he preceded and the last.

The second sort of preexistence is the preexistence of time, and that has
no beginning. The Word of God is sanctified from time.(99) The past, the
present, the future, all, in relation to God, are equal. Yesterday, today,
tomorrow do not exist in the sun.

In the same way there is a priority with regard to glory--that is to say,
the most glorious precedes the glorious. Therefore, the Reality of Christ,
Who is the Word of God, with regard to essence, attributes and glory,
certainly precedes the creatures. Before appearing in the human form, the
Word of God was in the utmost sanctity and glory, existing in perfect
beauty and splendor in the height of its magnificence. When through the
wisdom of God the Most High it shone from the heights of glory in the
world of the body, the Word of God, through this body, became oppressed,
so that it fell into the hands of the Jews, and became the captive of the
tyrannical and ignorant, and at last was crucified. That is why He
addressed God, saying: "Free Me from the bonds of the world of the body,
and liberate Me from this cage, so that I may ascend to the heights of
honor and glory, and attain unto the former grandeur and might which
existed before the bodily world, that I may rejoice in the eternal world
and may ascend to the original abode, the placeless world, the invisible
kingdom."

It is thus that you see even in the kingdom of this world--that is to say,
in the realm of souls and countries--that the glory and the grandeur of
Christ appeared in this earth after His ascension. When in the world of
the body He was subject to the contempt and jeers of the weakest nation of
the world, the Jews, who thought it fitting to set a crown of thorns upon
His sacred head. But after His ascension the bejeweled crowns of all the
kings were humbled and bowed before the crown of thorns.

Behold the glory that the Word of God attained even in this world!

29: EXPLANATION OF VERSE TWENTY-TWO, CHAPTER FIFTEEN, OF THE FIRST EPISTLE
OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS

Question.--In verse 22 of chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians it is written: "For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." What is
the meaning of these words?

Answer.--Know that there are two natures in man: the physical nature and
the spiritual nature. The physical nature is inherited from Adam, and the
spiritual nature is inherited from the Reality of the Word of God, which
is the