Now here these words must
necessarily depend either on the verb λεγω or the verb ειμι.
And since both of these verbs are of the present tense, the verb γενεσθαι too must therefore be understood of
the present looking towards the future; and for that reason πριν ‘Αβρααμ γενεσθαι in this place altogether signifies
“before Abraham comes to be”.
And truly no one can be so unskilled in
languages as not to notice a solecism in the words “I say to you: before
Abraham was made, I am”. But they say this solecism was committed in order that
it might be understood that Christ is and who is, namely Jehovah, God. To this
we say, first: perhaps nowhere in the sacred writings is God called simply “he
who is”. For those famous places—I am who I am and “he who is” has
sent me to you—read, as even boys know, otherwise in the Hebrew, namely: I
shall be who I shall be, and: “I shall be” has sent me to you.
Then we affirm: that is not enough, unless this
strange expression, or one like it, be found elsewhere also—where, namely, God
is described by the verb “am” in the present tense at the same time answer is
made to a verb of the past tense. Moreoever we say: we can then suspect that such
solecisms have been committed when it is manifestly established from elsewhere
concerning the thing itself which could be their cause. That this is the case
in this place we constantly deny—for about this very thing the controversy
between us turns. Finally, this is most certain: since nothing compels us to
admit this solecism, it is better to reject it; or at least from this place,
being doubtful, nothing solid can be gathered in a matter so arduous.
But someone will say: what then would Christ
have meant if—as you take his words—he had said: “I say to you: before Abraham
comes to be, I am”? First it must be examined to which verb those words “before
Abraham comes to be” attach to the verb “I say” or to the verb “I am”. And since
Christ has elsewhere used this expression “I am” simply and absolutely, and
that twice in this very discourse which he held with the Jews, it must be said
that he used it here too in the same manner. So that the words “before” and so
forth are to be joined not with the verb “I am” but with the verb “I say”—as we
see done in words of the same Christ in similar places in the same Evangelist.
So that it is the same as if had been said: “I say to you, before Abraham comes
to be, that I am he”—but not: “I say to you that, before Abraham comes to be, I
am.”
Next it must be inquired what that expression “I
am” signifies. This can be recognized from those two places mentioned before.
The one runs thus: Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your
sins. But the other thus: When you have lifted up the Son of man, then
you will know that I am he. But the same Christ said also to his disciples:
From now on I tell you before it comes to pass, that when it has come to
pass you may believe that I am he. Whence it is established that “I am he”
means the same as “I am the light of the world”, “I am the way and the truth
and the life”—as he speaks elsewhere--, that is, in a word: “I am the Christ.”
But you will say: what then do those words “before
Abraham comes to be” mean? Had Abraham, then, who had existed so many centuries
before, not yet come to be? That man Abraham had indeed already come to be; but
there had not yet come to be that which his name signified and on account of
which that name had been laid upon him by God. Not yet had many nations obtained
the faith, and therefore that man Abraham, who is the father of believers, had
not yet become the father of many nations; nor further could it yet be said that
Abraham himself had truly come to be, since “Abraham” is nothing else than “father
of a multitude”, that is, of many nations. For God says: And thy name shall
no more be called Abrahm, but thou shalt be named Abraham; for I have appointed
thee a father of many nations. As therefore Christ on another occasion admonished
the Jews that they should walk while they ahd the light, and repeatedly threatened
them not obscurely that it would come to pass that the kingdom of God would be
given to the nations, but they themselves deprived of it, so in this place too
he admonishes them, not without silent threats, that before the door of faith
is opened to the nations they should acknowledge that he is the Christ.
And in this way he wonderfully deludes them,
while they try to catch him in his words—for he himself had not said that he
had seen Abraham, as was objected to him by them: he takes the name Abraham as
an occasion, meanwhile answering as it were nevertheless what had been objected
to him, and turns his discourse elsewhere, namely to the aim he had pursued
from the beginning. Yet so that they perceived it and at the same time felt the
gravest threats. Whence it came about that in anger they took up stones to cast
at him. (Faustus Socinus, On the Nature of Jesus Christ: Socinus’s
Disputation Against Andreas Volanus on the Essence of Christ and the Expiation
of Sins [trans. Marcin Poholski; 2026], 37-40)
