“Preexistence” is an awkward word. It looks like it needs a hyphen (pre-existence) or a diaeresis (preëxistence). Plus, the “pre” in preexistence begs to be clarified:

Insurance Agent: Do you have any pre-existing conditions?
Patient: Yes. Wait. I have a condition, and it exists.
Insurance Agent: So does it preexist?
Patient: Well, if it preexists, wouldn’t that mean it doesn’t exist yet? That it’s in a state previous to existence? Like “pre”-mature is before maturity?
Insurance Agent: (pause) Do you have a preexisting condition?
Patient: No, my condition is already in existence.
Insurance Agent: What I mean is, does your condition exist prior to your buying this insurance policy?
Patient: Oh, I see. Yes, my condition already exists previous to buying the policy.
Insurance Agent: Okay, we can deal with that. Will this be prepaid?
Patient: Yes. Wait. Aren’t we already previous to payment? If I pay now, won’t that make me postpaid?

In Christian theology, the “pre” in the doctrine of the preexistence of Christ is a reference to his incarnation, which is what he exists pre. Previous to the Word becoming flesh (John 1:14) by taking on human nature, the person Jesus Christ already was. Admittedly, it’s odd to call this person “Jesus Christ” before his birth in Bethlehem and his receiving a human name (Jesus) and title (Messiah, Christ), but we have to call him something, and “unincarnate Logos” is just not warm enough. When Paul calls him this (”have the same mind as was in Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God…” Phil. 2:5-6), he’s using the kind of shorthand we use when we say, “The sixteenth president of the United States was born in this cabin.” At the time he was born, of course, he wasn’t the sixteenth president of the USA, he was a mewling infant. And before Abe Lincoln was a mewling infant, he was nothing, unless you want to count as preexistence such things as a twinkle in his father’s eye, or the plan for Lincoln in the foreknowing mind of God.

Unlike Abe Lincoln, Jesus Christ was somebody before he was the mewling infant of the first Christmas.

That Christ preexisted Christmas is easy to see and easy to say. (more…)