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The doctrine of the pre-existence (or preexistence) of Christ asserts the ontological or personal existence of Christ before his conception. One of the relevant Bible passages is where, in the Trinitarian interpretation, Christ is identified with a pre-existent divine hypostasis called the Logos or Word. There are other, non-Trinitarian views, that question the aspect of personal pre-existence, or the aspect of divinity, or both. This doctrine is reiterated in John 17:5 when Jesus refers to the glory which he had with the Father "before the world was" during the Farewell discourse.〔''Creation and Christology'' by Masanobu Endo 2002 ISBN 3-16-147789-8 page 233〕 John 17:24 also refers to the Father loving Jesus "before the foundation of the world".〔 ==Trinitarian belief in the doctrine== The concept of the pre-existence of Christ is a central tenet of the doctrine of the Trinity. Trinitarian Christology explores the nature of Christ's pre-existence as the Divine hypostasis called the Logos or Word, described in the passage , which begins: This "Word" is also called God the Son or the Second Person of the Trinity. Theologian Bernard Ramm noted that "It has been standard teaching in historic Christology that the Logos, the Son, existed before the incarnation. That the Son so existed before the incarnation has been called the pre-existence of Christ."〔Bernard L. Ramm, ''(An Evangelical Christology: Ecumenic and Historic )'', 1983, reprinted by Regent College Publishing, 1993, ISBN 1-57383-008-9, p. 47.〕 Other aspects of Christology explore the incarnation of this Divine being as the man Jesus. In the words of the Nicene Creed, Christ "came down from heaven, and was incarnate." Some Protestant theologians believe that God the Son emptied himself〔Philippians 2:7, as translated in the New Revised Standard Version or Holman Christian Standard Bible.〕 of divine attributes in order to become human, in a process called ''kenosis'', while others reject this.〔Pope Pius XII condemned this in 1951 in (Sempiternus Rex Christus ), and Protestant theologian Wayne Grudem likewise denies it in his ''Systematic Theology'' (Inter-Varsity Press, 1994, ISBN 0-85110-652-8, pp. 549–552).〕 Douglas McCready, in his analysis and defence of the pre-existence of Christ,〔Douglas McCready. ''He Came Down From Heaven: The Preexistence of Christ and the Christian Faith''. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2005.〕 notes that whereas the preexistence of Christ "is taken for granted by most orthodox Christians, and has been since New Testament times",〔McCready, p. 11.〕 during the past century the doctrine has been increasingly questioned by less orthodox theologians and scholars.〔 James D.G. Dunn, in his book ''Christology in the Making'',〔James D. G. Dunn, ''Christology in the Making: A New Testament inquiry into the origins of the doctrine of the Incarnation'', 2nd ed, Eerdmans, 1996, ISBN 0-8028-4257-7.〕 examines the development of this doctrine in early Christianity, noting that it is "beyond dispute"〔Dunn, p. 239.〕 that in , "the Word is pre-existent, and Christ is the pre-existent Word incarnate,"〔 but going on to explore possible sources for the concepts expressed there, such as the writings of Philo. When the Trinity is depicted in art, the Logos is normally shown with the distinctive appearance, and cruciform halo that identifies Christ; in depictions of the Garden of Eden this looks forward to an Incarnation yet to occur. In some Early Christian sarcophagi the Logos is distinguished with a beard, "which allows him to appear ancient, even preexistent."〔Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal Carl Parsons, ''(Interpreting Christian Art: Reflections on Christian art )'', Mercer University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-86554-850-1, pp. 32–35.〕 Apart from and other New Testament passages, some Trinitarian groups also consider a number of Old Testament texts as supporting or consistent with the doctrine, including Gen. 3:13–15, Gen. 49:10, Job 19:25–29, Num. 24:5–7, Jos. 5:13–15, Ps. 2:7–12, Ps. 22, Ps. 110:1, Pro. 30:1, Isa. 9:6–7, Isa. 53, Dan. 3:24–25, and Dan. 9:24–27. For example, Tertullian in ''Against Marcion'' Ch.21 sees a pre-existent appearance of Christ in the fiery furnace of one who is "like the son of man (for he was not yet really son of man)" 〔Robert, Rev. A. ''The Ante-nicene Fathers: the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325'' p381〕 The identification of specific appearances of Christ is increasingly common in evangelical literature from the 1990s onwards, for example, W. Terry Whalin states that the fourth person in the fiery furnace is Christ, and that "These appearances of Christ in the Old Testament are known as Theophanies or 'appearances of God' ".〔W. Terry Whalin ''Alpha Teach Yourself the Bible in 24 Hours'' Page 119〕 Other non-Trinitarian Christians with belief in pre-existence (see ''Section 2'' below) may have different or similar interpretations of such verses. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pre-existence of Christ」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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