Image Of God - Tumblr Posts
He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together [subsist].
Colossians 1:15-17
THE NAME AND PREEXISTENCE OF JESUS WAS KNOWN AND ATTESTED BY PRE-CHRISTIAN SOURCES
If the New Testament (NT) was written in advance, as I have suggested, then one could reasonably argue that the NT writers knew of Jesus before he became man by way of revelations, including Paul as well as Philo who preceded him.
Case in point. Philo of Alexandria is a Jewish mystic philosopher and theologian who is writing between 20 - 40 CE, thus predating the New Testament writings.
In his "Confusion of Tongues" pp. 62-63 and pp. 146-47 as well as in his work entitled "On Dreams" 1.215, he attests that there existed within the Jewish Angelology of that period a belief in a celestial being - who in Zechariah 6 LXX is named Jesus - and that it is precisely this archangel who is considered to be the firstborn son of God (cf. Rom. 8.29), the celestial image of God (cf. 2 Cor. 4.4), God's agent of creation (cf. 1 Cor. 8.6), and God's celestial high priest (cf. Heb. 2.17, 4.14).
Source credit: Richard Carrier
In fact, Philo often refers to him as the Logos (cf. John 1.1) or the highest emanation of God. Similarly, many Christian scholars consider Jesus to be the preincarnated so-called "Angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament!
Thus, despite vast doctrinal and philosophical differences, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the name and preexistence of Jesus was known and attested by multiple independent sources!
