I. New Testament

New Testament allusions to Christ as preexistent occur chiefly in material of a hymnic nature, in clear continuity with the Old Testament presentation of divine wisdom (Wisdom literature: II). The transfer to Christ of the protological role (Protology) originally ascribed to hypostasized Wisdom appears in 1 Cor 8:6; also Col 1:15–17; Eph 1:3–4; 1 Pet 1:20. A midrashic allusion in 1 Cor 10:4 suggests, typologically, that Christ functions for be…