Troy a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Preexsient Christ ; John 8:58/Prt 3A
John 8:58 (KJV)
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. A solemn and official declaration, preceded by “Verily, verily.” The utterance is a remarkable one. It does not merely assert that he was before Abraham, but before Abraham was, I am. It identifies with the I am of the Old Testament. Divinity has no past tense, no future tense, but always the present.
I am. The expression I am, though in the present tense, is clearly designed to refer to a past time. Thus, in Psalms 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," Exodus 3:14. Comp. Isaiah 44:6, 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 fifty 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 fifty 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 (John 1:1), 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 (John 20:31), to establish which was the design of writing this book.
(*) "I am" Exodus 3:14, Isaiah 43:13, John 1:1,2, Colossians 1:17, Revelation 1:8
Amen
Troy
Preexsient Christ ; John 8:58/Prt 3A
John 8:58 (KJV)
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. A solemn and official declaration, preceded by “Verily, verily.” The utterance is a remarkable one. It does not merely assert that he was before Abraham, but before Abraham was, I am. It identifies with the I am of the Old Testament. Divinity has no past tense, no future tense, but always the present.
I am. The expression I am, though in the present tense, is clearly designed to refer to a past time. Thus, in Psalms 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," Exodus 3:14. Comp. Isaiah 44:6, 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 fifty 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 fifty 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 (John 1:1), 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 (John 20:31), to establish which was the design of writing this book.
(*) "I am" Exodus 3:14, Isaiah 43:13, John 1:1,2, Colossians 1:17, Revelation 1:8
Amen
Troy
