Yohanes 8:37

8:37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. ¹  But you want ²  to kill me, because my teaching ³  makes no progress among you. ⁴ 

Yohanes 8:39-40

8:39 They answered him, ⁵  “Abraham is our father!” ⁶  Jesus replied, ⁷  “If you are ⁸  Abraham’s children, you would be doing ⁹  the deeds of Abraham. 8:40 But now you are trying ¹⁰  to kill me, a man who has told you ¹¹  the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! ¹² 

Yohanes 8:56

8:56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed ¹³  to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.” ¹⁴ 

Yohanes 8:58

8:58 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁵  before Abraham came into existence, ¹⁶  I am!” ¹⁷ 

[8:37]  ¹ tn Grk “seed” (an idiom).

[8:37]  ² tn Grk “you are seeking.”

[8:37]  ³ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:37]  ⁴ tn Or “finds no place in you.” The basic idea seems to be something (in this case Jesus’ teaching) making headway or progress where resistance is involved. See BDAG 1094 s.v. χωρέω 2.

[8:39]  ⁵ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[8:39]  ⁶ tn Or “Our father is Abraham.”

[8:39]  ⁷ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:39]  ⁸ tc Although most mss (C W Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï) have the imperfect ἦτε (hte, “you were”) here, making this sentence a proper second class condition, the harder reading, ἐστε (este, “you are”), is found in the better witnesses (Ì^66,75 א B D L 070 pc lat).

[8:39]  ⁹ tc Some important mss (Ì⁶⁶ B* [700]) have the present imperative ποιεῖτε (poieite) here: “If you are Abraham’s children, then do,” while many others (א² C K L N Δ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 565 579 892 pm) add the contingent particle ἄν (an) to ἐποιεῖτε (epoieite) making it a more proper second class condition by Attic standards. The simple ἐποιεῖτε without the ἄν is the hardest reading, and is found in some excellent witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* B² D W Γ Θ 070 0250 1424 pm).

[8:39]  tn Or “you would do.”

[8:40]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “seeking.”

[8:40]  ¹¹ tn Grk “has spoken to you.”

[8:40]  ¹² tn The Greek word order is emphatic: “This Abraham did not do.” The emphasis is indicated in the translation by an exclamation point.

[8:56]  ¹³ tn Or “rejoiced greatly.”

[8:56]  ¹⁴ tn What is the meaning of Jesus’ statement that the patriarch Abraham “saw” his day and rejoiced? The use of past tenses would seem to refer to something that occurred during the patriarch’s lifetime. Genesis Rabbah 44:25ff, (cf. 59:6) states that Rabbi Akiba, in a debate with Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, held that Abraham had been shown not this world only but the world to come (this would include the days of the Messiah). More realistically, it is likely that Gen 22:13-15 lies behind Jesus’ words. This passage, known to rabbis as the Akedah (“Binding”), tells of Abraham finding the ram which will replace his son Isaac on the altar of sacrifice – an occasion of certain rejoicing.

[8:58]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:58]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “before Abraham was.”

[8:58]  ¹⁷ sn I am! is an explicit claim to deity. Although each occurrence of the phrase “I am” in the Fourth Gospel needs to be examined individually in context to see if an association with Exod 3:14 is present, it seems clear that this is the case here (as the response of the Jewish authorities in the following verse shows).