Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
58. Before Abraham was, I am ] Here our translators have lamentably gone back from earlier translations. Cranmer has, ‘Ere Abraham was born, I am;’ and the Rhemish, ‘Before that Abraham was made, I am,’ following the Vulgate, Antequam Abraham fieret, Ego sum. See notes on ‘was’ in Joh 1:1; Joh 1:6. ‘I am’ denotes absolute existence, and in this passage clearly involves the pre-existence and Divinity of Christ, as the Jews see. Comp. Joh 8:24 ; Joh 8:28; Rev 1:4; Rev 1:8; and see on Joh 8:24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verily, verily – This is an expression used only in John. It is a strong affirmation denoting particularly the great importance of what was about to be affirmed. See the notes at Joh 3:5.
Before Abraham was – Before Abraham lived.
I am – The expression I am, though in the present tense, is clearly designed to refer to a past time. Thus, in Psa 90:2, From everlasting to everlasting thou art God. Applied to God, it denotes continued existence without respect to time, so far as he is concerned. We divide time into the past, the present, and the future. The expression, applied to God, denotes that he does not measure his existence in this manner, but that the word by which we express the present denotes his continued and unchanging existence. Hence, he assumes it as his name, I AM, and I AM that I AM, Exo 3:14. Compare Isa 44:6; Isa 47:8. There is a remarkable similarity between the expression employed by Jesus in this place and that used in Exodus to denote the name of God. The manner in which Jesus used it would strikingly suggest the application of the same language to God. The question here was about his pre-existence. The objection of the Jews was that he was not 50 years old, and could not, therefore, have seen Abraham. Jesus replied to that that he existed before Abraham. As in his human nature he was not yet 50 years old, and could not, as a man, have existed before Abraham, this declaration must be referred to another nature; and the passage proves that, while he was a man, he was also endowed with another nature existing before Abraham, and to which he applied the term (familiar to the Jews as expressive of the existence of God) I AM; and this declaration corresponds to the affirmation of John Joh 1:1, that he was in the beginning with God, and was God. This affirmation of Jesus is one of the proofs on which John relies to prove that he was the Messiah Joh 20:31, to establish which was the design of writing this book.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 8:58
Before Abraham was, I am.
Here the Saviour claims with a double Amen the Incommunicable Name (Exo 3:14). It signifies unchangeable essence and everlasting duration. This is the name which the Jews for centuries had not dared to utter. Silently they had read it, used another in its stead, revered and adored it. Now the humble Nazarene openly assumes and claims it. Gods word to Moses implies the impossibility of a full definition of the name, or that finite creatures could not comprehend it if given. He does not say, I am their Light, Life, Guide, Strength, or Tower. He sets His hand to a blank, that faith may write her prayer. Are believers weary? I am their strength. Poor? I am their riches. In trouble? I am their comfort. Sick? I am their health. Dying? I am their life. I am justice and mercy, grace and goodness, glory, beauty, holiness, perfection–all-sufficient through eternity. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
I am
This title teaches us
I. THE SELF-EXISTENCE OF CHRIST. The creature is a dependent being; God alone is independent and self-existent.
II. HIS UNCHANGEABLENESS. Change is written on everything earthly. The billows of a thousand generations may sweep over the rock, but it is steadfast. Jesus is the same today, yesterday, and forever.
III. HIS ALL-SUFFICIENCY. We are at liberty to write what we like after I am. Whatever you want to make you happy, put in there. (J. M. Randall.)
The eternity of Christ
With filial pride the Jew thought of Father Abraham. So hearing of our Lords lofty claims they asked, Art thou greater than he? Yes. He rejoiced to see My day. With prophetic vision, doubtless; but surely more than this is meant. When did Christs day begin? Away back at the time of the first promise it broke. God, called also the Angel of the Lord, or Christ Himself temporarily assuming human form, appeared to Abraham more than once, and perhaps here is a reference to a revelation of Christ, brighter than the rest, but made known to none other. Then the Jews said, Thou art not fifty years old, etc. Our Lord replied (literally), Before Abraham was brought into being, I exist.
The statement is not that Christ came into existence before Abraham, but that He never came into being at all. The Jews understood this as a Divine claim, and took up stones against Him as a blasphemer.
1. Then we think of the eternity of Christ. There never was a point when He began to be. Not so with man, angels, the universe. Go back eighteen hundred years to the time of Abraham; back further still to the time of Noah, Enoch, Adam; back before any creature existed: In the beginning was the Word, etc. Meet Him anywhere in eternity past or in eternity to come, and He says, I am.
2. How can we think of the eternity of Christ? What know we of eternity? Suppose the patriarchs were living now, with what awe should we listen to their words weighty with the experience of millenniums. But they had a beginning. Let the ages be reckoned back to when the world was not, and added to those which shall follow till it shall cease to be, and what shall we pay for the stupendous sum total? But this is not eternity. Call in angelic numeration, and gather into one gigantic aggregate the sands of the shore, the drops of the ocean, and the stars of the sky; what would it be? Only a spot of spray to the immeasurable ocean.
3. But the eternity of Christ is a doctrine most blessed and practical, because related to the Divinity of Christ. We need a Divine as well as human Saviour, and we have one in the I am.
I. Is Christ eternal? THEN ASSURED IS THE LIFE OF ALL LIVING THINGS, By Him all things consist. Because He is eternal, the stars wax not dim; they are as bright to us as they were to Abraham. Because He is eternal, the flowers of each coming spring are as fair as their blooming ancestry in the dawn of the world. Because He lives, While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest shall not cease. Because He lives man lives. How sweet and fresh the beauty of the newborn child! The hand of the Eternal has moulded it. And so come the successive generations of children. The years bring changes, and the man is unlike the child. Yet the soul that lives in Christ is never old; it is renewed day by day.
II. Is Christ eternal? THERE IS HOPE, THEN, FOR EVERY MAN. Withdrawn from human sight, He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Stephen saw Him, and Paul, and John; and now He reaches forth His invisible hand to save.
III. Is Christ eternal? THEN WE HAVE ONE ABIDING FRIEND. We can lose much here; much, thank God, that it is well to lose–ignorance, bad habits, sin. But there are some bereavements that impoverish us, through injustice, misfortune, accident, loss of friends. But if Christ is ours we have an eternal possession. He loves us to the end. Lose what we may, who can be poor with Him. Who shall separate us, etc.
IV. Is Christ eternal? THEN HIS KINGDOM THOUGH DELAYED SHALL COME. We wonder at the tardy steps of Truth. But what are the millenniums to Christ? His name shall endure forever. (G. T. Coster.)
The pre-existence of Christ
Does it appear that Christ was conscious of having existed previously to His human life? Suppose that He is only a good man enjoying the highest degree of intercommunion with God, no reference to a pre-existent life can be anticipated. There is nothing to warrant it in the Mosaic revelation, and to have professed it on the soil of Palestine would have been regarded as proof of derangement. But believe that Christ is the Only-begotten Son of God, and some references to a consciousness extending backwards into a boundless eternity are to be looked for. Let us then listen to Him as He proclaims, If a man keep My saying He shall never see death (Joh 8:52). The Jews exclaim that by such an announcement He assumes to be greater than Abraham. The response to this is, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, etc. Abraham had seen the day of Messiah by the light of prophecy, and accordingly this statement was a claim on the part of Jesus to be the true Messiah. Of itself such a claim would not have shocked the Jews; they would have discussed it on its merits. They had latterly looked for a political chief, victorious but human, in their expected Messiah; they would have welcomed any prospect of realizing their expectations. But they detected a deeper and less welcome meaning. He had meant, they thought, by His day, something more than the years of His human life. At any rate, they would ask Him a question, which would at once justify their suspicions or enable Him to clear Himself (Joh 8:57). Now if our Lord had only claimed to be a human Messiah He must have earnestly disavowed any such inference. He might have replied that if Abraham saw Him by the light of prophecy, this did not of itself imply that He was Abrahams contemporary. But His actual answer more than justified the most extreme suspicions, Before Abraham was, I am. In these tremendous words the Speaker institutes a double contrast in respect both of the duration and the mode of His existence, between Himself and the great ancestor of Israel. Abraham had come into existence at some given point of time, and did not exist until his parents gave him birth. But I AM. Here is a simple existence, with no note of beginning or end. Our Lord claims pre-existence indeed, but not merely pre-existence; He unveils a consciousness of Eternal Being. He speaks as one on whom time has no effect, and for whom it has no meaning. He is the I AM of ancient Israel; He knows no past as He knows no future; He is unbeginning, unending Being; He is the eternal Now. This is the plain sense of his language, and perhaps the most instructive commentary on its force is to be found in the violent expedients to which Humanitarian writers have been driven in order to evade it. (Canon Liddon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 58. Before Abraham was, I am.] The following is a literal translation of Calmet’s note on this passage:-“I am from all eternity. I have existed before all ages. You consider in me only the person who speaks to you, and who has appeared to you within a particular time. But besides this human nature, which ye think ye know, there is in me a Divine and eternal nature. Both, united, subsist together in my person. Abraham knew how to distinguish them. He adored me as his God; and desired me as his Saviour. He has seen me in my eternity, and he predicted my coming into the world.”
On the same verse Bishop Pearce speaks as follows:- “What Jesus here says relates (I think) to his existence antecedent to Abraham’s days, and not to his having been the Christ appointed and foretold before that time; for, if Jesus had meant this, the answer I apprehend would not have been a pertinent one. He might have been appointed and foretold for the Christ; but if he had not had an existence before Abraham’s days, neither could he have seen Abraham, (as, according to our English translation, the Jews suppose him to have said,) nor could Abraham have seen him, as I suppose the Jews understood him to have said in the preceding verse, to which words of the Jews the words of Jesus here are intended as an answer.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Some will have the meaning to be, that Christ was before Abrahams time constituted Mediator; as he is said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Rev 13:8; so 1Pe 1:20. But thus it might have been said of any of the elect, that they were chosen before Abraham was. It is therefore undoubtedly to be understood of Christs eternal existence, as to his Divine nature; and this will appear, as from other arguments, so from the whole scope of our Saviours former discourse in this chapter, which was to assert his Divine nature and equality with the Father.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
58. Before Abraham was, I amThewords rendered “was” and “am” are quitedifferent. The one clause means, “Abraham was brought intobeing“; the other, “I exist.” The statementtherefore is not that Christ came into existence before Abrahamdid (as Arians affirm is the meaning), but that He never cameinto being at all, but existed before Abraham had a being; inother words, existed before creation, or eternally (asJoh 1:1). In that sense theJews plainly understood Him, since “then took they up stonesto cast at Him,” just as they had before done when they sawthat He made Himself equal with God (Joh5:18).
hid himself(See on Lu4:30).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you,…. Whether it will be believed or not, it is certainly fact:
before Abraham was, I am; which is to be understood, not of his being in the purpose and decree of God, foreordained to sufferings, and to glory; for so all the elect of God may be said to be before Abraham, being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world: or that Christ was man, before Abraham became the father of many nations; that is, before the calling of the Gentiles; for nothing is said in the text about his being the father of many nations; it is a bold and impudent addition to it: and besides, Abraham was made the father of many nations, as Ishmaelites, Israelites, Hagarenes, c. long before the incarnation of Christ yea, he was so from the very promise in Ge 17:5, which so runs, “a father of many nations have I made thee”; so that this appears a false sense of the text, which is to be understood of the deity, eternity, and immutability of Christ, and refers to the passage in Ex 3:14. “I am that I am–I am hath sent me unto you”, the true Jehovah; and so Christ was before Abraham was in being, the everlasting I am, the eternal God, which is, and was, and is to come: he appeared in an human form to our first parents before Abraham was, and was manifested as the Mediator, Saviour, and living Redeemer, to whom all the patriarchs before Abraham looked, and by whom they were saved: he was concerned in the creation of all things out of nothing, as the efficient cause thereof; he was set up from everlasting as Mediator; and the covenant of grace was made with him, and the blessings and promises of it were put into his hands before the world began; the eternal election of men to everlasting life was made in him before the foundation of the world; and he had a glory with his Father before the world was; yea, from all eternity he was the Son of God, of the same nature with him, and equal to him; and his being of the same nature proves his eternity, as well as deity, that he is from everlasting to everlasting God; and is what he ever was, and will be what he now is: he is immutable, the same today, yesterday, and for ever; in his nature, love, grace, and fulness, he is the invariable and unchangeable I am.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Before Abraham was ( ). Usual idiom with in positive sentence with infinitive (second aorist middle of ) and the accusative of general reference, “before coming as to Abraham,” “before Abraham came into existence or was born.”
I am ( ). Undoubtedly here Jesus claims eternal existence with the absolute phrase used of God. The contrast between (entrance into existence of Abraham) and (timeless being) is complete. See the same contrast between in 1:1 and in 1:14. See the contrast also in Ps 90:2 between God (, art) and the mountains (). See the same use of in John 6:20; John 9:9; John 8:24; John 8:28; John 18:6.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Was, I am [, ] . It is important to observe the distinction between the two verbs. Abraham ‘s life was under the conditions of time, and therefore had a temporal beginning. Hence, Abraham came into being, or was born [] . Jesus ‘ life was from and to eternity. Hence the formula for absolute, timeless existence, I am [ ] . See on 1 3; Joh 7:34.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Jesus said unto them,” (eipen autois lesous) “Jesus solemnly responded to them,” directly, to their taunting, needling, cynical skepticism, as they raged and imagined “vain things,” Pro 1:20-31.
2) “Verily, verily I say unto you,” (amen amen lego humin) “Truly, truly, I tell you all,” of my pre-existent identity as the “I am,”.
3) “Before Abraham was, I am.” (prin Abraam genesthai ego eimi) “Before Abraham came to be(to exist) I am,” I existed as the self-existing “I am,” the preexisting one, Joh 1:1-2; Col 1:17; Rev 1:8; Joh 17:5; Joh 17:24.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
58. Before Abraham was. As unbelievers judge only from the appearance of the flesh, Christ reminds them that he has something greater and higher than human appearance, which is hidden from the senses of the flesh, and is perceived only by the eyes of faith; and that, in this respect, he might be seen by the holy fathers, before he was manifested in the flesh. But he uses different verbs. Before Abraham was, (249) or, Before Abraham was born, (250) I am. (251) But by these words he excludes himself from the ordinary rank of men, and claims for himself a power more than human, (252) a power heavenly and divine, the perception of which reached from the beginning of the world through all ages.
Yet these words may be explained in two ways. Some think that this applies simply to the eternal Divinity of Christ, and compare it with that passage in the writings of Moses, I am what I am, (Exo 3:14.) But I extend it much farther, because the power and grace of Christ, so far as he is the Redeemer of the world, was common to all ages. It agrees therefore with that saying of the apostle, Christ yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, (Heb 13:8.) For the context appears to demand this interpretation. He had formerly said that Abraham longed for his day with vehement desire; and as this seemed incredible to the Jews, he adds, that he himself also existed at that time. The reason assigned will not appear sufficiently strong, if we do not understand that he was even then acknowledged to be the Mediator, by whom God was to be appeased. And yet the efficacy which belonged, in all ages, to the grace of the Mediator depended on his eternal Divinity; so that this saying of Christ contains a remarkable testimony of his Divine essence.
We ought also to observe the solemn form of an oath, Verily, verily. Nor do I disapprove of the opinion of Chrysostom, that the present tense of the verb is emphatic; for he does not say, I was, but I am; by which he denotes a condition uniformly the same from the beginning to the end. And he does not say, Before Abraham was, but, Before Abraham was made; which implies that Abraham had a beginning.
(249) “ Avant qu’Abraham fust.”
(250) “ Priusquam Abraham nasceretur.”
(251) πρὶν Αβραὰμ γενέσθαι, ἐγώ εἰμι. Our Author’s idea, to which he merely alludes, appears to be that, instead of saying, ἐγὼ ἐγενόμνη, or, ἐγὼ γίνομαι, Christ purposely said, ἐγώ εἰμι, because the verb εἰμῖ, standing contrasted with γενέσθαι, would convey the idea of underived existence. — Ed
(252) “ Une vertu plus qu’humaine.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(58) Before Abraham was, I am.Better, Before Abraham was born, I am. (Comp. Note on Joh. 1:6; and see another striking instance in Luk. 6:36, Become ye merciful as your Father also is merciful.) Here they ask in wonder, not unmixed with scorn, if He was coeval with Abraham. The answer is that Abraham, like all men, came into being. There was a time when he was not. But there was never a time when the Son of God was not. In the time before Abraham, in the eternity before time (Joh. 1:1), He still was. No word which expresses becoming can be used of His existence. He is the I AM, present equally in the human was, and is, and is to come.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
58. Before Abraham was Before Abraham became, or came into being. The Greek term was, as applied to Abraham, is wholly different from the AM claimed by Christ to himself.
I am The permanent present of the verb of existence. Present, before Abraham was; present to-day, yesterday, and forever. Biblical scholars of all ages have seen in this sublime word the I am that I am of the eternal Jehovah. Thus does Jesus, threading through all the intricacies of Jewish gainsaying, wind up with this grand climax of self-affirmed eternity!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Jesus said to them, “In very truth I tell you that before Abraham was, I am’.
At this claim they must have been shocked to the core. They had accused Him before on the basis of enigmatic statements, but this final statement could not be misunderstood. Whatever Jesus had meant previously it was now patently clear that He was claiming to have had eternal existence, to have been in continual being long before Abraham. He was indeed saying that He was the ‘I am’, the eternally existing God, the One Who existed even before the world was created (compare Joh 17:5).
In the Septuagint (LXX – the Greek Old Testament) God claimed in Exo 3:14 to be the ‘I am’ (ho on -the One Who is) the equivalent of ego eimi (which literally translates the Hebrew ehyeh), the phrase Jesus used here, whilst His Name as YHWH meant ‘the one who is’. Now His claim was unequivocal. He was claiming to have pre-existed Abraham and to have everlasting perpetual existence. He was claiming supreme deity. Thus the chapter ends with His uniquely claiming to be ‘the Son of God’ in the fullest sense of the word.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 8:58. Before Abraham was, I am. “Before Abraham was born, I had a glorious existence with the Father; and I am still invariably the same, and one with him.” Our Lord here, in the strongest terms, asserts his proper Divinity, declaring himself to be what St. John more largely expresses, Rev 1:8 the alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending, who is, and who was, and who is to come; the Almighty. See also Exo 3:14. Heb 1:12. Erasmus and Raphelius would have this clause translated, Before Abraham was born, I was, : but, notwithstanding the nicest critical distinctions, it must be acknowledged, that this is a very unusual sense of the words , and the less necessary, as the proper and common translation affords us a just and important sense, and one to which none but the bitter enemies of our Lord’s Divinity can object. It is indeed striking to observe the unnatural sense to which they have recourse, who stumble at this text. The Socinians, with the most perverse impropriety, render the passage thus: “Before Abraham was made Abraham, that is to say, the father of many nations, in the spiritual sense of the promise, I amthe Messiah.” That our Lord did truly exist at the time mentioned in the text, is plain likewise from Ch. Joh 17:5 and many other passages in the divine oracles. Nor is it to be imagined, that if our Lord had been a mere creature, he would have ventured to express himself in a manner so nearly bordering on blasphemy, refine upon this text as they please; or have permitted his beloved disciple so dangerously to disguise his meaning; a meaningindisputably clear to every plain and unprejudiced reader; a full proof whereof is the manner in which his hearers now received it: for, filledwithrageupontheblasphemy,astheythought,ofhisclaimingDivinitytohimself, they immediately prepare to inflict the punishment of a blasphemer upon him, by stoning him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 8:58 . Not a continuation of the discourse in Joh 8:56 , so that Jesus would thus not have given any answer to the question of the Jews (B. Crusius); but, as the contents themselves, and the solemn . . shows, an answer to Joh 8:57 . This reply asserts even more than the Jews had asked, namely, , etc., before Abraham became , or was born (not: was , as Tholuck, De Wette, Ewald, and others translate), [41] I am; older than Abraham’s origin is my existence. As Abraham had not pre-existed, but came into existence [42] (by birth), therefore is used; whereas denotes being per se , which belonged to Jesus, so far as He existed before time, as to His divine nature, without having previously come into being. Comp. I. 1. 6; and see even Chrysostom. The Praesens denotes that which continues from the past, i.e . here: that which continues from before time (Joh 1:1 , Joh 17:5 ). Comp. LXX.; Psa 90:2 ; also Jer 1:5 . must neither be taken as ideal being (De Wette), nor as being Messiah (Scholten), and transferred into the counsel of God (Sam. Crellius, Grotius, Paulus, B. Crusius), which is forbidden even by the use of the Praesens; nor may we, with Beyschlag, conceive the being as that of the real image of God , a thought which, after Joh 8:57 , is neither suggested by the context, nor would occur to Christ’s hearers without some more precise indication; nor, lastly, is the utterance to be regarded merely as a momentary vision, as in a state of prophetic elevation (Weizscker), inasmuch as it corresponds essentially to the permanent consciousness which Jesus had of His personal (the condition, in the present connection, of His having seen Abraham) pre-existence, and which everywhere manifests itself in the Gospel of John. Comp. on Joh 17:5 , Joh 6:46 ; Joh 6:62 . The thought is not an intuitive, conclusion backwards, but a glance backward, of the consciousness of Jesus (against Beyschlag). Only noteworthy in a historical point of view is the perverse explanation of Faustus Socinus, which from him passed over into the Socinian confession of faith (see Catech. Racov ., ed. Oeder, p. 144 f.): “Before Abraham becomes Abraham, i.e . the father of many nations, I am it, namely, the Messiah, the Light of the world.” He thus admonishes the Jews to believe on Him while they have an opportunity, before grace is taken from them and transferred to the heathen, in which way Abraham will become the father of many nations.
[41] Also the English Authorized Version.
[42] This view, “ factus est ,” forms a more significant correlate to than if were taken as equivalent to nasci , which in itself would be also correct (Gal 4:4 ; and see especially Raphelius on the passage).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Ver. 58. Before Abraham was, I am ] “I am that I am,” in regard of mine eternal generation. And as mediator, “I am Jesus Christ, yesterday, today, and for ever,”Heb 13:8Heb 13:8 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
58. ] As Lcke remarks, all unbiassed exegesis of these words must recognize in them a declaration of the essential pr-existence of Christ. All such interpretations of , as “ before Abraham became Abraham ,” i.e. father of many nations (Socinus and others), and of , as “ I was predetermined, promised by God ” (Grotius and the Socinian interpreters), are little better than dishonest quibbles . The distinction between and is important. “Antequam nasceretur Abraham, ego sum ” (Erasmus). The present expresses essential existence , as in reff., especially Col 1:17 , and was often used by our Lord to assert His Divine Being.
In this verse the God-head of Christ is involved; and this the Jews clearly understood, by their conduct to Him .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 8:58 . The misunderstanding of His words elicits from Jesus the statement: , . “Before Abraham was born I am.” “Antequam Abraham fieret, Ego sum,” Vulgate. Plummer aptly compares Psa 90:2 , . Before Abraham came into existence I am, eternally existent. No stronger affirmation of pre-existence occurs, and Beyschlag’s subtle attempt to evade the meaning is unsuccessful.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
was = came into existence: i.e. was born.
I am. See note on Joh 6:35.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
58.] As Lcke remarks, all unbiassed exegesis of these words must recognize in them a declaration of the essential pr-existence of Christ. All such interpretations of , as before Abraham became Abraham, i.e. father of many nations (Socinus and others), and of , as I was predetermined, promised by God (Grotius and the Socinian interpreters), are little better than dishonest quibbles. The distinction between and is important. Antequam nasceretur Abraham, ego sum (Erasmus). The present expresses essential existence, as in reff., especially Col 1:17, and was often used by our Lord to assert His Divine Being.
In this verse the God-head of Christ is involved; and this the Jews clearly understood, by their conduct to Him.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 8:58. , , before that Abraham was brought into being, I am) The Jews are hereby refuted, who were denying, that Abraham even then could have seen that day. I was, saith Jesus, even then; therefore I saw Abraham, and Abraham saw My day: not merely did I not begin to be only afterwards [afterwards and not till then], but I was, before that he teas brought into being. The difference is to be observed between I am brought into being, and I am; Mar 4:22 [ (is) , (has been made, or, become, viz. by design), , ]. Act 26:29, I would to God that-all-, might become such as I am, : 1Co 3:18, If any man seemeth to be wise–let him become a fool-. Moreover, it is an abbreviated form of expression, in this sense; Before that Abraham was made, I was: and at this day, at so long an interval after the death of Abraham, I am. For John often expresses himself in such a way, that the Protasis and Apodosis mutually complete one another; Joh 8:28, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself: Joh 8:38, I speak that which, etc., and ye do that which, etc. [do is to be supplied to the first clause, speak to the second]; ch. Joh 5:21, As the Father raiseth up-and quickeneth, even so the Son quickeneth (underst., and raiseth up) etc.; Joh 8:30, I can of Mine own self do (supply, and judge) nothing; as I hear I judge (supply, and do); ch. Joh 11:8, Joh 14:10, The words I speak,-I speak not of Myself (supply, and the works I do, I do not of Myself) but the Father-doeth the works (supply, and speaketh the words); ch. Joh 15:27; Rev 14:10, notes. Thus the particle before and the present I am, elegantly cohere; comp. also Col 1:17, He Himself is before all things. And yet Artemonius in Diss. iv., p. 618, calls this expression, after the daring example of Enjedinus, a barbarism; but the present is often so put, as that the past time is included; Luk 15:29, So many years (I have served and still) serve thee ( ). In the same ch. Joh 8:31 (thou hast been) and art always with Me, as the Goth. Vers. renders it [-]. Septuag. Psa 90:2, , [before the mountains were brought forth, thou art], where Artemonius can by no effort of his change the punctuation. Pro 8:25, , where, if only Artemonius be right in saying that there is some error, nothing [no correction] is nearer (for ) than , which is also present. I would like to see what device he would contrive to meet Jer 1:5, , . Artemonius, with Socinus, thus explains the words; Before that Abraham is made the father of many nations, I am, to wit, the Christ: and also he takes I am in the same sense as at Joh 8:24, If ye believe not that I am He; Joh 8:28, Then shall ye know that I am He; ch. Joh 13:19, That, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He; Mar 13:6, Many shall come saying, I am (Christ). I reply, 1) The Jews had objected that Abraham was deceased for more than fifty years before; Abraham was not regarded by them as about to belong to the New Testament. 2) This sentiment would not have borne that most solemn asseveration, Verily, verily, I say unto you. For in this sense even the Jews, who were then living, would have been before Abraham. 3) The word I am, in this colloquy, is employed concerning age and time, in antithesis to the inchoative to be brought into being []. Moreover, the reference of the words opposed is the same, and both verbs ought to be understood absolutely, as was is used; ch. Joh 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, etc. However this absolute signification includes that other by consequence; before that Abraham was brought into being; He who speaks, was; and He was the same as He asserted to the Jews that He was.- ) is wanting in some of the old fathers, especially the Latin fathers; but the use of the adverb does not bear the omission. That indeed is certain, that those fathers had no thought of the Socinian perversion of the sense of the verb , and so the perversion of this whole passage. [Dabc and Epiphanius omit . But [237][238], Vulg. and Orige[239] I., 750 f, etc., have it.]
[237] the Alexandrine MS.: in Brit. Museum: fifth century: publ. by Woide, 1786-1819: O. and N. Test. defective.
[238] Cod. Basilianus (not the B. Vaticanus): Revelation: in the Vatican: edited by Tisch., who assigns it to the beginning of the eighth century.
[239] rigen (born about 186 A.D., died 253 A.D., a Greek father: two-thirds of the N. Test. are quoted in his writings). Ed. Vinc. Delarue, Paris. 1733, 1740, 1759.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 8:58
Joh 8:58
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am.-Jesus was the Word that was with God in the beginning, was coexistent with God, and was the Creator of all things in the beginning. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus existed long before Abraham did, and still exists after Abraham has died and passed away, hence he speaks of himself as existing at the present, so Before Abraham was, I am. [Jesus does not merely assert that he was before Abraham, but before Abraham was I am. He identifies himself with the I am of the Old Testament.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Verily: Joh 8:34, Joh 8:51
Before: Joh 1:1, Joh 1:2, Joh 17:5, Joh 17:24, Pro 8:22-30, Isa 9:6, Mic 5:2, Col 1:17, Heb 1:10-12, Heb 13:8, Rev 1:11, Rev 1:17, Rev 1:18, Rev 2:8
I am: That our Lord by this expression asserted his divinity and eternal existence, as the great I AM, appears evident from the use of the present tense, instead of the past tense, from its being in answer to the Jews, who enquired whether he had seen Abraham, and from its being thus understood by the multitude, who were exasperated at it to such a degree that they took up stones to stone him. The ancient Jews not only believed that the Messiah was superior to and Lord of all the patriarchs, and even of angels, but that his celestial nature existed with God from whom it emanated, before the creation, and that the creation was effected by his ministry. Exo 3:14, Isa 43:13, Isa 44:6, Isa 44:8, Isa 46:9, Isa 48:12, Rev 1:8
Reciprocal: Exo 6:3 – Jehovah Lev 24:16 – blasphemeth Psa 102:27 – thou art Isa 42:8 – that is Zec 13:7 – the man Mat 5:18 – verily Mat 18:20 – there Mat 22:45 – how Mar 14:64 – General Joh 1:15 – he was Joh 1:51 – Verily Joh 5:18 – God was Joh 8:18 – one Joh 8:53 – thou greater Joh 10:25 – I told Joh 10:30 – General Joh 13:19 – that I Joh 19:7 – because 2Co 1:19 – was not Phi 2:6 – thought 1Ti 6:16 – only Heb 1:12 – but 1Jo 1:1 – That which
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8
Am is from EIMI, a Greek verb whose fundamental meaning is, “to be.” The word is used in the Greek text without inflection (suffixes), therefore it has its full original meaning. As Jesus used the word in this verse, it means that Abraham had a definite time at which he came into being, that is why he used the word was. Jesus existed always, hence he says I am with reference to himself. A noted writer has worded this much better than I can, hence I shall give the reader the benefit of it. “Divinity has no past tense, nor future tense, but always the present.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
[Before Abraham was, I am.] They pervert the question. Christ had said, ‘Abraham saw my day’: on the contrary, they ask him, ‘Hast thou seen Abraham?’
This phrase, I am; sometimes is rendered from the single word I. So the Greek interpreters in the Books of Judges and Ruth: for you seldom or never meet with it elsewhere.
Jdg 6:18; “I will tarry or sit here.” Jdg 11:27; Wherefore I have not sinned against thee. Jdg 11:35; For I have opened my mouth. Jdg 11:37; I and my fellows. Rth 4:4; I will redeem it.
As to this form of speech, let those that are better skilled in the Greek tongue be the judges.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
The Apologists Bible Commentary
John 8
58Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
C o m m e n t a r yFrom Albert Barnes Commentary… The expression I am, though in the present tense, is clearly designed to refer to a past time. Thus, in Psa 90:2, From everlasting to everlasting thou art God. Applied to God, it denotes continued existence without respect to time, so far as he is concerned. We divide time into the past, the present, and the future. The expression, applied to God, denotes that he does not measure his existence in this manner, but that the word by which we express the present denotes his continued and unchanging existence. Hence, he assumes it as his name, I AM, and I AM that I AM, Exo 3:14. Compare Isa 44:6; Isa 47:8. There is a remarkable similarity between the expression employed by Jesus in this place and that used in Exodus to denote the name of God. The manner in which Jesus used it would strikingly suggest the application of the same language to God. The question here was about his pre-existence. The objection of the Jews was that he was not 50 years old, and could not, therefore, have seen Abraham. Jesus replied to that that he existed before Abraham. As in his human nature he was not yet 50 years old, and could not, as a man, have existed before Abraham, this declaration must be referred to another nature; and the passage proves that, while he was a man, he was also endowed with another nature existing before Abraham, and to which he applied the term (familiar to the Jews as expressive of the existence of God) I AM; and this declaration corresponds to the affirmation of John, that he was in the beginning with God, and was God. This affirmation of Jesus is one of the proofs on which John relies to prove that he was the Messiah, to establish which was the design of writing this book (Barnes ).
G r a m m a t i c a l A n a l y s i sprin abraam genesqai egw eimi PRIN ABRAAM GENESTHAI EG EIMI Before Abraham came to be, I am GINOMAI (G1096) To become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being (Thayer ). EIMI (G1510) To be, to exist, to happen, to be present (Thayer ). I am (egw eimi). Undoubtedly here Jesus claims eternal existence with the absolute phrase used of God. The contrast between genesthai (entrance into existence of Abraham) and eimi (timeless being) is complete. See the same contrast between en in John 1:1 and egeneto in John 1:14. See the contrast also in Psa 90:2 between God (ei, art) and the mountains (genesthenai). See the same use of eimi in John 6:20; John 9:9; John 8:24, John 8:28; John 18:6 (RWP ).
F U R T H E R R E A D I N G Articles… John 8:58: How Do We Translate? Kelton Graham I Am What I Am JP Holding The Gospel Truth about John 8:58 Arthur Daniels Dialogs… Jason BeDuhn and Robert Bowman
Fuente: The Apologists Bible Commentary
Joh 8:58. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am. The third occurrence of the solemn formula Verily, verily, marks the highest point reached by the words of Jesus at this time. The substance of the words is in completest harmony with the form. In the clearest possible manner Jesus declares, not only His existence before Abraham, but also the essential distinction between His being and that of any man. Man is born, man passes through successive periods of time: of Himself, in regard alike to past, present, and future, Jesus says I am. He claims for Himself that absolute, unchanging existence which is the attribute of God alone. If any argument be needed to enforce that which the words themselves supply, it is furnished in the conduct of the Jews (Joh 8:59), who clearly understood them to be a distinct (and in their mind a blasphemous) claim of that which belonged to God alone. The thought is distinctly present in the Old Testament: see Psa 102:27, but especially Psa 90:2. The English reader naturally recurs in thought to Exo 3:14, but there are two considerations which make it very difficult to assert positively that that verse is necessarily referred to here:
(1) The doubt which rests on the translation. I will be is at least as natural as a translation as I am.
(2) The Greek translation of the Divine Name there used differs materially from the words of this verse, and agrees rather with the original of Rev 1:4. If our version does really express the meaning of Exo 3:14, it is impossible not to associate that verse with the one before us.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I {y} am.
(y) Christ, as he was God, was before Abraham: and he was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
This was the third and last of Jesus’ solemn pronouncements in this discourse (cf. Joh 8:34; Joh 8:51). If Jesus had only wanted to claim that He existed before Abraham, He could have said, "I was." By saying, "I am," He was not just claiming preexistence but deity (cf. Joh 8:24; Joh 8:28; Joh 5:18; Exo 3:14; Isa 41:4; Isa 43:13). [Note: See John A. Witmer, "Did Jesus Claim to Be God?" Bibliotheca Sacra 125:498 (April-June 1968):147-56.]
"It is eternity of being and not simply being that has lasted through several centuries that the expression indicates." [Note: Morris, p. 420.]
Jesus existed before Abraham came into being (Gr. genesthai).