Does “I came from the Father and have come into the world” (John 16:28) mean that Jesus existed in heaven before his conception?

John 16:28 (NRSV): I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.

In a word, no.

This is is one of many verses in the Gospel of John which read very literally would mean that all the normal descriptions of Jesus could therefore not be literally true: Jesus was not prophesied, foreknown, and then conceived, born, grew, learned, was tempted, died and was raised like a any other human being – with the exception of his miraculous conception – but was in fact a preexistent God, demi-god, or archangel in the outer form of a human. In human disguise effectively.

But this language “from the Father”, or conversely “from the world”, does not have to mean physical transport, it can be figurative, speaking of origin:

1 John 2:16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 

Come from the Father is talking more about Christ’s paternity and mission and character than anything that could be taken to make him a pre-existent being and every other record of his life being theatre or disguise.

Similar questions and answers:

• Where Jesus speaks of “descending from heaven”: In what sense did Jesus descend from heaven? (John 3:13), – including also a parallel passage “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38)
• And “Ascend where he was before” (John 6:62) – again figurative
• When did Jesus first exist? – a longer answer.
• Are there any Old Testament appearances of Jesus? – to which the answer is “No”.

Ultimately the issue is the ability to discern which passages are figurative (a few verses in John), and which verses are literal (all the rest of the New Testament teaching about Jesus).