Jeremiah 1:5 - God's Foreknowledge of Jeremiah

 

Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. -- Jeremiah 1:5, World English.

Jeremiah 1:5 is often cited by Unitarians who do not believe that Jesus existed before being born as a human being. The claim appears to be that the scriptures often referenced to regarding Jesus' prehuman existence should be considered the same as God's statement that he "knew" Jeremiah before Jeremiah was born. According to this reasoning, since no one believes that Jeremiah existed before he was begotten in the womb of his mother, therefore, likewise, we should not believe that Jesus existed before he was begotten in the womb of Mary.

God did indeed have a foreknowledge of Jeremiah before Jeremiah was born. Jesus did not, however, return to being in the foreknowledge of his God. (John 6:62) If the glory that Jesus had when he was with the only true God before the world of mankind was made was that of being in the foreknowledge of his God, then we should likewise expect that he now has the same glory of being the foreknowledge of God. -- John 17:1,3,5.

One should note that, regarding John 17:1,3,5, Jesus was speaking of a glory that he did not then have, for if he had it, he would not be asking his God and Father for the glory he had before the world of mankind had been made. Thus, in John 17, if the glory referred to is that being in God's foreknowledge, then it would mean that Jesus was asking again to receive the glory of being in God's foreknowledge. Actually, such would not fit very well with what Jesus actually stated. 

Nevertheless, in a general sense, Jehovah has a foreknowledge of all His people. (Romans 8:29) David stated to Jehovah: "Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them." -- Psalm 139:16.

Jesus, however, is the only who has one descended from heaven so as to be able to tell of heavenly things. (John 3:12,13) Jeremiah is included in the phrase "no man has ascended to heaven". Jesus, however, descended from heaven and could tell of heavenly things, something that no other man can do.

One who accepts the words of Jesus, since they have not descended from heaven, can only tell of the things that Jesus himself tells us through the Bible. Unlike Jesus, however, Jeremiah did not descend from heaven, nor have any of Jesus' disciples descended from heaven.

There is definitely nothing in Jeremiah 1:5 that means that Jesus was not actually with the only true God before the world of mankind had been made through him. -- John 1:1-3,10; 17:5.