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It is likely that
Jesus was speaking Hebrew at the time, or perhaps Aramaic. He was
addressing the Pharisees after all, and He very likely spoke to them in
Hebrew. If He was speaking Hebrew, He would have said אהיה
(hâyâh), which John would have
rendered ego eimi in Greek. According to the Aramaic Targum
Onqelos, it would be אֶהְיה(hâyâh
- the exact same written form as Hebrew), which John would also have
translated ego eimi in Greek ('I am' in English).
From
Albert Barnes Commentary...
The expression I am, though in the present tense, is
clearly designed to refer to a past time. Thus, in Psa_90:2, “From
everlasting to everlasting thou art God.” Applied to God, it denotes
continued existence without respect to time, so far as he is concerned. We
divide time into the past, the present, and the future. The expression,
applied to God, denotes that he does not measure his existence in this
manner, but that the word by which we express the present denotes his
continued and unchanging existence. Hence, he assumes it as his name, “I
AM,” and “I AM that I AM,” Exo_3:14. Compare Isa_44:6; Isa_47:8.
There is a remarkable similarity between the expression employed by Jesus
in this place and that used in Exodus to denote the name of God. The
manner in which Jesus used it would strikingly suggest the application of
the same language to God. The question here was about his pre-existence.
The objection of the Jews was that he was not 50 years old, and could not,
therefore, have seen Abraham. Jesus replied to that that he existed before
Abraham. As in his human nature he was not yet 50 years old, and could
not, as a man, have existed before Abraham, this declaration must be
referred to another nature; and the passage proves that, while he was a
man, he was also endowed with another nature existing before Abraham, and
to which he applied the term (familiar to the Jews as expressive of the
existence of God) I AM; and this declaration corresponds to the
affirmation of John, that he was in the beginning with God, and was God.
This affirmation of Jesus is one of the proofs on which John relies to
prove that he was the Messiah, to establish which was the design of
writing this book (Barnes).
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prin abraam genesqai egw eimi
PRIN ABRAAM
GENESTHAI EGÔ EIMI
Before Abraham came to
be, I am
GINOMAI (G1096)
To become,
i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being (Thayer).
EIMI (G1510)
To be, to exist, to happen, to be present (Thayer).
I am (egw
eimi). Undoubtedly here Jesus claims eternal existence with the
absolute phrase used of God. The contrast between genesthai
(entrance into existence of Abraham) and eimi
(timeless being) is complete. See the same contrast between en
in John 1:1 and egeneto
in John 1:14. See the contrast also in Psa 90:2 between God (ei,
art) and the mountains (genesthenai).
See the same use of eimi
in John 6:20; John 9:9; John 8:24, John 8:28; John 18:6 (RWP).
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I recently became aware* of how the WTBTS translates John 8:58 in the Greek
NWT (that is, the modern Greek translation that Witnesses in Greece
use). While one might expect them to leave it untranslated (as the
verb eimi means the same today as it did in Jesus' day), they
actually change it to ego huparchw (egw uparcw),
which even though is roughly synonymous with "I am," can also
mean "I began" or "I came forth." They do this despite the fact that in other modern Greek
NTs, it is left as ego eimi ("I am").
It seems the WT will go to any lengths to make sure Jesus does not
identify Himself as ego eimi.
Vamvas Modern Greek NT (1850):
*I am indebted to 4Jehovah.org
for this information
Articles...
John 8:58:
How Do We Translate? Kelton Graham
I
Am What I Am JP Holding
The
Gospel Truth about John 8:58 Arthur Daniels
Dialogs...
Jason
BeDuhn and Robert Bowman
Jason
BeDuhn and Robert Hommel (follow up to above)
Blogs...
John
8:58 in the Peshitta: "I was" or "I am?" John
8:58 in the Sahidic Coptic Translation
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