Weekly Update |   August 3, 2023

On the Pre-existence of Man

Dmitriy Zherebnenkov

I. The claim for pre-existence

The idea of the pre-existence of man has to do with an improper interpretation of several texts in Scripture that talk about people as “gods.” Further below we’ll look at these texts. But first, let’s look at the initial claim.

“Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” (John 10:34-36)

“God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment… I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.’” (Ps. 82:1, 6-7)

There are a few more such texts that refer to the “divine council” or “son of God” (Job 2:1; 38:7; Ps. 29:1; Is. 14:13). Looking at these texts, some people conclude that these are not angels but people who have been and are before God until they come to the earth and are born. Before Satan’s rebellion (Rev. 12:4) some people in heaven fell victim to the temptation and fell away from God’s side, however, later they again wanted to return to Him. Now, having come to the earth in the flesh, they live to show that in the past, before their incarnation, they chose to be on God’s side since He promised them eternal life (Tit. 1:2).

The parable about the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) is used as an illustration that we, people, left God’s house and fellowship with the Creator. When we come into this world (John 1:9) we receive an avatar (shell) for our soul, which supposedly had already existed.

(Deut. 32:18): “You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.” This text is used to suggest that a person’s soul allegedly pre-existed and when a person comes to the earth, God merely “builds” him a “hut,” a body.

II. Principles of creation

In order to have a correct understanding of man’s nature, we must first turn to the beginning chapters of Scripture. We must be honest and not depart from clear and direct passages to twisted and questionable sayings from Job’s friends (Job 4:18; 15:15), especially when God Himself said that they did not speak about Him as clearly as Job.

In the first two chapters of Genesis, we find a very important explanation of man’s nature—man was created as many theologians of the past summarized, ex nihilo, meaning “out of nothing.” This is the first principle demonstrated in Genesis 1, that God creates out of nothing.

“And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.” (Gen. 1:6-7) Interpreters of Scripture admit that when God simply spoke, that which did not exist came into existence. This is a miracle, and it repeats all six days of creation.

The word ברא (berah) is used to explain the creation of the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). This same word is also used when describing the creation of the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves (Gen. 1:21). What’s most interesting is that this same word is used when describing the creation of man (Gen. 1:27)! To emphasize this point further, ברא (berah) is even used twice in this same verse. Why? To show a clear parallel between the creation of the world and everything in it and man. There’s sameness. Yes, this word can also be used in describing the creation out of already existing materials, such as in the case of Eve being made from Adam’s rib, but the context of Genesis 1 is not that all creation somehow pre-existed and was merely brought out into reality. It was totally not-existent! Creation is not eternal. Only God is eternal.

If this is so, then as the world came into being out of nothing, since it didn’t previously exist, in the same way man did not exist until God breathed into him the breath of life (Gen. 2:7).

If man existed before creation, then Genesis 1:26 implies that man only has the image of God represented by the body. But we understand that being made in the image of God means that a person is different from animals who were not made in God’s image. To be made in the image of God means that one is able to make decisions, have moral values, have emotions, and have the ability to rule over creation. This was all created on the sixth day and in no way existed beforehand. If man existed before this, when God said, “Let Us make man in our image,” then all that would have been done at creation is the creation of the body. But the image of God means that it is more! At a minimum it points to the inner being of a person.

Thus, we see in the beginning chapters of Genesis the principle of ex nihilo, that there was absolutely no material that was used to create both the world and man.

III. The coming of Jesus Christ and the ministry of the angels

The coming of Jesus Christ and his ministry, as well as the ministry of the angels, teach us something about memory. Thing is, if a person existed before coming to the earth, then he should at least remember something from his previous experience. But as far as I can tell, neither do I or many other millions of people have any such memory!

Christ clearly speaks about the glory which He had before the world existed (John 17:5) and the love which the Father had for His Son before the “foundation of the world” (John 17:24).

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)

Jesus existed before the creation of the world, and He clearly remembered that.

The angels and spiritual forces of evil would clearly remember what they saw and heard before they would come to the earth. In the beginning chapters of Job, we find that Satan remembered the words and limitations to his actions on earth. In Daniel 10, the angel tells Daniel what was happening before he came to help him.

Furthermore, the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) shows that when a person departs from the earth and goes into the future, either into torment or heaven, he keeps his memory. The rich man remembered about his unbelieving brothers and was willing for them to be saved.

We can thus conclude that a memory of the past is an important tool that God uses for creation to properly function and maintain truth. If this is so, then our complete inability to remember even simple things like our pre-existence tells us that there was no such thing.

IV. The study of a few texts

Before we look at the driving force of the pre-existence theory, let’s first try to see how God elects and chooses people before creation. We read in Ephesians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

We don’t have a need to help God and try to protect him from being “harsh” to those who are not considered “the elect.” Our understanding of justice does not see the full context. We try to fight with the thought of election because somewhere deep down we feel like every sinner who will end up in hell will be there unjustly. Nothing could be further from the truth when looking at the Bible! No one in hell will ever be able to say, “I ended up here unfairly.” In the same way, no one in heaven will be able to say, “I ended up here because I deserved it.” Every person has earned to be tormented  in hell because of a simple reason—the sin of disbelief. But the fact that God, by His great mercy and love, stops this cruel rebellion against the Creator in certain people, is really the injustice! This is both grace and mercy at the same time! Why is this so complicated? For the praise of his glorious grace (Eph. 1:6)! So that no one would boast (Eph. 2:9).

And now some difficult texts…

1. “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” (John 9:1-2)

Reading this quickly it’s possible to miss the detail of the disciples asking about the man having possibly sinned before his birth. The pre-existence theory concludes that a person must have existed prior and was able to make certain decisions before his birth. But knowing the context of all of Scripture, we can accurately figure out what’s going on here. How could the disciples even come up with such an idea?

In Genesis 25:22 we read, “The children struggled together within her…” This is speaking about a struggle with the goal to harm one another. Even while being born, Jacob was not done fighting and grabbed on to the heel of his brother as if to signify that he didn’t agree with his being born first. Perhaps the disciples used this incident to conclude that a person could somehow sin in his mother’s womb before birth and receive blindness as punishment.

2. “Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” (John 10:34-36)

“God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment… I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.’” (Ps. 82:1, 6-7)

In these texts we find the word “gods” used to refer to some entities that will die, like princes. We need to be honest to the context of this Psalm, which is talking about those who are not judging fairly and giving justice to the weak and orphans (Ps. 82:3). The call of this Psalm is for these “gods” to begin to judge righteously and help the weak and needy (Ps. 82:4). If these are people before they came to the earth, then their injustice and right judgment toward the weak simply makes no sense! Perhaps these are angels? No, they don’t die. Verse 7 says that these will die like people and will fall like any prince.

If we look at verse 8 then we can realize that the Psalmist is illustrating to himself how God judges the mighty and princes of the people. The author imagines to himself how God would judge those to whom He gave authority, who then subsequently betrayed Him and necessitated God to again take control of the reins.

How can we come to this conclusion? In Exodus 22:8-9, 28, different translations use the word “judge” while others use “God.” The Hebrew word used is Elohim. Who is this? This is the human lord, prince, or ruler. These are people who had authority and to whom people would be subject, even worshiping them (Judges 5:8).

“I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise… All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth” (Ps. 138:1, 4). If we look at the whole, the gods that David mentions in the first verse are clarified in the fourth as the kings!

3. Now how about Titus 1:2? Who received the promise before the ages began?

“…in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began…”

Answer: Not to us but to the Son of God! God the Father gave believers to His Son (John 17:2, 5, 24) and this He promised before creating the world.

From this we can conclude that the pre-existence of mankind is a doctrine that is formed only by improperly interpreting certain biblical texts. Why is it important to talk about this? Because in essence this theory removes the necessity of a person to choose and repent before God. Since my fate has been decided by me even before I came into the world, then there’s no need to worry about and evangelize to people around me, since every person has already previously decided to be with God or against Him. This doctrine contradicts many other biblical texts which call believers to evangelize and save sinners from the coming judgment and eternal torment. Logically in the pre-existence theory, those who will come to God will come not because God calls them, but because they already chose to come to Him in the past. With this type of interpretation of Scripture, all the glory belongs to man as the one who made the decision, however, this goes completely against one of the most important principles of the Gospel—all the glory belongs only to God (Eph. 2:9). The sinfulness of man and his guilt due to his sinful nature is inherited from Adam, not from a bad choice in eternity (Rom. 5:12-19).

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