Zeichman

Are there other verses which support your reading of Jesus being the pre-existent Son of God in Pauline literature?

Amaleq13

You never answered my question ("Well, if this entity was not the Messiah or the Son of God prior to incarnating, what was he?") but I continue to be interested in your answer.

With regard to your question (YLT used):

"for what the law was not able to do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, His own Son having sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, did condemn the sin in the flesh," (Rom 8:3)

"He who indeed His own Son did not spare, but for us all did deliver him up, how shall He not also with him the all things grant to us?" (Rom 8:32)

Zeichman

Sorry. The simple answer: I don't know.
Gotcha. I'm kind of skeptical on the pre-existent divine sonship of the former, but the latter definitely works in your favor. Thanks.

robto

J.D.G. Dunn in Christology In The Making, p.38, says
citing Rom 5:10, 8:32, and Gal 2:20.

But his overall conclusion about Paul is that he did NOT consider Christ as a pre-existent being who was incarnated as Jesus - a view he contends appeared only with the Fourth Gospel.

If you haven't read Dunn, read him!

Hallandale

I recommend the book "Hebrew Gospel of Matthew" by George Howard, Professor of Religion, University of Georgia. Mercer University Press 1995

The book contains the text of the Shem-Tob Hebrew Matthew. It also contains an analysis of the differences between the Greek Text and this Hebrew Matthew.

One of the interesting things in the Shem-Tob Matthew is that it never uses the words "christ" or "messiah" as an identification of Jesus.
It also uses "the name" to symbolize the Divine Name. [The Tetragrammaton]
It also does not contain the Trinitarian Formular found in Matthew 28:19

A very interesting book.

Hallandale

Johnny Skeptic

I would like for Christians to post which Old Testament prophecies they believe that Jesus fulfilled. I am not aware that Jesus fulfilled any of them. Other than "the Bible says so," there is no evidence that Jesus "was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed," Isaiah 53:5. There is no evidence that Jesus rode a donkey into the streets of Jerusalem. A good deal of scholarship disputes that Jesus "made his grave with the wicked," reference Isaiah 53:9. There is no evidence that Jesus became "ruler in Israel," reference Micah 5:2. It is off-topic, but it is worth mentioning that other than "the Bible says so," there is no evidence that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin, never sinned, and healed people. Why are fundamentalist Christians so gullible? Could it be that their desire for a comfortable eternal life has caused them to rubber stamp everything in the Bible lest God disown them?