Commentary on John 8:58
Thomas Allen
[Editor’s note: The texts of the verses cited in this article are given in the appendix that follows.]
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58, KJV)
According to Trinitarians, Jesus declares himself to be Almighty God, God the Son, the second Person of the Triune God, when he says “I am.” (Some translations have “Am” or “AM” to indicate deity. However, since the original autograph did not distinguish between lowercase and uppercase letters, then writing “Am” or “AM” results from the translators’ Trinitarian bias.)
Trinitarians interpret Jesus speaking chronologically. That is, he is saying that he existed as a conscious being, i.e., he existed as God the Son, before Abraham was born. In this interpretation, the Jews also agree; they understood Jesus to be saying that he existed physically before Abraham. However, the Jews did not understand Jesus describing himself as the eternal second person of the Triune God. While the Jews understood Jesus literally (he lived on earth before Abraham did), Trinitarians understand Jesus claiming his eternal existence (since Jesus is eternal, he came before Abraham). Yet, most Trinitarians hold that Jesus does not mean continuity of consciousness from his preexisting state through his birth to the time that he was speaking to the Jews.
Moreover, according to Trinitarians, Jesus is referring to Exodus 3:14 where God says “I Am That I Am” in reply to Moses asking God what His name is. Thus, by saying “I am,” Jesus is declaring himself to be Jehovah (Yahweh). Further, the Jews understood Jesus as saying he is the one who answered Moses’ question, i.e., that he is the great I Am. (The Jews are a highly unreliable source since they despise Jesus and fail to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.)
When Jesus says “I am,” he is declaring himself to be the self-existing creator of Abraham and, therefore, is both greater than Abraham and precedes Abraham chronologically. Further, many Trinitarians claim that Jesus did meet physically with Abraham several times. (When the Bible mentions God or Jehovah being in the physical presence of Abraham, according to these Trinitarians, it is referring to Jesus before his incarnation. Yet, according to John [1 John 4:12], no one has seen God, but these Trinitarians claim that Abraham saw God. Moreover, being omnipresent God cannot move. Yet, God moved visibly in Abraham’s presence.) Thus, Jesus before his incarnation is the I Am who met with Moses.
If Jesus is declaring himself to be Almighty God in John 8:58 with reference to Exodus 3:14, then his declaration fits modalism much better than it fits orthodox Trinitarianism, the Trinity Doctrine. Although some Trinitarians identify Jesus as Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, other Trinitarians identify Jehovah as God the Father. Thus, Jesus is identifying himself as the same person as God the Father. That is, God manifests Himself as Jehovah in the Old Testament and as Jesus in the New Testament. (According to the modalist doctrine of God, God is one person who reveals himself in three modes or manifestations: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Most modalists believe that God revealed Himself as Jehovah in the Old Testament and as Jesus in the New Testament.)
Unitarians respond that Jesus’ statement in John 8:58 is to be understood figuratively and not literally. He does not mean that he literally existed as a conscious being before Abraham was born or even before his conception. (This response excludes the Arian type of Unitarians, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who maintain that Jesus existed consciously before Abraham was born; nevertheless, Jesus is not eternal and is subordinate to God.)
Also, because of Jesus’ special, unique relationship with God, he is superior to Abraham. Therefore, he ranks above Abraham, i.e., comes before Abraham. Additionally, in the sense that Abraham saw the Messiah’s coming before his actual arrival, Jesus preexisted in Abraham’s mind.
Moreover, if Jesus is declaring in John 8:28 that he is an eternal and divine person who existed consciously before he was born, then he is contradicting Matthew (Matthew 1:18) and Luke (Luke 1:35) because according to them, Jesus did not consciously exist until his conception. What John is portraying is that Jesus is the Messiah in a present reality and not a future one.
Additionally, because a person says “I am,” that does not mean that he is God. For example, a man whom Jesus healed said “I am” in John 9:9 (KJV). (Most translations translate this phrase to read “I am he,” “I am the man,” or “I am the one.”) Yet, he is not claiming to be God. If these other translations translated the “I am” phrase consistently, they would have translated John 8:58 to read “I am he” or “I am the one.” Then, it would be clear that Jesus is speaking of himself as the Messiah and not God Almighty.
Also, in John 8:24 and 28, Jesus uses the same “I am” phrase that he uses in John 8:58. Yet, the translators translate the phrase as “I am he” in these two verses. If the translators were consistent, they would have translated John 8:58 “I am he.”
Furthermore, contrary to the Trinitarian claim, the Jews may not have understood that Jesus was identifying himself as God when he said “I am.” They thought of God by his common Old Testament name of Jehovah and not as I Am — especially since Jesus used a significantly different phrase than that in Exodus 3:14. (Both the Trinitarians and Unitarians seem to know what the Jews were thinking when Jesus said: “I am.”) A better translation of Exodus 3:14 is “I will be what I will be” In his translation, Moffatt uses this phrase. However, some Trinitarians assert that regardless of the translation of Exodus 3:14, Jesus is declaring his deity and that he is the eternal living God. Consequently, he is adopting Jehovah’s name “I am.” (These Trinitarians seem to believe that Jesus is not Jehovah, who would be God the Father, in contrast with other Trinitarians who assert that Jesus and Jehovah refer to the same person, God the Son.)
No matter how one interprets John 8:58, Jesus did not mean that he was the God of the Old Testament or the New Testament or that he was God the Son, the second person of the Triune God. In John 17:3, Jesus declares that the Father is the only true God and identifies himself as being distinct from God.
Trinitarians interpret John 8:58 literally: Being eternally begotten, Jesus existed personally and consciously as God the Son before Abraham was born. Even some Unitarians interpret this verse literally except instead of Jesus being God the Son, he is the firstborn of creation. Other Unitarians interpret this verse to mean that Jesus existed in God’s plan as the coming Messiah before Abraham was born and even before Jesus came into being, which was after Abraham was born.
Appendix.
These verses are from the King James Version.
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.
Matthew 1:18: Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 1:35: And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
John 8:24: I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
John 8:29: Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
John 9:9: Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
John 17:3: And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
1 John 4:12: No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Copyright © 2023 by Thomas Coley Allen.
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