The Way Before Christianity

There is a reason the God of the Old Testament is shown as One who does not always know our hidden thoughts in the way later philosophy claims, who can regret a course of action, who becomes jealous for His Name, and who feels pain over what His image-bearers became. We were created in His image and then fell far below it. That hurt Him.

The following texts are the portrait of a living Creator — not a distant, emotionless abstraction later councils tried to lock into Greek metaphysics.

1. God regrets creating humanity

“The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled…” Genesis 6:5–7

2. God showing ultimate judgment

“It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:30–31

3. God being a jealous God

“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Exodus 34:14

Jesus is Lord and Savior. He is the literal, begotten Son of God — conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of Mary (Luke 1:35), the promised Davidic Messiah, and the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).

He has never once claimed to be the Almighty Creator. When he said “before Abraham was, I am,” he was identifying himself as the Messiah appointed in God’s eternal counsel — not asserting that he was a second conscious divine person living before Abraham. The same Greek phrase (ego eimi) is used by the healed blind man in John 9:9 simply to say “I am the man.”

Jesus bows to our God. He is not co-equal. He prays to the Father, is sent by the Father, does only what the Father shows him, and will finally hand the kingdom back so that God may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).

What Scripture itself says about the distinction

• John 14:28 — “the Father is greater than I.”
• Mark 13:32 — “nor the Son, but only the Father.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:28 — the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him.
• John 17:3 — “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
• John 20:17 — “to my God and your God.”
• 1 Peter 1:20 — Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world and made manifest in the last times.

Christianity is a Roman-era word. It was never the first-century name of the faith Jesus and His followers taught and walked. The original path is The Way.

Rome first feared Jesus and the movements that grew after Him. Then Rome absorbed the name, defined the dogma, and enforced it.

Tertullian without co-equality

“There was a time when the Son was not.” Tertullian, Against Hermogenes 3

The Edict of Thessalonica (380 AD)

Emperor Theodosius I established Nicene Christianity as the mandatory imperial religion and branded dissenters as heretics subject to state punishment.

“Stand up… I am only a man myself.” Acts 10:25–26

“…not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:1–3

Peter called himself a fellow elder, refused veneration, and warned of false teachers who would exploit with fabricated stories (2 Peter 2).

• The Father alone is the One Almighty God — the ultimate Origin and Head of all (1 Cor 8:6; John 17:3).
• The Son is the literal, begotten Messiah — conceived by the Spirit, born of Mary, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5). He is the embodiment of the Father’s eternal Word and plan. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world and made manifest in the last times (1 Pet 1:20).
• The Son is subordinate to the Father — and will hand the kingdom back (John 14:28; 1 Cor 15:28).
• The Spirit is the power and presence of God — the Father’s operational energy (Ruach / Pneuma). Never a third co-equal person.

1. The Logos — God’s Word, decree, and plan

In first-century Jewish thought, logos was God’s divine reason, creative utterance, and purpose. “The Word became flesh” means the Father’s eternal plan became a tangible living reality in the human person of Jesus. His life began at conception (Luke 1:35).

2. Ego Eimi — “I am He” (Messiah)

Throughout John, Jesus uses ego eimi as an idiomatic claim to Messiahship. The healed blind man uses the exact same words in John 9:9. Priority in the divine decree, not a second conscious person before Abraham.

3. Shaliah — the Hebrew principle of agency

“An agent is as the man himself.” John 10:30 uses the neuter hen (unity of purpose), not the masculine heis (numerical identity).

4. Source (Ek) vs Agency (Dia)

1 Corinthians 8:6: one God, the Father, from whom (ek) all things came; one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom (dia) all things came.

These passages are frequently cited to claim Jesus existed as a conscious person before Abraham. In first-century Jewish context they teach: the Messiah was foreknown in God’s counsel; the Logos is God’s Word that became flesh; exaltation language describes appointment and reward.

There is One God, the Father. There is One Lord, His literal, begotten, exalted Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Join the mission to teach the original faith before the later name and the later machinery. We accept everyone.