Problems with Socinianism

Christ claimed to have come “from above,” [Jn. 3:31; 8:23.]  “from God,” [Jn. 13:2; 8:42; 13:3; 16:27, 28, 30; 17:8; cf. 1:14.]  and “from heaven.” [Jn. 3:13, 31.]  These texts must refer to a conscious existence in heaven alongside God, because Christ bore witness to what he had “seen and heard” when he was in heaven. (Jn. 3:31, 32) He must have literally and consciously existed in heaven to have seen and heard things there. Similarly, he was “sent into the world,” [Jn. 1:9; 9:39; 12:46; 18:37; 16:28.]  (Jn. 3:20) which implies that he was not always in the world. If Christ had a prehuman existence, all of these statements are easily explained, and are even to be expected; however, if he did not have a preexistence these are bizarre statements. At Jn. 6:46, Jesus claimed to have been the only man to have ever “seen God,” this refers to literally seeing God in heaven, because while other prophets had seen God in visions, only Christ had literally seen God in heaven, and descended from heaven. (Jn. 3:13; 6:62) 

To explain away the texts where Christ claims to have been sent from heaven into the world, Socinians have usually claimed that the man Jesus Christ ascended into heaven sometime during his earthly ministry, to receive instruction from God, and then descended again. [Thomas Rees, The Racovian Catechism: With Notes and Illustrations, translated from the Latin (London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster Row, 1818), pp. 170, 171.]  However, the Bible does tell us when he was in heaven with the Father, at John 17:5, Jesus Christ prayed,

 “Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was.”

He previously “had” glory with the Father in heaven, before the world was, and he asks to have this glory returned to him. If I were to ask, “give me the car I had in the 80s,” you would have no trouble understanding this statement. I once had a car in the 80s, and I want it back. The plain meaning of the passage is that Christ existed alongside God in glory before the world was created, and asked for this glory to be restored. If Christ was not alive before the creation of the world, is he requesting to cease existing and be reduced to a thought in God’s mind? Christians are said to presently ‘have’ grace stored up with God, but never is it said that they once “had'' glory ‘with God’ before the world was, and will have this glory returned to them. (2Tim. 1:9) 

None of what has been said threatens the humanity of Jesus Christ, when the Word became flesh, he was a man because that is all he was. He was not simultaneously a man and a spirit, he transformed from a spirit into flesh. The verb ginomai used in Jn. 1:14 is also used in Matt. 4:3 where stones are said to “become” bread, and in both cases, it signifies a metamorphosis. 

There is simply no good reason to deny that Christ had a preexistence, this is a doctrine explicitly taught in the scriptures and through denying it many degrade the dignity and honor of Jesus Christ by ignoring billions of years of his faithful service to God.

 Socinian and “Biblical Unitarian” writers reduce the Gospel of John to an allegory, and offer strange interpretations of the many texts which describe Christ as existing before the world was. It is far simpler to believe that Jesus of Nazareth had a prehuman existence, once this is accepted, the many verses which describe him as leaving heaven, existing before the universe, seeing God, mediating creation and so on, are easily explained. There is no need for ad-hoc or complicated ways to avoid the straightforward meaning of verses like Col. 1:16 or Jn. 17:5. I ask everyone to observe the case presented by each side, and to test each to determine which viewpoint explains all of the Biblical data simply. Thank you all for your time.

Not only is the Son “from heaven” but he has the ability to ‘testify regarding heavenly things.’ (Joh. 3:12) The author explains why the Son can testify about heavenly things, “He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.” (Joh. 3:31, 32) The Son can testify of heavenly things because he has “seen and heard” things in heaven.