Paul Enns
states, “The eternality and deity of
Christ are inseparably linked together. Those who deny His eternality also deny
His deity. If the deity of Christ is established, there is no problem accepting
His eternality.”[1]
There
are many passages both in the Old and New Testament that clearly affirm the
eternality of Jesus Christ. This list of passages is not meant to be an
exhaustive one:
Old Testament
(1) Micah 5:2 – this verse clearly teaches that
although Jesus was physically born in Bethlehem
(2) Isa. 9:6 – in this passage, Christ is called
the “Eternal Father,” not to be
understood that Christ is the Father but rather the He also possesses the title
of Father, a designation that clearly implies His pre-existence and eternality.
New Testament
(1) John 1:1 – the word “was” in the Greek stresses continual existence in the past. What
John is saying is that as far back as one can possibly go, Jesus was
continually existing. John clearly affirms His eternality by simply stating
that there was never a time when Christ was not.
(2) John 8:58 – two points to be made here. First,
Jesus here claimed to have been existing before Abraham was born. But how could
this be when everybody knew that Jesus was in His early thirties? Because Jesus
never had a beginning, He has forever existed. Second, notice that the crowds
wanted to stone Him, why? Because He used the name of God for Himself, He
claimed to be “I AM,” He was claiming to be God, claiming to be Divine.
(3) Heb. 1:8 – the author of this epistle states, “Your throne, O God, will last forever and
ever…,” a clear reference to the eternality of Christ.
[1] Paul
Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago:
Moody, 1989), p. 215.
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