I was asked if John 3:13 poses a problem for the Latter-day Saint belief that everyone, not just Jesus, personally pre-existed. The text reads:
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Leaving aside the issues about the manuscript evidence for the phrase, “which is in heaven,” one does not see how this is problematic for LDS theology. Jesus in this text, taking it literally and at face-value, states that no one has ascended (active voice) into heaven until the resurrection, which is true—even Elijah and possibly Moses and others were assumed (passive) into heaven; they did not do such of their own accord as Christ did in Acts 1:11. Furthermore, the text speaks of this pejorative as being that of the Son of Man, contra Bart Ehrman, a title the gospel authors and Jesus used of Christ Himself. It does not have in view, let alone address, whether other people personally pre-existed.
For a good discussion of the Christological foundations for universal personal pre-existence, see:
