Why is it important to know who Jesus Christ was before His birth as a human? We often receive questions about Christ and His divinity. It’s one of the most important—if not the most important—questions of the New Testament.

But it’s not often asked, “Why?” It’s in the “why” of the question that something most important is revealed.

In John 1:1-3 it says, “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Who was the Word? Let verse 14 tell us. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John uses the Greek word logos, translated as “word,” to describe Christ in His pre-incarnate state. He became flesh and lived among men. Paul describes this step by the Word in this manner: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death–even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8, New International Version).

These two passages lay out a clear statement that Jesus of Nazareth was a separate being of the God family before coming in the flesh. He lived a perfect life, was crucified for our sins and was resurrected and lives today as our High Priest, making intercession at the throne of God for us.

This vital biblical truth is the key to understanding not only the nature of God, but also the purpose of human life. The Word becoming flesh, dying and then being resurrected is the means by which we have the hope of a resurrection to eternal life. Notice how Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15: “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him (verses 21-23, NIV).

That the Word made this “journey” to become the Christ is the hope we have of living forever as divine beings in the family of God. Because Jesus was made alive we have the hope of joining Him as co-heirs of all. This is the all-important “why” behind the truth of who Jesus of Nazareth was. Either He was divine, or He wasn’t. He pre-existed as the Word, or He did not.

It is because He did and because He is that there is hope of eternal life.