before Christ—(abbreviated B.C.) before the Christian era (of a date calculated backwards from the birth of Christ):
- Morrison mentions a dictionary in the Chinese language as having been compiled 1100 years before Christ.
before God—(used as a solemn declaration) as God sees me; as God is my witness:
- “I will bring up your son as if he were my own,” he told the dying woman. “I promise you that, before God.”