Did Jesus really claim to be God in John 8:58?
Or is your translation misleading you?
by “Theocrat”
Peter wrote: “I’m still waiting to hear from someone
why the Pharisees picked up stones to stone Jesus if it
wasn’t for this kind of blasphemous self-identification in
John 8:58.”
Now here’s an offer I can’t refuse! I assume by this
that you are taking the standard line on John 8:58, that
Jesus was claiming to be the God of Exodus 3:14. This
assertion is based on a kind of “translation theology,”
which isn’t borne out in the original language.
In the LXX [Septuagint] (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible
used often by the New Testament writers), at Exodus 3:14
Yahweh declares “ego eimi o ohn” — “I am he that exists.”
The addition of the Greek “o ohn” (the existing one)
is needed to reflect the fact that the
Hebrew has the word “ehyeh” — “I will be.”
In John 8:58 Jesus only says “ego eimi” (I am he). On this
basis it isn’t really fair to the text to force an
unambiguous reference to Exodus 3:14. Jesus did not
say “I am who I am,” and so he does not say “I am
God.” Jesus said “I am he.”
Anyone could say “I am” or “I am he” without any
allusion to a claim of divinity. ... Another more biblical
example of this is found in John 9:9 where the man born
blind says “ego eimi” — I am he. None of these
individuals is claiming to be the Exodus God.
So “ego eimi” in John 8:58 is neither God’s name
nor an exclusively divine title. But if Jesus isn’t
claiming to be God, what was he understood to have
said that caused such offense? The answer lies in the
dialogue leading up to his statement. In the verses
immediately preceding we see that this isn’t the first
time Jesus has said “ego eimi” in this exchange. He has
already said it in verse 24.
(This calls into further question the widely
asserted notion that the words “ego eimi” were
understood by Jesus’ hearers to be a claim of
“divinity,” i.e. a reference to Exodus 3:14. Instead of
seizing upon this as the long awaited and much sought
after grounds to accuse him, they respond by asking,
“Who are you?” (v. 25). Obviously Jesus has not
identified himself sufficiently by this statement for them
to know what the “he” in “I am he” referred to.)
Reading on from verse 25, the discourse moves to
Abraham. “How can you claim to offer the life of the
age to come?” they ask Jesus. “Even Abraham himself is
dead; surely you’re not claiming to be greater than he!”
(v. 52-53).
Next, they misunderstand Jesus’ statement in
verse 56 — “Abraham rejoiced to see my day” — by
reading too much into it, because in verse 57 they accuse
Jesus of claiming to have seen Abraham! He never said
that. They had misunderstood him. Neither did he say
that Abraham had seen him — only that Abraham had
rejoiced to see his Messianic day. Abraham, having
believed the Gospel preached to him by God (Gal. 3.8)
rejoiced in hope, looking forward to the “day of Christ,”
as many Jews had done.
It is in response to this misunderstanding that Jesus
makes his statement “Before Abraham was, I am he.”
Notice however that he did not say “I was before
Abraham” or “Before Abraham was, I was.”
The present tense “I am” in reference to the past
(“before Abraham was”) simply does not work as a
stand-alone sentence. Jesus did not say, we repeat, “I
was alive before Abraham.” He said, “Before Abraham
came to be, I am he.”
Jesus’ “I am he” only makes sense if Jesus is
referring back to some statement he has made
previously about his present status with respect to
the patriarch. I would suggest that Jesus is expanding
on his statement in verse 56 by explaining how, in spite
of his not being 50 years old, Abraham could still have
rejoiced to see his day.
Bringing the two together what we get is:
“Before Abraham was, I am he…whose day Abraham rejoiced to see.”
This is a clear identification by Jesus of himself as
the seed promised to Abraham by Yahweh, the seed
through whom all the families of the earth would be
blessed. Jesus is claiming to be the promised Messiah.
Abraham’s greatness was based on his belief in the
promise God made to him about his seed, the Messiah to come,
and the fact that, by believing, he became the
means through which God would bring His word to
pass.
Jesus is greater than Abraham because he is the
embodiment of God’s end purpose, and the subject of
the promise which Abraham rejoiced in. This is the
staggering claim which so offended the Jews that they
attempted to stone him.
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