In the New World Translation (NWT) of John 8:58, the verse is rendered thusly:
Jesus said to them: "Most truly I say to you, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been."
The NWT translates εγω ειμι, not as “I am,” but “I have been.” Needless to say, this is evidence of the NWT deliberately mistranslating a passage to side-step biblical evidence against their Christology.
Evangelical apologist, Michael R. Burgos, Jr., did a good job showing the NWT’s mistranslation in the following footnote to an essay critiquing Unitarian theologies:
The NWT’s non-literal rendering, “Before Abraham came into existence, I have been,” is highly problematic. The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society (WB&TS) has defended this reading by insisting that “Jesus’ reply logically dealt with his age, the length of his existence.” They further argued that A.T. Robertson supports such a reading from this quote: “The verb [eimi] . . . Sometimes it does express existence as a predicate like any other verb, as in [ego eimi] (Jo. 8:58).” Reasoning from the Scriptures, (Brooklyn,: WB&TS, 1985), 418. First, the translation turns the present active verb in to a perfect active with no exegetical or contextual warrant. The WB&TS claim that eimi is a present of past action in progress (PPA, sometimes called the “durative present”) is erroneous and is mitigated by the act that the verb is an absolute. A PPA verb serves “to describe an action which, begun in the past, continues in the present.” Wallace G[reek]G[rammar]B[eyond the]B[asics], 519. However, PPA verbs are always accompanied with an adverb of time or duration in the New Testament. In John 8:58, eimi isn’t accompanied by an adverbial phrase denoting time, but rather the verb serves only as an absolute verb of being (hence, “I am”). The NWT Study Edition cites John 14:9 in support of their assertion regarding John 8:58: τροσουτον χρονον μεθ’ υμων ειμι (“So long a time that I have been with you”). While this example follows the PPA construction perfectly, containing an adverbial phrase which indicates time, namely προσουτον χρονον, eimi at John 8:58 does not. Second, the correct translation (i.e., “Before Abraham was, I am”) serves by implication to indicate “the length of his existence,” or what Büchsel has called “supra-temporality.” TDNT, Vol. II, 399. Thus, the argument by the WB&TS doesn’t follow. Third, Robertson’s statement accords with the translation “I am,” and it does not in any way give credence to the NWT’s rendering. This is confirmed elsewhere by Robertson’s actual exegesis of John 8:58:
“Before Abraham came into existence or was born. I am” (egō eimi). Undoubtedly here Jesus claims eternal existence with the absolute phrase used of God.
Robertson. A.T., Word Pictures of the New Testament, Vol. 5, (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1932), 158-59. It would seem therefore, that the WB&TS ‘cherry picked’ the quote from Robertson’s grammar, making it seem as though he agrees with a theologically driven mistranslation. (Michael R. Burgos, Jr., “I Am: Reducing Unitarian Argumentation to Ashes” in Michael R. Burgos, Jr., ed. Our God is Triune: Essays in Biblical Theology [Torrington, Conn.: Church Militant Publications, 2018], 176-99, here, p. 186-87 n. 34)
