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John
8:56-59
(Before
Abraham Was, I AM)
(From The Orthodox Study Bible):
56 “Your Father Abraham rejoiced
to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
57 Then the Jews said to him,
“You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Most
assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (1)
59 Then they took up stones to
throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through
the midst of them, and so passed by.
***Verse-by-Verse
Study Notes Provided in This Bible***
(1) Verse 58: I AM: (Greek ego
eimi) is the divine Name of God in the Old Testament, first revealed to
Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-15). To the Jews, this was a direct,
explicit, and unmistakable claim to perfect equality with God, as evidenced by
their reaction in verse 59 (see also Mark 14:62-64). John places special
emphasis on the use of this Name to clearly reveal Christ as God. This divine
claim illuminates Christ’s authority even over death, a power belonging only to
God the Father.
(From The New Analytical King James Study
Bible):
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day and he saw it, and was glad.
57 Then said the Jews unto him,
Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
58 Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am(1).
59 Then took they up stones to
cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through
the midst of them, and so passed by.
***Footnotes***
(1) In this sentence, the term “am” comes from the
ancient Greek word “eimi” (Strong’s G1510). Its ancient script,
spelling, pronunciation, and definitions include: εἰμί eimí, i-mee';
the first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and
defective verb; I exist
(used only when emphatic): —am, have been, × it is
I, was. See
also G1488, G1498, G1511, G1527, G2258, G2071, G2070, G2075, G2076, G2771, G2468, G5600.
(From The Amplified Holy Bible):
56 “Your father Abraham
[greatly] rejoiced to see My day (My incarnation) (1). He saw it and
was delighted.
57 Then the Jews said to Him,
“You are not even fifty years old, and You [claim to] have seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus replied, “I assure you
and most solemnly say to you, before Abraham was born, I Am (2).”
59 So they picked up stones to
throw at Him, but Jesus concealed Himself and left the temple.
***Verse-by-Verse
Study Notes Provided in This Bible***
(1) Verse 56: How Abraham saw the
incarnation of Jesus is unclear. Some suggest it was simply by faith, others
suggest it was through Isaac and the promise of the covenant, but more likely,
he saw it from Paradise.
(2) Verse 58: I Am the One who is—the
LORD, Hebrew Yahweh.
(From The Complete Jewish Study Bible):
56 Avraham(1), your
father, was glad that he would see my day; then he saw it and was overjoyed.
57 Why, you’re not yet fifty
years old, the Judeans replied, and you have seen Avraham?
58 Yeshua(2) said to
them, Yes, indeed! Before Avraham came into being, I AM! (3)
59 At this, they picked up
stones to throw at him; but Yeshua was hidden and left the Temple grounds.
***Footnotes***
(1) “Avraham” is the Jewish name for “Abraham.”
(2) “Yeshua” is the Jewish name for “Jesus.”
***Study
Note Provided in This Bible***
(3) Verses 57-59: Before Avraham
came into being, I AM! Here and in John 5:17-18 and 10:30 are Yeshua’s
clearest self-proclamations of divinity, pointing back to his presence in the
burning bush: “The angel of ADONAI appeared to him in a fire blazing
from the middle of a bush (Exodus 3:2). It was clear to the Judeans exactly
what Yeshua claimed, because they immediately took up stones to put him to
death for blasphemy (Leviticus 24:15-16). Throughout the Tanakh [Old
Testament], the pre-incarnate Messiah may well have appeared as “the angel of ADONAI.”
(From The New American Standard Bible):
56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
57 So the Jews said to Him, “You
are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
59 Therefore they picked up
stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.
(From The Knox Bible – The Latin Vulgate):
56 As for your father Abraham,
his heart was proud to see the day of my coming; he saw, and rejoiced to see
it.(1)
57 Then the Jews asked him, hast
thou seen Abraham, thou, who art not yet fifty years old?
58 And Jesus said to them,
Believe me, before ever Abraham came to be, I am.(2)
59 Whereupon they took up stones
to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.
***Study
Notes Provided in This Bible***
(1) It is uncertain whether our Lord means that Abraham
“saw” the coming of Christ merely in the sense that it was foretold to him
(Genesis 22:18), or whether we are to suppose that he was granted some actual
vision of the event, either in his life-time or after death.
(2) “I am”; here our Lord seems explicitly to claim
a divine title (Exodus 3:14).