What does the Coptic Church believe about the nature of Jesus prior to the Incarnation? Was He ever existent in the flesh along with His divinity?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

The Coptic Orthodox Church teaches that before the Incarnation, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Logos (Word), existed eternally with the Father and the Holy Spirit without a body and without flesh.

The Pre-Existent Logos

Prior to the Incarnation, the Son of God is the Logos. As we confess in the Nicene Creed:

"We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages. Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not created; of one essence with the Father."

In His pre-existent state, He is purely divine, incorporeal, and infinite. He did not possess a human nature or physical flesh until He took it from the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit.

The Act of Incarnation

The flesh was not pre-existent; it was formed in time within the womb of the Theotokos. St. Cyril of Alexandria, the Great Pillar of Faith, explains that the Word, while remaining what He was (God), became what He was not (Man). The Creed confirms this by stating:

"...who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary, and became man."

Was He ever existent in the flesh prior to the Incarnation?

No. To suggest that the flesh of Christ existed before the Incarnation—or that it descended from heaven—is a heresy that was strictly rejected by the Church. The Gnostic heretics and later Eutyches held views that compromised the reality of Christ’s humanity.

The Coptic Orthodox Church maintains the Miaphysite Christology (One Nature of the Incarnate Word of God). This means:

1. Divine Nature: Eternal, without beginning, without flesh.
2. Incarnation: At a specific point in history, the Divine Logos united with a real, functional human nature (a body and a rational soul).
3. Union: From the moment of the Incarnation, the Divinity and the Humanity united in a "Natural Union" without mingling, without confusion, without alteration, and without division.

As the priest prays in the Divine Liturgy during the Confession: "His divinity parted not from His humanity for a single moment nor a twinkling of an eye." However, this union only began at the Annunciation. Before that moment, the Son of God was purely Spirit, just as the Father and the Holy Spirit are.

Old Testament "Theophanies"

If you are referring to appearances of God in the Old Testament (such as to Abraham or Jacob), Coptic theology views these as Theophanies or "Christophanies"—temporary manifestations or visions of the pre-incarnate Logos. In these instances, He did not take on actual, permanent human flesh, but appeared in a form that humans could perceive to prepare the world for the eventual reality of the Incarnation.