The Premortal Existence of All Men

#The Premortal Existence of Man

A premortal existence? There is no evidence of a premortal existence in the Bible. Christ existed before coming to earth, but man did not.

For a more complete discussion of the premortal existence of man, please see “The Premortal World” in volume 1, chapter 4 of Ye Shall Know of the Doctrine.

Several biblical references refer to Christ’s premortal existence (Revelation 13:8; 19:13-16; John 1:1, 3; 8:56-58; 17:5; 1 Peter 1:19-20; D&C 93:6-9), but what about the pre-existence of all mankind? Consider the following scriptural references:

1. Jeremiah 1:5 The Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah: “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.” Note particularly the words knew, sanctified, and ordained. These are the steps in the process of foreordination and logically apply not just to Jeremiah, but to all of the Lord’s prophets. The Lord knew Jeremiah prior to his birth and was familiar with his spiritual attitudes and abilities. Because of Jeremiah’s obedience and diligence in the premortal world, he was sanctified, that is he grew in spiritual stature as he received gifts of the Spirit. He was then ordained, or foreordained a prophet to ancient Judah even before his birth.

2. God the Father is referred to in the Old Testament as “the God of the spirits of all flesh” (Numbers 27:16). We are told that when we die the body returns to the earth and “the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

3. Job 38:4, 7 In the book of Job, the Lord Jehovah implies that Job was alive when he (Jehovah) created the earth: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. . . . When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” The Lord also refers to a glorious premortal day when “all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Why would the Lord ask Job where he was during this event, if Job had not also had a prior existence? If all the sons of God shouted for joy, did they not also have a premortal existence?

4. The New Testament references include Paul’s reference to the “fathers of our flesh” and “the Father of spirits [God]” (Hebrews 12:9). Paul further indicates that he and other followers were chosen by Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).

5. Christ himself clearly had a premortal existence. We are taught by John that Jesus “was in the beginning with God” and later “was made flesh” (John 1:2, 14). Christ suggested to his disciples that he would “ascend up where he was before” (John 6:62). Jesus helped create this earth (see John 1:1-3), and he speaks of his own life before this life, when he tells his apostles that he lived before Abraham (see John 8:58) and that he came forth from the Father and would leave the world to go again to the Father (see John 16:28). In his last prayer in Gethsemane, Christ asks God to glorify him “with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5). In perhaps the most direct statement of all, John says, in the New Testament, “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven” (John 3:13).

6. Colossians 1:15 “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” See also Hebrews 1:6 and Romans 8:29. These verses teach that Christ was the “firstborn” of every creature and that he is our elder brother. Does this refer to the birth of Christ’s body of flesh and bones? Certainly not. There were hundreds of millions who were born upon our earth before the body of Jesus was born. How then is he our elder brother? We must go back to the previous birth, to the point when he was begotten of the Father with a body of spirit.

7. John 9:2 “And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” The question itself, along with Jesus’s answer, implies a premortal life for the blind man. The disciples assumed the man’s blindness was due to sin. Since he was born blind, when might the man or his parents have committed the sin? The only conceivable time is in some premortal state. Christ said nothing to correct any mistaken presupposition about a premortal existence, but he did correct the notion that the blindness was due to transgression. He said, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:3).

8. See also examples of Paul’s teachings on God’s foreknowledge and foreordination of men and nations (Acts 17:26; Romans 9:4-11); and Paul’s statements that man is the “offspring of God” (Acts 17:29; Romans 8:16). In addition, Paul, Jude, and John have described the War in Heaven where angels “kept not their first estate” (Jude 1:6) and where Michael and his angels fought against Lucifer (Revelation 12:7; see also Isaiah 14:13; Luke 10:18).

There is also abundant reference in the documents of antiquity to the concept of a premortal existence. The sources of these documents include the ancient Greek writers (Socrates, Plato, Cicero, Seneca), Jewish theologians, apocryphal and other writings (from Qumran, Nag Hammadi, and the Mandaeans), and early Christian writers (Brent L. Top, The Life Before, 1-36).

In A. 543, the Roman emperor, Justinian, coerced the pope to convene a council to reject the teachings of Origen of Alexandria, a third century Christian theologian. Origen had been particularly influential and prolific in writing of man’s premortal existence and immortality. In an edict known as the Anathemas Against Origen, the teachings of Origen were declared heresy in the Church. From this date on, the doctrine of man’s premortal state and relationship to God was viewed as heretical and unfounded in scripture of early Christian religious thought. Today conventional Christianity vehemently rejects the notion of a premortal existence and ignores the fact that the doctrine was widely taught prior to that Council of AD 543.

Today there are several modern-day Christian scholars who view this council and its repudiation of Origen’s teachings with a degree of regret and skepticism (Ibid., 18- 19).

Joseph Fielding McConkie concluded his review of apocryphal writings having to do with a premortal existence as follows: “The doctrines of premortal existence, heavenly councils, and foreordinations were all a part of the theology of the ancient saints and as such are a necessary part of the promised restoration of all things. Not found in the theology of the rest of the so-called Bible-believing world, these doctrines stand as an evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that ours is an ancient church restored. . . . These doctrines, of such importance to the ancient saints, have been restored once again to a place of prominence among the saints of the latter days.” (Apocryphal Writings and the Latter-day Saints, 194-95.)

The doctrine of man’s premortal existence was one of the “plain and precious” doctrines that were lost from the Bible (1 Nephi 13:28-29). In spite of this loss, as pointed out above, there are still several biblical glimpses which remain. Coupled with modern revelation (Alma 13:3; Moses 3:5; 4:1-4; 6:36; Abraham 3:22-23; D&C 29:36- 37; 38:1; 49:17; 93:29, 33; 138:55-56), they provide strong evidence of the belief in the doctrine among peoples of the Bible.