John 8:58

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

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Jesus	Ἰησοῦς· Iēsous	G2424	Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
said	Εἶπεν Eipen	G2036	to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
them	αὐτοῖς autois	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
Verily	ἀμὴν amēn	G281	properly · interjection — Hebrew
verily	ἀμὴν amēn	G281	properly · interjection — Hebrew
I say	λέγω legō	G3004	properly · verb — present active indicative, 1st person singular
unto you	ὑμῖν hymîn	G5213	to (with or by) you
Before	πρὶν prin	G4250	prior · preposition
Abraham	Ἀβραὰμ Abraam	G11	Abraham · noun — accusative singular masculine, a proper name
was	γενέσθαι genesthai	G1096	to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent infinitive
I	ἐγὼ egō	G1473	I · personal pronoun — 1st person nominative singular
am	εἰμί. eimi	G1510	I exist (used only when emphatic) · verb — present active indicative, 1st person singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God…
John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for…
Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 8:51–end

In these verses we have, I. The doctrine of the immortality of believers laid down, Joh 8:51. It is ushered in with the usual solemn preface, Verily, verily, I say unto you, which commands both attention and assent, and this is what he says, If a man keep my sayings, he shall never see death. Here we have, 1. The character of a believer: he is one that keeps the sayings of the Lord Jesus, ton logon ton emon - my word; that word of mine which I have delivered to you; this we must not only receive, but keep; not only have, but hold. We must keep it in mind and memory, keep it in love and affection, so keep it as in nothing to violate it or go contrary to it, keep it without spot (Ti1 6:14), ke…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 8:58

Before Abraham was, I am--The words rendered "was" and "am" are quite different. The one clause means, "Abraham was brought into being"; the other, "I exist." The statement therefore is not that Christ came into existence before Abraham did (as Arians affirm is the meaning), but that He never came into being at all, but existed before Abraham had a being; in other words, existed before creation, or eternally (as Joh 1:1). In that sense the Jews plainly understood Him, since "then took they up stones to cast at Him," just as they had before done when they saw that He made Himself equal with God (Joh 5:18). hid himself--(See on Luk 4:30). Next: John Chapter 9

Adam Clarke on John 8:58

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 Savior. 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…

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The Church Fathers

(Tr. xliii. 18) 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 of Hippo ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

But the Word of God did not accept of the friendship of Abraham, as though He stood in need of it, for He was perfect from the beginning ("Before Abraham was," He says, "I am"), but that He in His goodness might bestow eternal life upon Abraham himself, inasmuch as the friendship of God imparts immortality to those who embrace it.
— Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book IV

But wherefore said He not, "Before Abraham was, I was," instead of "I Am"? As the Father useth this expression, "I Am," so also doth Christ; for it signifieth continuous Being, irrespective of all time. On which account the expression seemed to them to be blasphemous. Now if they could not bear the comparison with Abraham, although this was but a trifling one, had He continually made Himself equal to the Father, would they ever have ceased casting stones at Him?
— John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of John 55

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Self-Righteousness · .Pharisees — .Pharisees
Titles And Names Of Christ · I AM — I AM

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

John 8:58

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 8:51–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 8:58

Adam Clarke on John 8:58

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John 8:58

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 8:51–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 8:58

Adam Clarke on John 8:58

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on John 8:58

John Calvin on John 8:56–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on John 8:58