Was Jesus Slain from the Foundation of the World?

The short answer is No. The long answer is “No, but.” And, no, I’m not contradicting Scripture. This issue came up during a recent conversation. It is a popular idea among churchgoers, and I think it is worth writing about briefly. There are two matters surrounding this issue. One is textual (or linguistic), and the other is philosophical. The primary text for the idea is Revelation 13:8. The chapter is about the beast from the sea who will wage war against the people of God and get some of them killed. Here is one translation,

Revelation 13:8 NKJV
[8] All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Clearly, this translation says the Lamb, Jesus, was slain from the foundation of the world. Here is another translation,

Revelation 13:8 ESV
[8] and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

Here, we see that the qualifying phrase, “before the foundation of the world” modifies “name has not been written.” What is it – what’s going on?

What’s going on is that the Greek text can be legitimately read in both ways, but, of course, the two readings produce different meanings. Something like this often happens in English, too, in misplaced modifiers. Consider the following sentence:

She served sandwiches to the children on paper plates.

That can be read to imply that the children are on paper plates. However, because it is a common cultural practice in the US, one meaning is accentuated, and the other is repressed.

So, if we can’t settle it at the text level, how do we determine what’s being communicated then? Well, it would help if another Bible passage communicates a similar idea. We can’t be sure if no such corroborating verse exists. That doesn’t have to mean we would be helpless. Fortunately, we have a little help from another passage in this case.

However, before we see what sort of help we have elsewhere, let’s dwell on Rev 13:8 a bit. Suppose the New King James Version’s rendition is correct. The obvious question is: what does it mean that Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world? Indeed, it cannot mean that Jesus has twice been killed. That would require two resurrection events. It also would imply that he did not have an indestructible life after the first resurrection. And WHY was he slain before anyone had the opportunity to sin? Along this boulevard is absurdity.

But there is a sense in which the NKJV rendition may be meaningful. That is if one reads it in light of the following passage:

1 Peter 1:19-20 ESV
[19] but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. [20] He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.

The idea here seems to be that God foreknew that a crucified Messiah would be necessary “before the foundation of the world” – a language that likely means “eternally.” When the time was right, God provided the Messiah, who was crucified early in the first century AD. So, he wasn’t slain from the foundation of the world, but God foreknew before the foundation of the world that he would be killed.

Now, what does it mean to say God foreknows a thing? Philosophers (and Christians) differ on that. This territory is already covered in other blog entries, so I can only summarize here. Some believe that God’s foreknowing of a thing is the cause of that thing. So, I’m typing this sentence now because God foreknew it. This view can get ugly very quickly because it makes God the cause of evil in the world. (e.g., The reason someone is killed is that God foreknew it.)

A different view says God foreknows a thing precisely because that thing would happen. So, God foreknows that I will type this sentence because that is what I have typed. God’s foreknowledge would have been different if I had typed a different sentence. In other words, God’s foreknowledge does not cause a thing. I’ll leave it for readers to wrestle with these ideas.

So, we see that Jesus was not slain from the foundation of the world. The Assyrians and Babylonians did not exist to invent crucifixion yet. But God knew before the foundation of the world that a crucified Messiah would be required in the first century AD. Thus, the sending of the Messiah was not a Plan B.