Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 8:57
Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
57. Then said the Jews ] Better. Therefore said the Jews.
Thou art not yet fifty years old ] The reading, ‘forty years,’ which Chrysostom and a few authorities give, is no doubt incorrect. It has arisen from a wish to make the number less wide of the mark; for our Lord was probably not yet thirty-five, although Irenaeus preserves a tradition that He taught at a much later age. He says (ii. xxii. 5), a quadrigesimo autem et quinquagesimo anno declinat jam in aetatem seniorem, quam habens Dominus noster docebat, sicut evangelium et omnes seniores testantur qui in Asia apud Joannem discipulum Domini convenerunt. By ‘evangelium’ he probably means this passage. But ‘fifty years’ is a round number, the Jewish traditional age of full manhood (Num 4:3; Num 4:39; Num 8:24-25). There is no reason to suppose that Jesus was nearly fifty, or looked nearly fifty. In comparing His age with the 2000 years since Abraham the Jews would not care to be precise so long as they were within the mark.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fifty years old – Jesus is supposed to have been at this time about the age of 33. It is remarkable that when he was so young they should have mentioned the number 50, but they probably designed to prevent the possibility of a reply. Had they said 40 they might have apprehended a reply, or could not be so certain that they were correct.
Hast thou seen Abraham? – It is remarkable, also, that they perverted his words. His affirmation was not that he had seen Abraham, but that Abraham had seen his day. The design of Jesus was to show that he was greater than Abraham, Joh 8:53. To do this, he says that Abraham, great as he was, earnestly desired to see his time, thus acknowledging his inferiority to the Messiah. The Jews perverted this, and affirmed that it was impossible that he and Abraham should have seen each other.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 57. Thou art not yet fifty years old] Some MSS. read forty. The age of our blessed Lord has never been properly determined. Some of the primitive fathers believed that he was fifty years old when he was crucified; but their foundation, which is no other than these words of the Jews, is but a very uncertain one. Calmet thinks that our Lord was at this time about thirty-four years and ten months old, and that he was crucified about the middle of his thirty-sixth year; and asserts that the vulgar era is three years too late. On the other hand, some allow him to have been but thirty-one years old, and that his ministry had lasted but one year. Many opinions on this subject, which are scarcely worthy of being copied, may be found in Calmet.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Christ was at this time but three and thirty years old, and upward: they dream of Abrahams seeing him, and his seeing Abraham, with bodily eyes, of which Christ said nothing; that indeed had been a thing impossible, for Abraham was dead many hundred years before Christ appeared in the flesh to the world: neither doth our Saviour say, that he had seen Abraham, or that Abraham had seen him; but that he had seen his day, his coming in the flesh, his death, which Abraham had seen, not with bodily eyes, but with the eye of faith.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
57-59. Then said the Jews unto him,Thou art not yet fifty years old“No inference can bedrawn from this as to the age of our Lord at the time as man. Fiftyyears was with the Jews the completion of manhood” [ALFORD].
and hast thou seenAbraham?He had said Abraham saw Him, as being hispeculiar privilege. They give the opposite turn to it”HastThou seen Abraham?” as an honor too great for Him topretend to.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said the Jews unto him, thou art not yet fifty years old,…. One copy reads forty, but he was not that; no, not much more than thirty; not above two or three and thirty years old: the reason of their fixing on this age of fifty might be, because Christ might look like such an one, being a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, as well as of great gravity; or they might be free in allowing him as many years, as could be thought he should be of, and gain their point; for what were fifty years, when Abraham had been dead above two thousand? and therefore he could never see Abraham, nor Abraham see him; moreover, this age of fifty, is often spoken of by the Jews, and much observed; at the age of fifty, a man is fit to give counsel, they say a; hence the Levites were dismissed from service at that age, it being more proper for them then to give advice, than to bear burdens; a Methurgeman, or an interpreter in a congregation, was not chosen under fifty years of age b; and if a man died before he was fifty, this was called the death of cutting off c; a violent death, a death inflicted by God, as a punishment; Christ lived not to that age, he was now many years short of it:
and hast thou seen Abraham? if he had not, Abraham had seen him, in the sense before given, and in which Christ asserted it, and it is to be understood.
a Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 21. b T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 14. 1. Juchasin, fol. 44. 2. c T. Hieros. Biccurim, fol. 64. 3. T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 28. 1. Macsecheth Semachot, c. 3. sect. 9. Kimchi in Isa. xxxviii. 10.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Thou art not yet fifty years old ( ). Literally, “Thou hast not yet fifty years.” Not meaning that Jesus was near that age at all. It was the crisis of completed manhood (Nu 4:3) and a round number. Jesus was about thirty to thirty-three.
And hast thou seen Abraham? ( ;). So A C D and B W Theta have , both second person singular of the perfect active indicative of . But Aleph, Sin-syr., Coptic versions (accepted by Bernard) have ? “Has Abraam seen thee?” Either makes sense here.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Thou art not yet fifty years old [ ] . Literally, thou hast not yet fifty years. The age of completed manhood. Hast thou seen. Again misquoting the Lord ‘s words.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Then said the Jews unto him,” (eipan oun hoi loudaioi pros auton) “Then the Jews said directly to him,” challenging His claims, as they repeatedly, willfully, callously did, though He reproved them again and again, Pro 1:20-32; Pro 29:1.
2) “Thou art not yet fifty years old,” (pentekonta ete opou echeis) “You do not yet have fifty years of age behind you,” and He did not, in the flesh, as the Son of man among men, Joh 1:14; This was the age Levites retired, Num 4:3; Num 4:23; Num 4:30; Num 8:24.
3) “And hast thou seen Abraham? “kai Abraam heorakas) “And have you seen Abraham?” Doubtless He had, as Abraham was in glory, before Jesus left His Father’s glory, but Jesus had not claimed that He had seen Abraham, See? Luk 16:22-24; Joh 17:1. He was not claiming to be contemporary with the earthly life of Abraham. The age of 50 years was then considered a completed life and the mandatory age of retirement for the Levites who waited on the service of the tabernacle of the congregation of Israel, Num 8:24-26.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
57. Thou art not yet fifty years old. They endeavor to refute Christ’s saying, by showing that he had asserted what was impossible, when he who was not yet fifty years of age makes himself equal to Abraham, who died many centuries before. Though Christ was not yet thirty-four years of age, yet they allow him to be somewhat older, that they may not appear to be too rigid and exact in dealing with him; as if they had said, “Thou certainly wilt not make thyself so old, though thou wert to boast that thou art already fifty years of age. ” Consequently, those who conjecture that he looked older than he actually was, or that the years mentioned in this passage are not solar years, in either case labor to no purpose. The notion of Papias, who says that Christ lived more than forty years, cannot at all be admitted.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(57) Thou art not yet fifty years old.There is no reason to doubt that we have the correct reading here, though some, from Chrysostom downward, have sought to avoid what seemed to them a difficulty, by substituting forty for fifty. Others, and among them were the Elders who in Asia conferred with John, the Lords disciple, have held that our Lord was between forty and fifty years of age at the time of his public ministry. We know this from the testimony of Irenaeus, who appears to have this very passage in his mind, for he says, As the gospel and all the Elders witness (Lib. 2 chap. 22 5; Oxford Translation, p. 160). But fifty years was the period of full manhood (Num. 4:3; Num. 4:39; Num. 8:24). This is expressed in round numbers, and there is no care to be more exact in comparison with the two thousand years which had passed since the close of Abrahams earthly life. The thought is, Thou art still a young man, and hast thou seen Abraham who died twenty centuries ago?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
57. Fifty years old Thou hast not seen half a century; much less seventeen centuries. From these words Irenaeus inferred that Jesus was near fifty years old. Others have inferred that he seemed prematurely old, either from the marks of enduring sorrow in his features, or from his apparent precocious maturity of mind. He was not yet thirty-three; and the fifty here named is simply an even sum to measure off the intervening centuries.
Seen Abraham Jesus had not said that he had seen Abraham, or that Abraham had seen him, but simply that Abraham had seen his day. They, however, in trying to exaggerate his words into absurdity, really elevate them into a higher truth. Jesus, as he will soon declare, had seen Abraham.
The Judaisers therefore said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”.’
Their reply was over literal. They must have known something of what Jesus meant but they were pandering to the crowds. It must be clear that if Abraham had seen Jesus, then Jesus must have seen Abraham. So was this mature, rather than old, man, claiming to have met Abraham? It was ludicrous. And it is true that what they were suggesting to be the truth was indeed ludicrous, but that was not what Jesus had said. It was all part of their deceit. For in their hearts they must have known, had they considered the matter fairly, that Jesus had meant that Abraham looked forward as a prophet.
But now they discover that they finally get what they wanted, for Jesus reply is an unequivocal statement of His divine origin.
Joh 8:57. Thou art not yet fifty yearn old, Understanding what our Lord laid in a natural sense, the Jews thought he affirmed that he lived as man in the days of Abraham; which they considered as ridiculous, he not being yet fifty years of age: for they had no conception of his Divinity, though he had told them several times that he was the Son of God. Christ was not now five and thirty; but Erasmus thinks, that, worn with labours, he might appear older than he was. Lightfoot imagines, that as the Levites were discharged from the temple service at fifty, (Num 4:3; Num 4:23.) that age was proverbially used; as it certainly might have been without any such institution relating to them, it being usual among most nations to express themselves on such occasions by some round number.
Joh 8:57 . The Jews, referring . . to the earthly life of Abraham, imagine the assertion of Jesus to imply that He had lived in the days of the patriarch, and professed to have been personally acquainted with him! How absurd is this!
] Placed first to indicate emphasis, corresponding to the position afterwards assigned to the word . Fifty years are specified as the period when a man attains his full growth (comp. Num 4:3 ; Num 4:39 ; Num 8:24 f.; Lightfoot, p. 1046 f.): thou hast not yet passed the full age of manhood! Consequently, neither the reading is to be preferred (Ebrard), nor need we conclude either that Jesus was above forty years of age (the Presbyters of Asia Minor in Iren. II. 22. 5); or that He was taken to be so old (Euth. Zigabenus); or that He looked so old (Lampe, Heumann, Paulus); or that they confounded “the intensity of the devotion of His soul ” as it showed itself in His person, with the traces of age (Lange, Life of Jesus ). In the act of instituting a comparison with the two thousand years that had elapsed since Abraham’s day, they could not well care about determining very precisely the age of Christ. In answer to E. v. Bunsen ( The Hidden Wisdom of Christ, etc ., Lond. 1865, II. p. 461 ff.), who seeks to establish the correctness of the statement in Irenaeus, see Rsch in Die Jahrb. fr deutsche Theol . 1866, p. 4 f. Without the slightest reason, Bunsen finds in the forty-six years of chap. Joh 4:2 , the age of Christ . But even Keim is not opposed to the idea of Christ being forty years of age ( Gesch. Jes . I. p. 469; comp. his Geschichtl. Chr . p. 235).
57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
Ver. 57. Thou art not yet fifty ] No, nor much past thirty; and yet he had so spent himself in winning souls and weeping over the hardness of men’s hearts, that he seemed to the Jews to be much older than he was, as some conceive. Sure it is that Mr John Fox, the martyrologue, by the infinite pains that he took in compiling that elaborate work (which he finished in eleven years without the help of any other man), grew so lean and withered that his friends knew him not.
57. ] No inference can be drawn from this verse as to the age of our Lord at the time, according to the flesh. Fifty years was with the Jews the completion of manhood. The reading found in Cod. [139] , and read by Chrys., of which Euthym [140] says, , has probably been introduced for that very reason.
[139] Codex Tischendorfianus III., now in the Bodleian (Auct. T. Infra I. 1). Contains the whole of the Gospels of St. Luke and St. John. Collated by Tischendorf and Tregelles. Ascribed to the eighth or ninth century . An early cursive copy of Matt. and Mark taken by Tischendorf to St. Petersburg, in 1859, is said by him (Notitia Cod. Sinaitici, p. 58) to be part of the same codex.
[140] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Joh 8:57 . This, however, the Jews completely misunderstand. They think that by asserting that Abraham saw His day, Jesus means to say that His day and the life of Abraham on earth were contemporaneous. ; “Fifty years” may be used as a round number, sufficiently exact for their purpose and with no intention to determine the age of Jesus. But Lightfoot ( Hor. Heb. , 1046) thinks the saying is ruled by the age when Levites retired, see Num 4:3 ; Num 4:39 : “Tu non adhuc pervenisti ad vulgarem annum superannuationis, et tune vidisti Abrahamum?” Irenaeus (ii. 22, 5) records that the Gospel (presumably this passage) and the Presbyters of Asia Minor who had known John, testified that Jesus taught till He was forty or fifty. This idea is upheld by E. v. Bunsen ( Hidden Wisdom of Christ ), and even Keim is of opinion that Jesus may have lived to His fortieth year.
57.] No inference can be drawn from this verse as to the age of our Lord at the time, according to the flesh. Fifty years was with the Jews the completion of manhood. The reading -found in Cod. [139], and read by Chrys., of which Euthym[140] says, ,-has probably been introduced for that very reason.
[139] Codex Tischendorfianus III., now in the Bodleian (Auct. T. Infra I. 1). Contains the whole of the Gospels of St. Luke and St. John. Collated by Tischendorf and Tregelles. Ascribed to the eighth or ninth century. An early cursive copy of Matt. and Mark taken by Tischendorf to St. Petersburg, in 1859, is said by him (Notitia Cod. Sinaitici, p. 58) to be part of the same codex.
[140] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Joh 8:57. , fifty) For contentions sake they exaggerate the number. But, had they not been altogether forgetful of His nativity at Bethlehem, they would have said, Thirty years old, and not much more. As it is, they imply this by their words, Thou hast not yet reached a half century, in other words, the year of superannuation; Num 4:3, The term of the Levite service, From thirty years old and upward, even until fifty years old, as Lightfoot observes; whence it seems, the expression is not unlike an adage. It is not likely, that Jesus by reason of sorrows had contracted a premature appearance of old age. Heb 1:9, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above they fellows: Mat 9:15, Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? ch. Joh 11:19, The Son of Man came eating and drinking.-, Abraham) He had died 1850 years before this colloquy.-, hast thou seen) They speak (and rightly so, indeed; comp. ch. Joh 16:16; Joh 16:22, A little while, and ye shall not see Me, and again, a little while and ye shall see Me, etc.: Ye now have sorrow, but I will see you again,) by the force of correlatives. Since Abraham saw Thy day; Thou hast seen Abraham.
Joh 8:57
Joh 8:57
The Jews therefore said unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?-The Jews persisted in applying this language to Abraham in the flesh who had been dead two thousand years. How could one who had been dead two thousand years see him now living? [They do not give the age of Jesus, but a round period that will cover it. He did not say he had seen Abraham.]
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The Jews were still think-in of Jesus as an ordinary human being only, who had been born less than fifty years before. Abraham had been dead for more than 20 centuries, hence they denied that Jesus could ever have seen him.
Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
[Thou art not yet fifty years old.] Apply these words to the time of superannuating the Levites, Numbers_4, and we shall find no need of those knots and difficulties wherewith some have puzzled themselves. Thou art not yet fifty years old; that is, Thou art not yet come to the common years of superannuation: and dost thou talk that “thou hast seen Abraham?”
Joh 8:57. The Jews therefore said unto him. Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? The Jews understand my day to mean the time of His life; and His knowing that Abraham has witnessed this with joy must certainly imply that He has seen Abraham. How can this be, since He is not yet fifty years of age? It seems most probable that fifty is chosen as a round number, as a number certainly beyond that of our Lords years of life. Some have supposed from this verse that sorrow had given to Him the appearance of premature age.
Observe here, 1. What a false and ridiculous construction the Jews make of our Saviour’s words, as if he had affirmed that he had seen Abraham, and Abraham him, with bodily eyes: whereas Christ only asserted, that Abraham had seen his day: that is, he foresaw by faith the day of his incarnation, and coming in the flesh.
Observe, 2. Our Saviour’s positive asserting of his divinity, or that he had a being as God from all eternity: for, says he, Before Abraham was, I am.
Where note, That Christ does not say, Before Abraham was, I was: but, before Abraham was, I am; which is the proper name of God, thereby is signified the eternal duration and permanency of his being. The adversaries of Christ’s divinity say, that before Abraham was, Christ was: that is, in God’s fore-knowledge or decree; but this may be said of any other person as well as Chirst, that he was in the fore-knowledge of God before Abraham was born. Whereas undoubtedly it was Christ’s design in these words, to give himself some preference and advantage above Abraham, which this interpretation doth not in the least do.
Observe lastly, how the Jews looking upon Christ as a blasphemer, for making himself equal with God, and for asserting his eternal existence, they make a furious attempt upon his life, by taking up stones to cast at him, as the Jews used to deal with blasphemers: but our Saviour delivers himself miraculously from their fury, and escapes untouched.
Hence learn, That when arguments fail, the enemies of truth betake themselves to force and violence: They took up stones to cast at him.
2. That as Christ disappointed his own persecutors, so he can and will deliver his people in their greatest extremity from their persecutor’s rage and fury. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished. 2Pe 2:9
Vv. 57, 58. Whereupon the Jews said to him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and thou hast seen Abraham!58. Jesus said to them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham came into being, I am.
From the fact that Abraham had seen Jesus, it seemed to follow that Jesus must have seen Abraham. The question of the Jews is the expression of indignant surprise. The number fifty is a round number; fifty years designates the close of the age of manhood. The meaning is: Thou art not yet an old man. No inference is to be drawn from this as to the real age of Jesus, since ten or twenty years more, in this case, would be of no consequence. I am not only his contemporary, Jesus replies, but I existed even before him. The formula, amen, amen, announces the greatness of this revelation respecting His person. By the terms , became, and , I am, Jesus, as Weiss says, contrasts His eternal existence with the historical beginning of the existence of Abraham. To become is to pass from nothingness to existence; I amdesignates a mode of existence which is not due to such a transition. Jesus goes still further; He says, not I was, but I am, Thereby He attributes to Himself, not a simple priority as related to Abraham, which would still be compatible with the Arian view of the Person of Christ, but existence in the absolute, eternal, Divine order. This expression recalls that of Psa 90:2 :
Before the mountains were brought forth and thou hadst founded the earth, from eternity to eternity, THOU ART,O God! No doubt, eternity must not be considered as strictly anterior to time. This term , before, is a symbolic form, derived from the human consciousness of Jesus, to express the relation of dependence of time on eternity in the only way in which the mind of man can conceive of it, that is, under the form of succession. There is no longer any thought, at the present day, of having recourse to the forced explanations which were formerly proposed by different commentators: that of Socinus and Paulus: I am, as the Messiah promised, anterior to Abraham, or that of the Socinian catechism: Before Abraham could justify His name of Abraham (father of a multitude, by reason of the multitude of heathen who shall one day be converted) I am your Messiah, for you Jews. Scholten himself acknowledges (p. 97f.) the insufficiency of these exegetical attempts. According to him, we must supply a predicate of ; this would be , the Messiah. But the antithesis of and (be and become) does not allow us to give to the first of these terms another sense than that of existing. Besides, the point in hand is a reply to the question: Hast thou then seen Abraham? The reply, if understood asScholten would have it, would be unsuitable to this question. The Socinian Crell and de Wette understand: I exist in the divine intelligence or plan.
Beyschlag goes a little farther still. According to him, Jesus means that there is realized in Himself here below an eternal, divine, but impersonal principle, the image of God. But as this impersonal image of God cannot exist except in the divine intelligence, this comes back in reality to the explanation of de Wette.This explanation of an impersonal ideal is opposed by three considerations: 1. The , I, which proves that this eternal being is personal; 2, the parallel with Abraham. An impersonal principle cannot be placed in parallelism with a person, especially when the question is of a relation of priority. Finally, 3. How could a Jesus conceived of as an impersonal principle have answered the objection of the Jews: Thou hast then seen Abraham? And yet if this word did not satisfy the demand of the Jews, it would be nothing more than a ridiculous boast. This declaration has the character of the most elevated solemnity. It is certainly one of those from which John derived the fundamental idea of the first verses of the Prologue. It bears in itself the guaranty of its authenticity, first by its striking conciseness, and then by its very meaning. What historian would gratuitously ascribe to his hero a saying which was fitted to bring upon him the charge of being mad? It will be asked, no doubt, how Jesus can derive from His human consciousness an expression which so absolutely transcends it. This conception was derived by Him from the revelation of His Father, when He said to Him: Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. There is a fact here which is analogous to that which is accomplished in the conscience of the believer when he through the Spirit receives the testimony that he is a child of God (Rom 8:16).
Verse 57
Hast thou seen Abraham? He had not said that he had seen Abraham, but that Abraham saw his day. They wilfully perverted his words.
The Jews did not understand Jesus’ meaning because they disregarded the possibility of His deity. To them it seemed ludicrous that Abraham could have seen Jesus’ day in any sense since millennia separated the two men. Evidently they chose 50 years old as a round number symbolic of the end of an active life (cf. Num 4:3). Jesus was obviously not that old since He began His public ministry when He was about 30 (Luk 3:23), and it only lasted about three and a half years. According to Hoehner’s chronology, Jesus would have been in His mid-thirties at this time. [Note: Hoehner, p. 143.]
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)