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QUESTIONS:
Where do we come from?
Did we (our spirits) exist before our physical bodies were created on earth?
Did mankind live with God in heaven before living on earth?
Does the Bible every mention when our spirits were created?
Are there any mention of spirits existing prior to the physical/Genesis creation?
VIEWS TO CONSIDER:
EVANGELICAL VIEW: Mankind came into existing when they were conceived/born on earth. Before our mortal lives, mankind did not exist in any form.
LATTER DAY SAINT VIEW: All of mankind (mortal men and women, Jesus and angels/heavenly messengers… that is, spirit children of God the Father) lived with God as spirits before they were born to physical bodies on earth. Genesis gives the account of the physical creation (not the creation of spirits). God placed our already existing spirits in our newly created physical bodies. After our physical death, we will “return” to God’s presence from whence we came.
CONTENT:
Genesis creation account never mentions the creation of man’s spirit
Genesis creation account recounts the creation of our physical bodies
God = The Father of our spirits
Spirits “return” to God after the physical body dies
“Breath of life” (spirit) is placed in the physical body
Our substance was imperfect before birth (?)
God knew, saw, chose and made promises to mankind before our physical birth
Some spirits (“sons of God” etc.) existed before the Genesis creation
Jesus existed as a spirit before his physical birth
Pilgrims / strangers on earth, men are
Metaphors that suggest a pre-mortal life with God
Apostles believed in pre-mortal life (?)
Angels (the spirits that existed with God before the physical creation) are humans
Other passages
GENESIS CREATION ACCOUNT NEVER MENTIONS THE CREATION OF OUR SPIRITS:
Genesis 1-2
GENESIS CREATION RECOUNTS THE CREATION OF OUR PHYSICAL BODIES:
Gen. 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground
Isa. 44:2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee
GOD = THE FATHER OF OUR SPIRITS:
Heb. 12:9 We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Note: This passage shows that there are two parts to us, spirit and physical, and that God is the Father of our spirits. Since the Genesis creation does not mention the creation of our spirits, it is implied that our spirits must have been fathered/created of God some time before the physical creation recorded in Genesis.
SPIRITS “RETURN” TO GOD AFTER DEATH OF PHYSICAL BODY:
Eccl. 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto the God that gave it
“BREATH OF LIFE” (SPIRIT) IS PLACED INTO PHYSICAL BODY:
Gen. 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Note: The Hebrew word used here for “breathe” , “nis’mat“, is the same word used for “spirit“, ex. Prov. 20:27, suggesting that God placed our spirit into our newly created bodies)
Eccl. 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto the God that gave it
OUR SUBSTANCE WAS IMPERFECT BEFORE BIRTH?
Ps. 139:14-16 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well, My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect
Note: This passage seems to imply that man existed as some type of “substance” which was present and seen of God while God created our physical bodies from the “earth“. could be viewed in different ways. It also seems to suggest that in that pre-earth state, we (our substance) was “yet unperfect“. This “yet unperfect substance” could be referring to our not yet organized physical bodies, OR it may be suggesting that having both spirit and physical substance (as we are now) is more perfect than being simply spirit only. This idea does seem to align with the view that God has both a spirit and physical body after which physical image our bodies were patterned (see the page “God: Image and Likeness?“) and it explains gives additional explanation as to why the resurrection of our physical bodies through Christ is so important (that is, why couldn’t we just live as spirits in heaven after this life – why was the resurrection so important that Jesus had to die in order to bring it about?!)
GOD KNEW, SAW, CHOSE, AND MADE PROMISES TO MANKIND BEFORE OUR PHYSICAL BIRTH:
(Note: These passages could logically/linguistically be interpreted as pre-mortal existence or as expressions of God’s foreknowledge of us. To know which interpretation is true, we must look at the rest of scripture, including the other passages on this webpage)
Eph. 1:4 He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world
Jer. 1:5 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations
Ps. 139:14-16 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well, My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them
Titus 1:2 Eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began
SOME SPIRITS (“SONS OF GOD” ETC.) EXISTED BEFORE THE GENESIS CREATION:
Job 38:7 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth… when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day
Rev. 12:7-9 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven, And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him
Note: See page on “Angels: Who Are They?” (once it’s created)
JESUS EXISTED AS A SPIRIT PRIOR TO PHYSICAL BIRTH:
1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life
1 Peter 1:19-20 Christ…. who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God
John 7:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou loved me before the foundation of the world
Ps. 8:22-31 The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.
When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.
PILGRIMS / STRANGERS ON EARTH:
Heb. 11:13 [The prophets and our fathers] were strangers and pilgrims on the earth
Matt. 18:11 The Son of man is come to save that which was lost
Note: This pilgrim/stranger language strongly suggest that we came from another place. “Lost” suggests that we were once not lost, not sinners, not cast out of God’s presence. This could be referring to all of mankind or solely to Adam and Eve having once been in the garden with God and without sin.
METAPHORS SUGGEST A PRE-MORTAL LIFE WITH GOD:
1 Peter 2:25 Ye were as sheep going astray; but now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls
APOSTLES BELIEVED IN PRE-MORTAL LIFE?
John 9:2 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
1 Tim. 6:7 We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out
ANGELS ARE HUMANS? It is generally accepted that beings called “angels” in the Bible did exist as spirits with God before the physical creation of the world. However, what many do not realize is that there the word “angel” simply means “messenger”, it is not the name of another race or species. Much of the Bible suggests that the heavenly messengers in scripture are actually humans (either before or after their mortal life on earth).
See the page “Angels: Who Are They?” for these supporting passages.
OTHER PASSAGES:
1 Cor. 15:46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual (Context = mortal life and physical resurrection, not our lives before birth on earth)
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