Four aspects of the preexistence of Christ exist: His name, his spirit, his person, and his form. Addressing each in turn -
The preexistent name of Christ encompasses much more than just a title; it includes His reputation, character, ministry, victorious success, and purity in righteousness as revealed by God before Jesus Christ’s incarnation. These aspects are woven throughout the Scriptures, both in prophecy and fulfillment, highlighting the comprehensive nature of Christ’s identity and mission as the preexistent and eternal Son of God.
The idea that the preexistent Spirit of Christ was speaking through the prophets in first-person expressions provides a profound theological connection between the Old and New Testaments. It suggests that Christ, through the Holy Spirit, was actively revealing His future incarnation, suffering, and redemptive mission long before He took on human flesh. This understanding enriches the coherence and depth of the scriptural witness to Jesus Christ.
The Book of Enoch is relevant to the preexistence of the person of Christ, the Son of Man. Enoch (some say Noah) is recorded as being taken into heaven in chapter 70, (chapter 69 in the older Laurence translation). “… his name during his lifetime was raised aloft to that Son of Man and to the Lord of Spirits from amongst those who dwell on the earth” Enoch 70:1 (Enoch 69:1 in older translation). This shows the existence of both the Son of Man (Christ spirit) and the Lord of Spirits (Most High God) even in days of Enoch and Noah (‘before Abraham was born’).
There are various passages relating to the preexistent form of the Christ. In the main these distinguish it from a human flesh body. It is a form which appears as human but not as flesh in the prophecies in the Book of Enoch. (Some object that this, like Daniel 7, could all be prophetic foretelling of his later flesh form, but against this view there is the Enoch 70:1 implication that the form existed in heaven with the Most High God even when Enoch was taken up to be with them.) The form is with God, and is of the same form as the form of God.
So, although it sounds strange to speak of the Christ existing before the Christ came in the flesh, he did have aspects of existence before that baby was named Jesus by his parents. He was in the womb. He was named Jesus by the angel Gabriel before that existence in the womb, and it is likely God gave him that name before it was told to Gabriel. His person seems to have existed even before this, in heaven with God. There was his spirit giving prophecies centuries previously where the prophetic spirit spoke in the first person as the Christ. The name or reputation of the coming Christ was highly regarded and extremely important well before all this, even before the creation of the world. Trees put forth buds and leaves by it, as the Holy Spirit tells us.
