Does the NT authors use of "God sent his only son" imply...

kcew32b@prodigy.com
Wed, 31 Jul 96 15:36:16

I came into an interesting perspective and I wanted to know from
those on the list I have come to trust if the argument holds
exegetical water. The question is, does the NT authors' use of
"God sent his only son..." imply the assumption of the pre-existance
of Jesus before his birth. Clearly John's gospel has this in
mind, but the usage of the word "sent" is more widespread than that.

The idea being that in English the word send implies that you have what
you are sending in your possession. Does the Greek shed any evidence on
this issue.

Another way of asking the question is, "How early in the church tradition is
the doctrine of Jesus' preexistance?" and a follow-up question is, "What
evidence for doctrine of the Trinitarian formula of persons in the Godhead
is there in the NT texts."

I know that these are controversial religious issues, and I am not trying to
stir that fire. I am primarily interested in the arguement that the "sent"
formulations are evidence of an early doctrine of Jesus' pre-existance which
reaches its full expression in John.

Please post back to the list as I am in the process of changing email services.

Michael Peterson