Mary L. Coloe on John 8:58

  

In the discussion of the phrase εγω ειμι in verses 8:18, 24 and 28, I followed the work of a number of scholars who look to Deutero-Isaiah as the most likely background for the Johannine expression. The context of the final εγω ειμι in verse 54 may also be best elucidated through Isaiah, particularly the targumic version:

 

MT Isa 43:10-12

Tg Isa 43:10-12

10. You are my witnesses, says the LORD and my servant whom I have chosen That you may know and believe me and understand that I am He.       11. I, I am the LORD and beside me there is no savior. 12. I declared and saved and proclaimed when there was no strange god among us.

You are witnesses before me, says the Lord and my servant the Messiah with whom I am well pleased, that you might know and believe before me and understand that I am he. I am he that was from the beginning, even the ages of the ages are mine and there is no God beside me. I, I am the Lord, and beside me there is no savior. I declared to Abraham your father what was about to come, I saved you from Egypt, just as I swore to him between the pieces, I proclaimed to you the teaching of my Law from Sinai, when you were present and there was no stranger among you.

 

Abraham has been inserted into the text of the Targum in connection with the deliverance from Egypt. Abraham is added to Isaiah in other places expressing a similar theme of Abraham as savior. In some cases he replaces the original reference to Cyrus who was considered a savior figure (41:2; 48:15-16). The reference above to 43:10-12 is particularly striking as the Gospel picks up the theme of “knowing” and “believing” (8:24, 28). The Gospel (v. 56) and Targum (v. 12) follow the Jewish tradition found already in Jubilees (16:26) that future events were revealed to Abraham:

 

Targum—I declared to Abraham your father what was about to come
Jubilees—He knew and perceived that from him there would be a righteous planting for eternal generations
Gospel—Abraham rejoiced to see my day

 

Both Targum and gospel speak of the pre-existence of the “I Am.”
Targum—“I am he that was from the beginning” (Is. Tg. V. 10).
Gospel—“Before Abraham was I am” (8:58).

 

The similarities between the Gospel and Targum suggest that both draw upon a common source of traditional material concerning Abraham available to a first-century author. (Mary L. Coloe, God Dwells with Us: Temple Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel [Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 2001], 141-42)