Christ was claiming that He existed before Abraham was born. In light of that fact, the additional fact that Abraham lived approximately 2,000 years before Christ’s incarnation forces the conclusion that Christ existed before His own human birth.
Pre-Incarnate Appearances of Christ
The Old Testament Scriptures refer to a being who, on several occasions, either appeared or spoke to human beings. Various titles were applied to this being, such as “the angel of the Lord,” “the angel of God,” or “the captain of the host of the Lord.” The Old Testament references reveal that this being was divine, not an angel. The word translated “angel” in the Bible literally means messenger and sometimes refers to beings other than angels.
When, at a specific point in time, He was incarnated in human flesh, He added a complete human nature to His pre-existent, eternal, divine nature.
An example of an appearance by this being is recorded in Exodus 3–4. The person who appeared to Moses in the burning bush is called “the angel of the Lord” (3:2); however, He is identified as “the Lord” and “God” (3:4) and “I am” (3:14). He claimed to be “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (3:6). Moses hid his face from this being, “for he was afraid to look upon God” (3:6). These facts signify that a divine being appeared to Moses. Because the Scriptures clearly teach that no human being has ever seen God the Father (Jn. 1:18; 6:46), it must be concluded that this divine being was not the Father. The Bible also indicates that Christ is the being who reveals God to the world (Jn. 1:18; 14:8–9; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3). It seems evident, then, that Christ was the being who made these appearances to Moses and others in Old Testament times, and these appearances testify to His pre-existence before His incarnation in human flesh.
Christ’s existence did not begin when He was conceived in Mary’s womb and born into the world several months later. As an eternal divine being, He had always existed without beginning and end throughout eternity past and Old Testament history. When, at a specific point in time, He was incarnated in human flesh, He added a complete human nature to His pre-existent, eternal, divine nature. The Word, who existed with God the Father before the beginning of creation, became flesh and dwelt among people on the earth for more than thirty years (Jn. 1:1–3, 14).
The Eternality and Pre-Existence of Christ
The Eternality and Pre-Existence of Christ
Eternality
The subject of Christ’s eternality deals with the fact that He has always existed as a person from eternity past, with no beginning and no end. The Scriptures give at least three lines of evidence for this fact: direct biblical statements, the deity of Christ, and His role in creation.
Direct Biblical Statements
Four biblical passages clearly ascribe eternality to Christ. The first, Micah 5:2, declared that Judah’s future deliverer, who would rule in Israel on God’s behalf, would be born in the small town of Bethlehem. Because humanity is born, but deity is not, this part of the declaration revealed that the Messiah would be a human being.
The next part asserted that this same person’s “goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Concerning this statement, D. K. Innes wrote, “These words are suited to convey both the ancient lineage of Christ as a descendant of the family of David and also His eternal pre-existence” (“Some Notes on Micah” in Evangelical Quarterly, 41, no. 3 [1969], p. 170). Because eternal existence is an attribute of deity, but not of humanity, this part of the declaration ascribed deity to the Messiah.
Thus, Micah 5:2 indicated that the Messiah would be a God-Man, a unique being with deity and humanity existing in the same person. His humanity would have a beginning through conception and birth, but as a divine person, He is eternal—without beginning.
Two things should be noted regarding this prophecy. First, in spite of the fact that the mother and foster father of Jesus Christ lived in the city of Nazareth (Lk. 1:26–33), as the result of an imperial decree of Rome, He was born in Bethlehem (Lk. 2:1–7) in fulfillment of Micah 5:2.
Second, the ancient Jews understood Micah 5:2 to be speaking of the Messiah. This is revealed by the following events: Wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and asked King Herod, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” Herod asked the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah should be born. They answered, “In Bethlehem of Judæa,” and quoted Micah 5:2 as their proof (Mt. 2:1–6).
The second biblical passage that contains a direct statement about the eternality of Christ is Isaiah 9:6. In a context describing the future rule of the Messiah, this passage applied the name “The Everlasting Father” to Him. Franz Delitzsch stated that this name designated the Messiah “as the possessor of eternity” and as the one who would rule His people like a loving, faithful father (Isaiah, Vol. 1, Commentaries on the Old Testament, p. 253).
The third direct statement passage is John 1:1–3. Referring to Christ as “the Word,” the Apostle John stated, “In the beginning was the Word…The same was in the beginning with God” (vv. 1–2). He thereby asserted that Christ already existed with God before everything that had a beginning first began. Christ existed in eternity past before any part of creation came into existence. Concerning John’s statement, Leon Morris wrote, “The verb ‘was’ is most naturally understood of the eternal existence of the Word” (The Gospel According to John in The New International Commentary on the New Testament, p. 73).
The fourth biblical passage is Hebrews 7:3. The writer declared that Christ had “neither beginning of days nor end of life.” Concerning this declaration, Leon Morris stated, “The writer is, of course, speaking of the Son’s eternal nature, not of his appearance in the Incarnation” (Hebrews, Vol. 12, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 64).
The Deity of Christ
The deity of Christ is the second line of evidence for His eternality. Deity’s nature is to be eternal. Thus, the Apostle Paul signified that eternality is one of God’s attributes (1 Tim. 1:17). The Scriptures present the deity of Christ; therefore, He too must be eternal by nature. The biblical evidence for Christ’s deity will be examined in a later article.
Christ’s Role in Creation
The Apostle John asserted the following truth concerning Christ: “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (Jn. 1:3). Christ played a significant role in the creation of everything that has ever been created. That work required His existence in eternity past before creation began. If Christ had not existed before the beginning of creation, He could not have been involved in the creation of everything that has ever been created.
The Apostle Paul declared the same truth about Christ when he wrote, “For by him were all things created…all things were created by him, and for him; And he is before all things” (Col. 1:16–17).
Herbert M. Carson said, concerning these statements about Christ by John and Paul: “Here it is the Son in His eternal being who is being described, rather than the Son as incarnate. In fact, there is a close parallel between this passage and John’s teaching concerning the eternal Word or Logos. The only-begotten is also the agent of creation…Far from being in any way a part of creation, the Son is before all things….He is eternal, while creation is in time” (The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and Philemon in Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, pp. 42–43).
The Issue of the First-Born of All Creation
In Colossians 1:15 the Apostle Paul referred to Christ as “the first-born of all creation.” Some individuals and groups insist that this designation indicates that Christ was the first part of creation that God brought into existence. They claim that Paul was teaching that Christ is a created being, that He had a beginning in time and therefore is not eternal.
Does the expression “the first-born of all creation” mean that Christ was the first thing created? No, it does not. Paul was not saying that Christ is a created being. Several things prompt this conclusion.
First, Paul wrote Colossians to refute a heresy (Gnostic Judaism) that taught that Christ was part of creation.
Second, the idea that Christ was created is contrary to the context of Paul’s reference to Christ as “the first-born of all creation.” The context teaches that Christ created everything that has been created (vv. 16–17). Thus, F. F. Bruce wrote, “The context makes it clear that this title is not given to Him as though He Himself were the first of all created beings; it is emphasized immediately that, far from being part of creation, He is the One by whom the whole creation came into being” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians in The New International Commentary on the New Testament, p. 194).
Third, there was a Greek word (protoktistos) that meant “first-created.” Paul did not use it here, and it is never used of Christ in the Bible.
When Paul referred to Christ as “the first-born of all creation,” he was teaching that Christ existed before and is sovereign over all of creation.
Fourth, the word that Paul did use (prototokos) had two connotations: priority and sovereignty. Priority had two possible sub-connotations: the first part of something or existence before something. The context of the word determines which sub-connotation is intended. The Colossians 1 context demands the sub-connotation of existence before something (vv. 16–17). Thus, when Paul referred to Christ as “the first-born of all creation,” he was teaching that Christ existed before and is sovereign over all of creation. F. F. Bruce stated, “What the title does mean is that Christ, existing as He did before all creation, exercises the privilege of primogeniture as Lord of all creation, the divinely appointed ‘heir of all things’ (Heb. 1:2). He was there when creation began, and it was for Him as well as through Him that the whole work was done” (Ibid.).
Pre-Existence
Pre-existence and eternality are not necessarily the same. This is evident because a human being can exist before a certain event, but that does not mean he is eternal by nature. Thus, when reference is made to the pre-existence of Christ, the emphasis is not necessarily upon His eternality. Instead, it is upon the fact that He existed before His incarnation in human flesh. He existed before He was born of the virgin Mary.
There are several evidences for the pre-existence of Christ.
The Eternality of Christ
Several lines of evidence have been examined for the fact that Christ is an eternal being, without beginning or end. The fact that He is eternal by nature prompts the conclusion that He existed before His incarnation.
Christ’s Claim of Pre-Existence
On one occasion when Christ was confronted by enemies, He said, “Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad” (Jn. 8:56). His enemies challenged Him by saying, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” (v. 57). Jesus responded with an astonishing claim: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (v. 58). The word translated “was” in this statement literally means became or came to be and refers to Abraham’s birth (William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 157). Thus, through that statement Christ was claiming that He existed before Abraham was born. In light of that fact, the additional fact that Abraham lived approximately 2,000 years before Christ’s incarnation forces the conclusion that Christ existed before His own human birth.
Pre-Incarnate Appearances of Christ
The Old Testament Scriptures refer to a being who, on several occasions, either appeared or spoke to human beings. Various titles were applied to this being, such as “the angel of the Lord,” “the angel of God,” or “the captain of the host of the Lord.” The Old Testament references reveal that this being was divine, not an angel. The word translated “angel” in the Bible literally means messenger and sometimes refers to beings other than angels.
When, at a specific point in time, He was incarnated in human flesh, He added a complete human nature to His pre-existent, eternal, divine nature.
An example of an appearance by this being is recorded in Exodus 3–4. The person who appeared to Moses in the burning bush is called “the angel of the Lord” (3:2); however, He is identified as “the Lord” and “God” (3:4) and “I am” (3:14). He claimed to be “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (3:6). Moses hid his face from this being, “for he was afraid to look upon God” (3:6). These facts signify that a divine being appeared to Moses. Because the Scriptures clearly teach that no human being has ever seen God the Father (Jn. 1:18; 6:46), it must be concluded that this divine being was not the Father. The Bible also indicates that Christ is the being who reveals God to the world (Jn. 1:18; 14:8–9; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3). It seems evident, then, that Christ was the being who made these appearances to Moses and others in Old Testament times, and these appearances testify to His pre-existence before His incarnation in human flesh.
Christ’s existence did not begin when He was conceived in Mary’s womb and born into the world several months later. As an eternal divine being, He had always existed without beginning and end throughout eternity past and Old Testament history. When, at a specific point in time, He was incarnated in human flesh, He added a complete human nature to His pre-existent, eternal, divine nature. The Word, who existed with God the Father before the beginning of creation, became flesh and dwelt among people on the earth for more than thirty years (Jn. 1:1–3, 14).
The Eternality Of Christ
Temple Baptist Church - 2-5-2014
John 1:1-3
Introduction:
A. As with John’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit begins the First Epistle of John with a statement concerning the eternality of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has many attributes concerning His Person. We are not here to study them but one of them is that He is eternal.
B. Man lives in temporal time or time that has limits both past and future. Everything in temporal time is measured from a point of reference: "past, present, future, before, after, simultaneous, always, later, next year, forever, at 6:00 p.m., etc." Time requires limits but God has no limits.
C. God exists outside of time. God's eternality entails that he has always existed and always will exist; that he has no beginning and no end. Therefore, temporal terms have no significant application to God. If God existed in time when He created all, there would be one thing that He did not create: time! God understands time because He created it. One of the cardinal errors that man makes when think of time and eternity together is that the eternal God is placed in temporal time. God does not exist in temporal time nor is He limited by it.
D. John begins 1 John as he began John’s Gospel with the eternality of Jesus Christ. These two portions of scripture are consistent with the Genesis account of creation found in Genesis 1:1.
1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (Eternality of Christ)
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) The same was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (Eternality, Deity, Equality, and Creator: Jesus Christ)
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Eternality, Deity, Equality, Creatorship)
Colossians 1:15-17 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (16) For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (17) And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
1 Corinthians 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Hebrews 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Hebrews 1:10-12 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: (11) They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; (12) And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
E. The timelessness or eternality of God is the biblical foundation for creation found in Genesis 1:1. This verse declares that “the earth was without form and void” which indicates that creation was ex nihilo, a Latin phrase meaning “out of nothing.”
F. Genesis 1:5 refers to the initial acts of creation as taking place on the “first day.” This is not just the “first day” of creation but the “first day!” Time as we know it began with the first act of creation. This first day was a literal 24 hour period and was described as “the evening and the morning were the first day.” The day began with darkness and ended with light, just the same as our 24 hour day. Our day begins in darkness at 12:00 AM and actually ends at 11:59 PM while God’s day began at app. 6:00 PM in the evening, the same as the Jewish day became. The first day of creation began with darkness on the face of the deep and God declaring, “Let there be light” toward the end of the day.
G. Some great theologians had this to say about the eternality of God:
A. W. Tozer: “In God there is no was or will be, but a continuous and unbroken is. In Him history and propechy are one and the same. Whatever God is His is infinitely.”
Stephen Charnock: “The eternity of God is nothing else but the duration of God, and the duration of God is nothing else but his existence enduring.” It is indeed a high and holy mystery to contemplate that God existed before He created anything. Time dwells within God. He causes, affects, and controls it, and yet does so without time exerting any control or hold on Him. Everything about God is "always" and "I Am". No hour glass can be turned over for the Creator of time, for He is not subject to time!
C. H. Spurgeon: “God’s nature is without beginning and without end, free from all succession of time. God dwells in eternity. Eternity is not just “extended time” but rather is existence above and apart from time. God contains in Himself the cause of time! Time has no control over God and He does not have to work within the strictures of time unless He so pleases. Being eternal, He is free to bestow eternality on His creation in His good pleasure. All of God’s attributes bask in His eternality. Since eternity neither wears out nor runs out, neither do His attributes. The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. Man's life is short and the universe too is perishable but God is eternal. Be encouraged dear suffering saint. The night is almost over and your day is at hand. Take heart, for you will soon spend eternity with the Eternal God! God, being the Author of time, is in no way conditioned by it. He is free to act in relation to time and is equally free to act outside its limitations. Acting in time He said to Abraham,
“Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son” (Ge 18:14).
Thus, again
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son” (Gal 4:4).
Anyone existing before time began at the creation is eternal. And only God is eternal. God was, when nothing else was. He was God when the earth was not a world but a chaos. If God himself were of yesterday, he would not be a suitable refuge for mortals. The eternal existence of God is here mentioned to set forth, by contrast, the brevity of human life."
Norm Geisler: “The Bible declares that God is eternal. He was before time, and he created time. Hence, he cannot be a part of time, though he can relate to time as its Creator in the way a cause relates to its effect. Many verses of Scripture support God’s eternality: “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am’ ” (Ex 3:14)..."The theological grounds for God’s eternality are found in several other attributes. For example, immutability implies eternality, for an immutable being cannot change. But whatever is in time changes. Hence, God cannot be in time. God’s eternality can also be inferred from his infinity. An infinite being has no limits, whereas a temporal being has limits. Hence, God is not a temporal being. Pure actuality is also a ground for eternality. Pure actuality has no potentiality, but whatever is temporal has potentiality. Hence, God is not temporal but eternal."
Warren Wiersbe: “There is a difference between being immortal and being eternal. Man is immortal—that is, his soul will never die; but God is eternal—He has neither beginning nor ending. God existed before the mountains (the most durable thing known in Moses’ day); in fact, He gave birth to the mountains. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we become a part of eternity and possess eternal life."
Dr. Henry Morris: “To the skeptical question as to who made God, the only answer that satisfies all the facts of both science and human reason is that God is "from everlasting." He is the Creator of time as well as space and all things that exist in time and space. This is beyond our mental comprehension, but there is no other rational explanation for our existence, and it is surely compatible with the intuitions of our spiritual comprehension. God satisfies the heart regardless of difficulties conjured in the mind.”
h. Thus, God was preexistent to the first record of time and, therefore, timeless. I want to look at a few verses in order to better get a better comprehension of the incomprehensible. That is an oxymoron for sure! Eternity is God’s signature: it is who He is!
1. Jehovah God Declared Himself To Be Eternal - Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
a. This verse speaks of God’s eternality. It is not “I WAS” but “I AM.” God is a “present tense” God. The sense is of this title for God is not only I am what I am at present, but I am what I have been, and I am what I shall be, and shall be what I am.
b. This verse also speaks of God’s immutability. Every time you find or perceive God, He is always the same. Finite man is subject to change but an infinite God is not because the constancy of His name.
c. This verse speaks of God’s self-existence. Not “I want to be” or “I should be” or “I need to be” or “I will be” but I AM! From before recorded time, Jesus and His Father were one in essence, and sharing equally in the attribute of eternality.
2. Jesus Declared Himself To Be The Eternal Jehovah God. John 8:57-59 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? (58) Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (59) Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. (These verses make it clear that Jesus was claiming to be God in flesh because the Jews, upon hearing this statement, tried to stone Him to death. To the Jews, declaring oneself to be the eternal God was blasphemy worthy of death [Leviticus 24:16].)
3. John Declared Him To Be The Eternal Jehovah God. John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) The same was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (This is a statement of fact, not a subject set forth for argument. The Holy Spirit placed our Lord Jesus with God before time, called Him God, and the Creator of all things in the beginning.)
4. The Heavens Declared Him To Have Both Eternal Existence And Eternal Power - Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Being understood shows the glory of God in His creation fully revealed to mankind. These things cannot be random or by accident as their eternal design require eternal intelligence.)
5. The Word of God Declares His Eternality Throughout - Psalms 90:1-2 Psalms 90:1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
a. Who He Was. Psalms 93:1-2 The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. (2) Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. (Jesus Christ, as Jehovah God, has always existed! John 1:1 corresponds with Genesis 1:1. Jesus Christ was the Potentate of the universe: Designer, Creator, Master, Ruler, and Sustainer!)
b. Who He Became. Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (This reference can only be applied to the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ thus declaring that Christ is Jehovah God and He is eternal.)
c. Who He Remains. Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (God has always existed and will always exist: He is eternal. In Isaiah 57:15, the Bible declares that God “inhabiteth eternity.” The word “inhabiteth” is in a continuing sense and means to perpetually reside or to abide. God does not live in time. In the midst of eternity, God created 7,000 years of time with eternity stretching both before and after. One day soon, time will be no more as the Eternal God will continue to inhabit His eternity!)
III. Conclusions about Christ's Deity and Eternality A. Doctrinal • Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. • Jesus Christ is the Eternal God. B. Practical Positive - In view of who Jesus Christ is we should: love Him with our whole being, worship Him as God, submit to His will for our lives, and obey His every command and teaching. Negative - In view of the Apostolic teaching concerning false teaching about the deity and eternality of Jesus Christ, we should: separate ourselves from anyone who does not teach that Jesus came in the flesh and is the Eternal God. a. If they are teaching in your church, they should be warned and disciplined if necessary. b. If the leaders of your church will not do anything about the false teaching, then separate yourself from the church. On the Son of God His Deity and Eternality 13 of 13 c. Warn others to not support any teacher of false doctrine lest they should share in their wicked work.
DEFINITION
God’s aseity means that he is sufficient to himself, independent of anything outside himself. God’s eternality is his aseity with respect to time: Lord of time, existing above and apart from it, but free to enter it to accomplish his purposes.
SUMMARY
The Bible teaches God’s aseity by saying that he does not need anything beyond himself (Acts 17:24-30). So aseity marks the great difference between creator and creature, but it also guards God’s freedom to enter the creation without compromising himself, to enter relationships with the world and with people. So he saves us from sin, not because he needs to do it, but because of his free gift of grace. God’s eternality is his aseity with respect to time and therefore his lordship over time. Because he is the creator of time, he stands above it, but enters it freely to do his will. He transcends time in that (1) he has no beginning or end, (2) he does not change, (3) he is equally conscious of past, present, and future, and (4) he is not limited by the passing of time in what he can accomplish.
Aseity
The term aseity comes from the Latin phrase a se, meaning “from or by himself.” Bavinck defines it by saying that God “is whatever he is by his own self or of his own self.”1 He adds that aseity is “commonly viewed as the first of the attributes” and even says that “all other attributes were derived from this one.”2 The idea is that God is not in any way dependent on anything outside himself, but he has sufficient resources within himself for all that he is and does. In this way God’s lordship is absolute and independent of anything he has created.
It might seem difficult to find a biblical basis for a concept that seems as philosophical and abstract as this one. The term aseity is not found in Scripture. But this word does express well some ideas about God that are fully biblical.
The Bible teaches that God is a se (“from himself”) first, by teaching that God is the owner of all things, the “possessor of heaven and earth” (Gen 14:19, 22; cf. Psa 24:1, 50:10-12). He is the owner because everything other than God is his creation (Exod 20:11, Psa 146:5-6). Creatures do have possessions of their own, but only by divine gift. When we give something to God, we give him only what he has first given us (Luke 12:42, 16:1-8, Titus 1:7). So when we give something to God, he has no obligation to reimburse us (Luke 17:10). God owes nothing to any creature (Job 41:11, Rom 11:35-36). Now, it is true that God puts himself under obligation to creatures by making covenants and promises. But these obligations are self-imposed, not forced on him by anyone or anything outside himself.
So God has no needs. Psalm 50, for example, teaches us that unlike pagan worship, the worship of the true God is not intended to meet God’s needs, but to acknowledge him for his self-sufficiency and his sufficiency to meet our needs.3 Paul picks up this theme when he speaks to pagan worshipers in Athens (Acts 17:24-30). Because the true God is “the Lord of heaven and earth,” Paul says, he “is not served by human hands as if he needed anything,4 because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.” So we depend utterly on him. He does not depend at all on us. That is the doctrine of God’s aseity.
So although aseity is a philosophical idea, our knowledge of it is, like all other divine attributes, grounded in the practical reality of God as our covenant Lord. We confess his aseity, because such a confession is implicit in the very act of worship in the reverence that the worshiper has for his Lord. Note the connection between aseity and worship in Paul’s prayer of Rom 11:36: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”
Aseity does indicate the vast difference between God and the world. The world is utterly dependent on God; God is not at all dependent on the world.5 But God’s attribute of aseity is not a barrier between himself and the world he has made. Aristotle believed that his god, the “prime mover,” could not love the world, because such love would compromise his self-sufficiency. In his view, a god who loved the world would be dependent on the world, relying on the world to arouse his affection. So his contact with the world would cause him to change. But the biblical God is different. His love for the world is sovereign, given even to beings who show him no affection, who can do nothing for him. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).
Though God does not need the world or anything in it, he freely enters his creation and freely brings upon his creatures blessings and judgments. So when in Jesus Christ he saves his people from their sins, he is not seeking to meet some need in himself. When Scripture says that salvation is by grace alone (Eph 2:8-9), it testifies that God saves, not to meet a need in himself, but entirely to meet ours. Salvation presupposes God’s aseity, for in salvation we are desperate, and God is all-sufficient. Because God is a se, salvation is by grace alone.
Eternity
Given the above discussion, we may define God’s eternity as his aseity in relation to time. We have seen that God has no needs and is therefore independent of anything in creation. But time is itself a creation of God. That means that his relation to time is very different from ours. For us, time often passes too quickly for us to accomplish our purposes, or it passes too slowly to maintain our interest. We often fail to accomplish something because we “did not have enough time.” But since he is a se, God does not depend on time in that way. He always has enough time to accomplish his purposes, and he never has too much. Another way to put it is that God is Lord of time, because he is Lord of everything created.
Theologians have debated the precise difference between time and eternity. I find it helpful to note as I did in the above paragraph that existence in time involves certain limits, and God, because of his aseity, transcends those limits. That transcendence is one biblical way to understand eternity.
Scripture does mention several more specific ways in which God’s eternity transcends time:
God does not have a beginning or end. He exists before the beginning of the created world (Gen 1:1, John 1:1). James Barr says that the early Christians took this “beginning” to include the beginning of time itself.6 So God’s own existence is not only without beginning or end; it is beyond time itself.In important respects, God does not change (Mal 3:6). At the very least, his unchangeability gives him an experience of time very different from ours.7His omniscience8 includes present, past, and future. He sees all times with equal and perfect vividness, for he is the one who has made them what they are.9 This does not mean that all times are indistinguishable for him. He knows that one event happened on Monday, another on Tuesday, and so on, and he understands perfectly the process by which one event flows into the next. So it is misleading to say that there is no “succession of moments” in God’s consciousness. But he does see all events laid out before him, as one can see an entire procession from a high vantage point. This biblical teaching gives us reason for saying that God’s existence is “above time,” not merely continuing through time.As I indicated above, God is not subject to the frustrations that we experience within time. For him, time never passes too slowly (Psa 90:4) or too quickly (2Pet 3:8). As lord, God is fully in control of the temporal sequence, structuring the whole history of the world to accomplish his unique purposes (Gal 4:4, Acts 1:7, cf. 17:26, Mark 13:32).So for God time is never a limit. He is sovereign over it, the lord of time. That is the important point. Theologians sometimes argue over whether God is “in time” or “outside time.” A better way to think of this is to confess that time is God’s creation. As lord, he is in full control of it, and he authoritatively sets its boundaries. We should note also, however, that because time is God’s creation he is able to enter it at his discretion. So the biblical story is a story of the eternal God who enters the history he has foreordained to befriend temporal creatures and to save them from sin, as well as to judge the wicked.
With regard to time as with regard to everything else, God is lord of the world he has made: the supreme controller, the supreme authority, and the inescapable presence.
Truth about Christ’s Deity and Eternality The Truth about Christ’s Deity and Eternality is in God’s Word, the Holy Bible. It is not in any other writing or teaching of man. Read these verses to see some of what God’s Word states about Christ’s Deity and Eternality. • Matthew 4:5-7 & 14:25-33 & 16:13-16 • Mark 5:6-8 & 14:55-65 • Luke 22:66-70 • John 1:1-5, 14-18 & 5:16-24 & 20:31 • Acts 2:36-39 • Colossians 1:15-17 • Philippians 2:5-11 • 1 Timothy 3:14-16 • Titus 2:13 • Hebrews 1:1-14 • 2 Peter 1:1 (according to the strict grammatical construction of the passage, “God” and “Savior” are both predicates of “Jesus Christ.” • 1 John 2:22-23 • 1 John 4:1-3 • 2 John 7