Charles Spurgeon Commentary John 8:58

"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am." — John 8:58 (ASV)

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was I am.

Here he claims his Deity to the fullest extent, and those who can read the New Testament, and profess to believe it, and yet not see Christ as a claimant of Deity, must be sinfully blind.

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

They had asked him, Whom makest thou thyself? and now they have his answer: Before Abraham was, I am, Christ says.

This is the very name by which God revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush: I AM.

Yet Jesus takes this title to himself: Before Abraham was, – not "I was"; notice that; but I am; as if his life were one continued present existence—as indeed it is, since with God there is no past or future, but all things are ever-present to his infinite mind.

When Jesus said, Before Abraham was, I am, he claimed the Godhead; he declared that he was certainly God, self-existent from all eternity.