"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life--the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-"
(1 John 1:1-2)(ESV)
Several heresies had arisen within the Christian church in the time of the Apostle John. The most dangerous of these was Gnosticism, and especially the branch known as Docetism. These people denied the possibility of God being in the flesh and claimed that if Jesus was God then his presence on earth must have been an apparition. Flesh and material were all sinful and, therefore, God could not come in flesh. The challenge was to the foundational doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ. When, then, did Jesus begin to be?
It is evident from the scriptures that Jesus did not have His beginning when He was born as a babe in Bethlehem. John asserts that Jesus was from the "beginning." This is a word of time and not eternity but by it John does not mean the beginning of Christ's earthly existence in the flesh, nor yet does he mean "In the beginning" as in Genesis 1:1. He means that Jesus is simultaneously in existence with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. In other words, Jesus is very God and the second person of the Trinity.
We speak then of the pre-incarnate Christ, meaning that Jesus was active in the Godhead from eternity. In John 8:58 Jesus says, "Before Abraham was, I am." Why does Jesus not use the past tense and say, "I was before Abraham?" Jesus uses the present tense because with God there is no future or past tenses. God is not bound in time. This may be a little philosophical but it is very important for it is the genuine understanding behind Hebrews 13:8 which declares that Jesus is ".... the same yesterday, today and forever."
It is a thrilling thought, to the believer, that Jesus is very God and we must hold tenaciously to this conviction.
(Dr. Robert M. McMillan)