Lesson 4: John 8:58 “Before Abraham was, I Am”

Context

As with the previous lesson (I am the light of the world; John 8:12), the physical setting for this “I am” statement of Jesus is at the Festival of Booths (also called Harvest, Ingathering, Tabernacles; in Hebrew=Sukkoth). As a reminder, this festival, along with Passover and the Festival of Weeks (Hebrew = Shavuot), was one of three major pilgrimage festivals for Jewish people. It was celebrated for eight days, from approximately late September to early October, and was considered Israel’s joyful, autumnal, harvest festival. (More can be learned about Sukkoth at Exodus 23:16, 34:22; and Deuteronomy 16:13-15).

It was at this very festival that Jesus made the enormously controversial, “I am the light of the world” claim to those gathered around him. Beginning at 8:31 the conversation between Jesus and the crowd begins to change as he addresses, “the Jews who had believed in him.” This is the particular setting/context (John 8:31-59), within the greater setting/context of the Festival of Booths, where Jesus makes his claim, “Before Abraham was, I am” at John 8:58.

Study

• Familiarize yourselves with this pericope by reading together John 8:31-59. Jesus is the primary character in this passage, but there is another very important person mentioned ten times in these verses. That person is the Old Testament patriarch Abraham.
• Who was Abraham? Why do the Jewish people gathered that day cling to his name/identity so tenaciously? Why does it matter to our understanding of Jesus’ claim at 8:58 and to a holistic understanding of him today?

Hebrews chapter 11 catalogues many of the heroes of faith found in the Old Testament. The writer of Hebrews devotes one verse in tribute to each hero with the exception of two characters. The author devotes six verses to Moses and twelve to Abraham. This disproportionate space given to Abraham reflects a clear consensus that Abraham’s defining characteristic is faith: He fears God (Gen. 22:12), walks before God (Gen. 17:1, 24:40), and listens to his voice (Gen. 22:1-14, 26:5). His faith in God’s trustworthiness emerges in story after story: his departure for an unseen land (Gen. 12:1-9), his offering the sworn land to Lot (Gen. 13), his military campaign against four powerful Mesopotamian kings (Gen. 14-15), his belief in God’s supernatural giving of offspring (Gen. 16-17), and above all, his willingness to sacrifice of his “only” son (Gen. 22:2).[1] It is worth noting as well that on three separate occasions Abraham is called “a friend of God. (2 Chron. 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23)” We could spend many months studying the person and importance of Abraham. For the sake of our current study, let us simply state that Abraham was a man of immense (not perfect!) faith, whose progeny became the people Israel—whom the Jewish people in Jesus’ day (and today!) refer to as “Father Abraham.”

• Read 8:31-33 together again. Regarding vs. 33—If Jesus is offering freedom, the assumption of the Jewish people gathered that day is that they are currently slaves. They emphatically deny this! After all, how can they be considered slaves to anyone or anything when they are Abraham’s children/seed—the Father of Faith!—the friend of God!? It is not likely that their objection was toward a political subjugation of some sort; after all, there was scarcely a major power whom the Jewish people had not served: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Syria, and Rome had all exercised dominion over them at one time or another. Those gathered hearing Jesus at the Festival of Booths understood Jesus’ reference to slavery to be regarding spiritual, inward freedom and privilege.
• Read together Matthew 8:11-12 and Mark 2:17. After reading those passages how do you think the Jews of Jesus day understood their place and privilege with God?

• Read 8:34-46 together again. Vs. 34 begins in Greek with “Amen, Amen” which in English is usually translated as, “Truly truly” or “Very truly.” The point is that this is an emphatic statement of Jesus. In today’s English we might say, “I am telling you the truth!” Jesus makes it clear in these verses that he is not speaking of enslavement to a political or economic system, but vicious slavery to moral failure and rebellion against our Creator—to sin!
• Don Carson writes[2] that the Jews had tied their self-professed freedom to their status as seeds/children of Abraham. Jesus turns this on them when he challenges their status due solely to their biological link to Abraham. Jeremiah (9:25-26) addressed this very question when he declared that God did not desire circumcised body parts but circumcised hearts. The Apostle Paul addresses this on multiple occasions; see Romans 9:7; Galatians 4:21-31.

• Read 8:39-41 together again. At v. 40 Jesus delivers a shot across the bow! He is essentially telling the Jews gathered that they are not children of Abraham because they do not possess his obedience to God’s direction—a true child of Abraham is not found in biology but obedience.
• Those gathered understood this as an attack on Abraham. If THEY are corrupt, they assume, then Abraham’s seed (sperm) must be corrupt. They tell Jesus at v. 41 that they were not born of sexual immorality; that is, they are not illegitimate children. Stinging from Jesus’ rebuke of Abraham’s fatherhood; the Jews present take it up a notch and claim God as their Father—which was very uncommon for Jewish people to do in Jesus’ days on earth.

• Read 8:42-47 together again. Jesus here refutes their claim that God is their Father in what must have been an intense conversation/debate happening within the temple complex during a national religious holiday.



St. John Chrysostom

• Jesus tells those gathered very directly, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.” (v. 42). God cannot be their Father because they cannot hear what He is saying to them, and because they cannot hear, they cannot obey. Remember!—Obedience is the sign of being a child of Abraham—not a circumcised body. Harken back to John 1:11-13, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
• John Chrysostom “The Golden-Tongued” (349-407), one of the great early teachers of the Faith, wrote, “He (Jesus) had already driven them out of their relationship to Abraham. And when they dared greater things (God is our Father), he then adds another blow, telling them not only that they are not Abraham’s children but that they are even children of the devil!”
• Augustine of Hippo (354-430) adds, “How long are you going to keep speaking

  

  Augustine of Hippo

  of a father? How often will you change your fathers—at one time Abraham, at another God? Hear the Son of God tell you whose children you are: ‘You are of your father the devil.’”
• At this point in the passage we encounter Jesus using very strong language for faith, belief, truth, and obedience. How does this resonate with you? 
• People often have an image of Jesus as being overly kind and hypersensitive to people’s feelings. How does this passage so far compare to that image of Jesus?

• Read 8:48-59 together again. As the dialogue continues to intensify between Jesus and the Jews present at that time, Jesus makes an astonishing claim/promise at v. 51. What is that promise? How did the Jewish people respond to that claim?
• V. 53 shows us that the ears of those gathered that day are truly not listening. They ask Jesus, “Who do you make yourself out to be?” Their question misses the central point of the entire dialogue that’s been taking place before their very eyes and ears! Jesus don’t make himself or exalt himself to be anything other than an obedient servant of God who goes about his Father’s will—that is, he is uniquely submissive to the Father. He tells them this in V. 54, which in effect counters their claim to be children of God. If they were children of the God the Father, they would listen and be obedient, AND THEY WOULD REALIZE WHO JESUS IS AND LISTEN TO HIM!!!
• V. 56 is fascinating as the pericope builds to a climax. Jesus tells them, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” What do you think Jesus means by this? To what event is he referring?[3]
• V. 58 gives us another emphatic statement of Jesus, “Truly truly” or “Very truly” in English, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Rather than saying something like, “Before Abraham was born, I was” Jesus intentionally uses the divine name, just as he did previously in chapters 6 and earlier in 8 (I am Bread; I am Light).
• Take a moment and look at Isaiah 41:4, 43:13, and Psalm 90:2. How do these verses help to inform Jesus’ invoking of the divine name in this instance?
• It appears the Jews present knew/understood exactly what Jesus meant because they picked up stones to kill him (V. 59). In their eyes this was a justifiable act because Jesus was making a blasphemous claim—to be “I am.”

Carson writes, “Abraham looked forward to the messianic age, the age that was, in John’s

The Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22)

understanding, inaugurated by the incarnation of the Word who already was ‘in the beginning’ (John 1:1), like God, eternal. In conformity with John’s Prologue (John 1:1-14), Jesus takes to himself one of the most sacred of divine expressions of self-reference, and makes the assumption of that expression the proof of his superiority over Abraham.” (Page 358)

• Did reading and studying this passage affect your view/understanding of Jesus in any way?
• Did using both Old and New Testament passages in this study better inform your concept of God, and so, Jesus?
• What are your takeaways from this reading today?
• Jesus sets clear expectations upon the Jews gathered that day regarding hearing, understanding truth, and obedience. How do these expectations play within the church today—particularly the American expression of the church—and does Jesus’ expectations make living as his disciples in our country easier or harder?

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[1] This information from Abraham has been gleaned aggressively from: Walke, Bruce K., An Old Testament Theology: an Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 333.

[2] Carson, D.A., The Gospel According to John, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 351.

[3] There is not a clear Biblical understanding to exactly what Jesus was referring in regards to Abraham rejoicing that he would see my day. Far and away the most popular understanding within the history of the Church is found in the Akedah—“The Binding of Isaac” event found in Genesis 22; especially 22:8, “God himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering, my son…” There is also strong historical support within the greater Christian tradition that Abraham saw in the ram at the place of sacrifice a pre-type of Christ that would be sacrificed.