Jesus is a man, the Son of God by birth, character and resurrection.
A man approved of God. His son, born and crucified in weakness of the flesh, and raised in power of eternal life.
One person, not two persons. Nor one person with a dual personality.
Here is the issue: Jesus claimed to actually have preexisted:
Joh 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except
he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
Joh 6:32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you
the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
...
Joh 6:38 For
I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
...
Joh 6:41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “
I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
Joh 6:42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say,
‘I have come down from heaven’?”
...
Joh 6:50 This is the bread
that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
Joh 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
...
Joh 6:58 This is the bread that
came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
...
Joh 6:62 Then what if you were to see
the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
Joh 8:14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but
you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
...
Joh 8:23 He said to them, “You are from below;
I am from above. You are of this world;
I am not of this world.
...
Joh 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
before Abraham was, I am.”
Joh 16:28
I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
Joh 16:29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!
Joh 16:30 Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you;
this is why we believe that you came from God.”
Joh 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me
because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Based on that, John, Paul, and the writer of Hebrews do so as well.
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
...
Joh 1:10 He was in the world, and
the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
...
Joh 1:14 And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Joh 3:31
He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way.
He who comes from heaven is above all.
1Co 8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
2Co 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come,
God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
Php 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Php 2:6 who,
though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Php 2:7 but
emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Php 2:8 And
being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Col 1:16 For
by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—
all things were created through him and for him.
Col 1:17 And
he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Heb 1:2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things,
through whom also he created the world.
...
Heb 1:10 And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;
Heb 1:11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,
Heb 1:12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
(All ESV.)
To deny that Jesus preexisted, is to deny a very plain and obvious fact about him. It would be to make him a liar, as well as his disciples. It would completely undermine the inspiration of Scripture and reduce it to a mere book.
