John
8:58
Looking at the grammar behind
John 8:58?
An Answer To JW critics
By: Andrew Graham ( 23-12-2020)
Here is a popular
Trinitarian bible on John 8:58:
"Very truly I tell you," Jesus
answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" NIV
Here like many other translations, the word order is back to front! It is Greek
word order, not English word order. Greek has ‘object or predicate phrase +
verb + subject’, whereas, English has, ‘subject + verb + object or predicate
phrase’. When we see in English translations the Greek word order, we call it
an idiom!
The
verb γενεθαι is aorist middle infinitive.
“The Greek “to be” verb (ειμι) does not have a full
paradigm and excludes the perfect and the aorist. This means that there was no
tense form to choose from to express a past action of existence up to the
present time of speaking and the present tense of the
Greek “to be” verb (ειμι) was pressed into service for this purpose*. The
PRIN (πριν) clause is temporal and refers to a time before Abraham existed
(γενεαθαι aorist middle infinitive). The infinitive gets its time from the
controlling verb which in J8:58 is ειμι.” (Thanks to: Timothy Lawson)
* Like
most Greek verbs in the present tense, as is “eimi”, such verbs express a
continued, on-going act or action. (See examples below).
Let us explore the meaning behind the grammatical terms
behind the verb:
“γενεαθαι”, which is in the “aorist middle infinitive”?
The Aorist is a verb
form and one of its functions is to communicate what sort of act or
action takes place, it does not in itself necessarily relate to temporality
(the time) that such an act or action was taken i.e., “when”! Context usually
determines the tense in which sense the Aorist is to be understood, that is, it
may express momentary action i.e., a one-off act or action, or short temporary
act or action that may have happened in the past, as opposed to a continued
ongoing act or action.
Examples of the
Aorist in the NT.
1 John 2:1 HCSB
" My little children, I am
writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we
have an advocate with the Father--Jesus Christ the Righteous One.”
Here
the verb “Hamarte” (to sin) is in the Aorist and expresses a momentary sin, so
a person may momentarily “commit a sin – does sin, sins”, now here is an
important point that is to be remembered when it comes to the present tense
verb “eimi” in John 8:58 and that is, to re-emphasis, like most Greek verbs in
the present tense, as is “eimi”, such expresses a continued act or action and
an example is to be seen in 1 John 3:6 See also 1 John 2:3; 3:9; 3 John
1:11).
Example of how a Present tense verb denotes continued action!
1 John 3:6
“No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has
either seen him or known him.” NIV
“No
one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen
Him or known Him.” BSB
Here we see the present tense verbs “Hamartanei” (sinning)
and “Hamartanon” (sinning) being rendered into
English as, “keeps on sinning” and “continues sin”, though in the present
tense, the context shows temporality, as a person can ‘keep on sinning,
continues to sin’, up to the present, where the act or action of sinning
continues from “Past Time”, “sinning” is involved, the use of the verbs “keep”
and “continues” denote “time”, past time, and up to the present - “keeps on
sinning” and “continues sin”.
Math 4:9
“and
he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and
worship me.” ERV
“…thou
wilt do me homage.” Darby, Weymouth
“…thou
mayest bow to me” YLT
Here
in Math 4:9 we see that the verb “proskuneses” (do reverence, bow
low, bow down, prostrate, do obeisance, worship…) is in the Aorist , Satan,
after tempting Jesus and offering him everything, asks Jesus to “bow down” and
perform a certain (one off) act, not a continuous action, that is, one that
would be ongoing, one act of “bowing low” to Satan was all that he required for
him to accomplish his purpose!
So, here we see how certain verbs used in certain contexts in which the Aorist
is used, and even present tense verbs can denote that which is momentary (one
off) or ongoing!
Voice?
When Greek uses the Middle Voice? (in English it is translated into
the Active Voice)!
English
does not use the Middle Voice, it is either Passive or Active, when reading some part of the bible in
English and it is in the Active Voice, but, not sure whether in Greek it is
Active or Middle Voice, we need to go to the original Greek, online bible
sources with grammars can help to determine which Voice it being used!
The
Middle Voice in Greek?
The
Middle Voice in Greek is very common. Unlike the Active and the Passive Voice, with
the Middle Voice the subject is combined with the act or action, the subject is
both cause and the focal point of the act or action, the subject is
simultaneously the one who does and is the recipient, the one affected by the
act or action!
Here some examples:
“I tied my own shoe laces, I
lifted myself up, I unlocked my door…!”
“My neighbour unlocked
my car” Active.
“My neighbour (subject) unlocked (verb) my car
(object)”
“I unlocked my car”
Middle.
“I (subject) unlocked
(verb) my car (object)”
In the Middle Voice,
the verb expresses both the subject and the object, “I” and the “my car”, we see
that, the subject is combined with the act or action, the subject is both cause
and the focal point of the act or action! English does not have this Middle
Voice!
The word
“Voice” is a term used to express whether a verb is Active or Passive.
Active
and Passive Voice (examples)
“A dog bit my friend”
this is in the active voice, the subject is the dog, as it does the doing (act
or action) “bit my friend”.
Thus, the expression
“Passive Voice” in a sentence or clause, points to the kind of sentence or
clause, where the subject does ‘not’ do the doing, but is the recipient of the
act or action of the verb, that is the one or thing doing the doing!
“Peter kissed Mary” Active
“Mary was kissed by
Peter” Passive.
“The Titanic hit an
Iceberg” Active
“An Iceberg was hit
by the Titanic” Passive
An easy way to remember is
that, the Active refers to the subject (person or thing) that does the doing,
whereas, the Passive refers to the subject (person or thing) that was done to!
Remember too, that the verb expresses the act or action, the doing or done to,
so it can be said that, Passive will highlight the act or action of the verb
and the object, not the subject, whereas, the Active highlights the act or
action of the verb and the subject, not the object!
γενεαθαι (aorist middle infinitive)
Infinitive
Just what is the Infinitive, now that we have dealt with examples of the Aorist
and Middle, as well as Voice (Including the Passive and Active Voice)?
Infinitives are verbs
which are preceded by “to”, such as we see in “to say, to laugh, to aim, to do,
to shout, to read…”! Infinitives are what we see in our dictionaries.
Let us now turn to John 8:58?
“Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say
to you, before Abraham was born, I am." NASB
Pertinent part:
“…before Abraham was born, I am.”
Comment
on “I am”!
The
expression “I am” is not really a good translation from the original Greek for
the reason that it is not nuanced, and it is in the wrong word order, it
follows Greek word order and not proper English word order!
Original Greek
“εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Ἰησοῦς Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ
γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί.”
Pertinent part of the Greek:
“…πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί.”
First I will deal with, “…πρὶν
Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι…”
Here we see “πρὶν” (before) an adverb relating to Past Time, a time before “Ἀβραὰμ”
(Abraham) “γενέσθαι” (genesthai). What are we to make of “γενέσθαι” (to
become, to happen, to be born, to exist…) in relation to “before Abraham…”, remembering that “genesthai”
is Aorist Middle Infinitive? The controlling verb in “…πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ
εἰμί.” is “εἰμί”, this is a “to be” a present tense verb this, verb, and like most Greek verbs in the present tense, as is
“eimi”, such express a continued or ongoing act or action and an example was
seen in 1 John 3:6, where the present tense verbs “Hamartanei” (sinning) and “Hamartanon” (sinning) are used with a Past Time,
ongoing up to the present time aspect and the Infinitive “genesthai” (to
become, to happen, to be born…) in John 8:58 derives it time from the controlling verb
“eimi”, a “to be” verb, and as previously noted, “eimi” a present tense verb is
used with a past time sense, as “most Greek verbs in the present tense, as is
“eimi”, such express a continued or ongoing act or action” See also 1 John
2:3; 3:9; 3 John 1:11 are examples of present tense verses having a Past
Time sense, this is where “eimi” (the present tense
of the Greek “to be” verb (ειμι) “was pressed into service for this purpose and
the infinitive “genesthai” gets its time from the controlling verb which in
J8:58 is ειμι.” - Timothy Lawson)
Thus,
when we see “…πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί.” (before Abraham genesthai (to become, to happen, to be born…) ending with “ἐγὼ εἰμί.” (ego eimi) this
latter “ego eimi” has a Past Time, ongoing sense (even though it is a present
tense verb) and because it is the controlling verb it time stamps “genesthai (to become, to happen, to be born…)”, thus,
“genesthai” as many translators sense (because of the above) render, “…πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί.”
Into English variously as:
“before Abraham was born, I was”
“before Abraham existed, I was”
“before
Abraham existed, I have been”
“before Abraham born, I am”*
The “Today’s Living Bible” puts it very well:
“The absolute truth is that I was in existence
before Abraham was ever born!”
Here we see the correct English order, Subject – Verb – Predicate Phrase
(Object).
So, what was Jesus saying that others find so difficult to accept, as there was
nothing complicated with the way he said it and made good sense to the hearers
of his day; was he trying to claim some special title, that he was God, as
Trinitarians do with their “I am” or “I AM”?, no, he simply said to his opposers
that he had been existing, was alive long before Abraham ever existed, came
into being, was born!
*Trinitarians
try to use “I am” or “I AM” as a title that supposedly connotes “Deity,
Identity…”, but this is theology, as this is not what John was saying,
naturally it should be understood as, “I was in existence before Abraham was
born/existed”!
Unitarians deny the person behind the name, Jesus,
pre-existed, no matter what Jesus and others in the NT said!
A Note of Caution!
When looking through online bible websites caution must be used, as they are
run by Trinitarians for Trinitarians and at times Trinitarian bias runs through
them, this is seen in the way they render certain words from the Greek into
English and how they use only popular Trinitarian bibles that do not have an
impact on their Trinitarian theology and pander to such theology, yet at the
same time omit many other translations that would allow readers to get a
balanced view of certain matters and John 8:58 (and John 1:1) is one of
them, as many other translations hidden from readers show something quite
different!
Examples from:
Prof. Dan Wallace’s, “Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics”
“Prin Abraham genesthai ego eimi”
Wallace says:
“If we are calling this use of the infinitive
subsequent, why then are we translating it as before?
The reason is that
this infinitive explicitly tells when the action of the controlling verb
takes place, as in:
“the
rabbit was already dead, before he aimed his rifle.”
In
this sentence, “he aimed” is the infinitive and “was (already dead)” is the
main verb. The dying comes before the aiming, or conversely, the aiming comes
after the dying.”
My Notes:
Putting it another way, “before he aimed his rifle, the rabbit was already
dead”
The infinitive is “he aimed” and “was (already
dead)” is the main verb, the infinitive “he aimed” tells us when the act
or action of the (controlling) verb takes place.
Breaking it down further:
“the rabbit was already dead before
he aimed his rifle”
Or
“before he aimed his rifle the
rabbit was already dead”
“before he aimed his rifle”, this is a “before” clause, just as in John 8:58,
where we see “Before Abraham genesthai”, this is the “prin” (before) clause, as
it includes the verb “genesthai”, just as, “before he aimed his rifle” includes
the verb “aim”.
The term “before” is temporal and refers to a time
“before he aimed his rifle”. The infinitive “he aimed” derives its time from
the act or action of the verb “was” in “the rabbit “was” (already dead),
both clauses are temporal of “Past Time” in meaning, the rabbit was already
something, that something is, “was dead” hence, “the rabbit was already dead
before he aimed his rifle.”
Harner uses several examples of the above where the infinitive informs us when
the act or action of the (controlling) verb takes place and the one that is
most simple as an example is seen in John 4:49
John 4:49
“κατάβηθι πρὶν
ἀποθανεῖν τὸ παιδίον μου”
κατάβηθι (verb - aorist) “come down”
πρὶν (Adverb) “before
ἀποθανεῖν (verb – aorist infinitive) “dies”
τὸ (article) “the”
παιδίον (noun) “child”
μου (possessive pronoun) “of me”
The clause “come down before my child dies.”, and
“the rabbit was already dead, before he aimed his rifle.”, are saying the same
thing.
“come down before my child dies.”
Or we could say,
“before my child dies come down”
Here we have the controlling verb “come (down)” the
infinitive “dies” gets it time from that controlling verb, the clause “before
(my child dies)” is temporal and refers to a time “before”, that is, the words
“before my child dies” are spoken.
Thus, the act or action “come down” comes “before”
the act or action “my child dies”
Back to John 8:58?
The same grammatical principle above applied to John 8:58
“before Abraham was born, I am” NIV
Or
“I am, before Abraham was born”
“prin Abraham genesthai ego eimi”
As in the above examples, here we see the (infinitive) verb “genesthai” (to be,
to become, to exist), it gets its timing from the controlling verb “eimi” (am),
the clause “before Abraham was “genesthai” (to be, to
become, to exist) is temporal, hence, “prin (before…)” is the temporal
clause, and it gets its timing from the controlling verb “eimi”, and as noted
from above, “eimi”, like most Greek
verbs in the present tense, as is “eimi”, such express a continued or ongoing
act or action and an example was seen in 1 John 3:6 and the other
examples above.
Thus, the act or action
“eimi” (am) comes “before” the act or action of Abraham being born/existing and
“eimi” is a simple present tense verb expressing existence and to re-emphasis:
“…and as noted from above, “eimi”, like most Greek verbs in the
present tense, as is “eimi”, such express a continued or ongoing act or action
and an example was seen in 1 John 3:6 and the other examples above.”
