Christ, preexistence of?

General considerations:

• The doctrine of the “preexistence” of Christ depends almost entirely on one book of the NT, John. Was John the only NT writer to understand this “truth”, or to be inspired in this matter? Other fundamental Bible teachings are found scattered throughout the Bible. Could it be that John has been misunderstood?
• Consider the contrast with Matt and Luke, where the straightforward teaching is that Jesus began life as a little baby in a manger. Cp Luk 1:32: “He SHALL BE great… SHALL BE called Son of the Highest”, with Luk 2:11: “A Savior, which IS Christ the Lord.”
• Did Jeremiah preexist (Jer 1:5)? Did John the Baptist preexist (Joh 1:6). Did the saints preexist (Eph 1:4)?
• Rev 13:8: “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”: But did Christ die before the world began? Of course not. The language signifies only that it was in God’s plan from the beginning that His Son would in the future die!
• 1Pe 1:19,20: “A lamb without blemish, foreordained before the foundation of the world, but manifested in these last days”: Foreordained in the beginning, but not then actually formed!
• The idiom of John is not ordinary English: consider, eg, “life… death” in 1Jo 3:14; “beneath… above” in Joh 8:23; “overcome the world” in Joh 16:33; etc. (Such language is not at all common in the other gospels.)
• Consider Christ’s plain human nature and his sacrifice: How can that which is immortal become mortal? How could Jesus be “tempted in all points like us his brethren” if he had the memory of life in heaven? And how could an “eternal, preexistent god” actually die!?
• 1Co 15:46: “First natural, and then spiritual”. And Christ was the firstfruits of this process!