John 8:58 — Community Reflections

JOHN 8:58 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”

Jesus said unto them, Before Abraham was, I am — Jesus's response is the climactic revelation of chapter 8. 'Before Abraham was' (prin Abraham geneesthai) means before Abraham came to exist. 'I am' (egō eimi) is the divine name, the revelation to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). Jesus claims an existence prior to Abraham, grounded in the divine being itself. This is the fullest assertion of Jesus's divinity in John: he is not a created being (even the first-created); he exists in the eternal present of God. The statement moves from temporal sequence (before... was) to the timeless divine being (I am).

Church Fathers on John 8:58

The carnal minds of the Jews are intent on the flesh only; they think only of His age in the flesh: Then said the Jews to Him, you are not fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? that is to say, Many ages have passed since Abraham died; and how then could he see your day? For they took His words in a carnal sense.
Gregory the Great · 6th century

Christ was then thirty-three years old. Why then do they not say, You are not yet forty years old, instead of fifty? A needless question this: they simply spoke as chance led them at the time. Some however say that they mentioned the fiftieth year on account of its sacred character, as being the year of jubilee, in which they redeemed their captives, and gave up the possessions they had bought.
Theophylact · 11th century

Abraham being a creature, He did not say before Abraham was, but, before Abraham was made. Nor does He say, I am made; because that, in the beginning WAS the Word.
Augustine · 4th century

Read all 12 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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