St. John 8:56Â Was Jesus telling them that he was the one that appeared to Abraham?
St. John 8:56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it and was glad. St. John 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? According to the verses above, Jesus was referring to the event where the angels came to Abraham, and he was happy.
Answer:
John 8:58 – “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” The Christians generally present this verse and say that Jesus is God because he said, ‘I am’ is used in the Old Testament by God to describe Himself to the people. Below is the Explanation of the verse in the Right Perspective Reason 1: “EGO EIMI” vs “HO ON” are not the same.
If we read the Old Testament of the Bible, “God said to Moses, I am who I am.” [Exodus 3:14] So the Christians say that Jesus said the same words in John 8:58. So, let me inform you that in the original manuscript for the words ‘I am’ Exodus 3:14, “HO ON” is used, while when Jesus Christ said the same words ‘I am’ in John 8:58, in the original manuscript it is “EGO EIMI” and not “HO ON”.
This means that Jesus never claimed himself as God, otherwise he too would have said “HO ON” in John 8:58 like God said in Exodus 3:14. Reason 2: Like Jesus, Jeremiah was also in the knowledge of God prior to birth. Suppose some Christian friend tries to prove Jesus as God by quoting John 8:58 and saying that Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am,” so this means that Jesus is God because he was before Abraham was.
So, we need to explain to this Christian friend that the Bible presents Jeremiah as the prophet of God appointed by God even before he was born, but no Christian claims Jeremiah to be God. If we read, “Before I formed you in the womb, I know you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” [Jeremiah 1:5]
Therefore, this verse of Jeremiah should be presented to the Christians, and we should explain him that like Jeremiah was in the knowledge of God before his birth (Jeremiah 1:5) so was Jesus in the knowledge of God (John 8:58)
Allah knows Best.
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Almighty Allah is the highest and most knowledgeable, and the attribution of knowledge to him is the safest.
Right from Almighty Allah and wrong from me and Satan
Prepared by Mohamad Mostafa Nassar- Australia.
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Arrogance is not only a sign of insecurity, but also a sign of immaturity. Mature and fully realised persons can get their points across, even emphatically without demeaning or intimidating others.