John 8:56

John 8:56-59 . Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day — Ηγαλλιασατο ινα ιδη την ημεραν , exulted with desire, to see my day. “The words ινα ιδη , that he might see, immediately following the verb, show,” as Dr. Campbell observes, “that it cannot mean here, rejoiced, but rather signifies, desired earnestly, wished, longed.” Indeed, the expression may with the strictest propriety signify, “leaping forward with joy to meet the object of our wishes, as well as exulting in the possession of it.” By his day, our Lord seems to mean, the time when the promised seed should come, in whom all nations were to be blessed by being converted from idolatry to the knowledge and worship of the true God; and put in possession of all the blessings attendant on true religion. He earnestly desired, as if our Lord said, to see the great transactions of my life, by which these blessings were to be procured for all nations, and to take a view of the happy state into which the world would be brought, when they were bestowed upon them. And he saw it, and was glad — His faith was equivalent to seeing. By the favour of a particular revelation, Abraham had a distinct foresight of these things, and was exceedingly transported with the prospect. If then you want to know my person and character, you may form some notion of both from the disposition with which Abraham regarded me. Our Lord, therefore, plainly enough assumed the character of the Messiah on this occasion.

Then said the Jews, Thou art not yet fifty years old, &c. — Understanding what he said in a natural sense, they thought he affirmed that he had lived in the days of Abraham; which they took to be ridiculous nonsense, as he was not arrived at the age of fifty; for they had no conception of his divinity, notwithstanding he had told them several times that he was the Son of God. Jesus saith, Verily, &c., before Abraham was, I am — Greek, πριν Αβρααμ γενεσθαι εγω ειμι , “before Abraham was born, I am, that is, I had a glorious existence with the Father, and am still invariably the same, and one with him.” So Doddridge. Thus also Dr. Campbell, who observes, “I have followed here the version of Erasmus, which is close, both to the sense and to the letter: Antequam Abraham nasceretur ego sum. Diodati renders the words in the same way in Italian. Heylin and Wynne translate in English in the same manner. Εγω ειμι , (which we translate I am, ) may indeed be rendered I was. The present for the imperfect, or even for the preterperfect, is no unusual figure with this writer. However, as an uninterrupted duration, from the time spoken of to the time then present, seems to have been suggested, I thought it better to follow the common method.” Our Lord here, in the strongest terms, appears to assert his proper divinity, declaring himself to be, what St. John more largely expresses, ( Revelation 1:8 ,) the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, who is, was, and is to come, the Almighty.

John 8:56 . And as regards The connection they claim with Abraham, this reflects discredit on their present attitude towards Jesus; for Ἀβραὰμ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν , “Abraham in whose parentage you glory,” ἠγαλλιάσατο ἵνα ἴδῃ τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν ἐμήν , “rejoiced to see my day”. The day of Christ is the time of His earthly manifestation: τῆς ἐπιδημίας αὐτοῦ τῆς μετὰ σαρκός , Cyril. See Luke 17:22-26 ; where the plural expresses the same as the singular here. “To see” the day is “to be present” at it, “to experience” it; cf. Eurip., Hecuba , 56, δούλειον ἦμαρ εἶδες , and the Homeric νόστιμον ἦμαρ ἰδέσθαι . ἵνα ἴδῃ cannot here have its usual Johannine force and be epexegetical (Burton, Moods, etc. ), nor as Holtzmann says = ὅτι ὄψοιτο , because in this case the εἶδε καὶ ἐχάρη would be tautological. Euthymius gives the right interpretation: ἠγαλλ ., ἤγουν , ἐπεθύμησεν (similarly Theophylact), and the meaning is “Abraham exulted in the prospect of seeing,” or “that he should see”. This he was able to do by means of the promises given to him.— καὶ εἶδε , “and he saw it,” not merely while he was on earth (although this seems to have been the idea the Jews took up from the words, see John 8:57 ); for this kind of anticipation Jesus uses different language, Matthew 13:17 , and at the utmost the O.T. saints could be described as πόρρωθεν ἰδόντες , Hebrews 11:13 ; but he has seen it in its actuality. This involves that Abraham has not died so as to be unconscious, John 8:52 , and cf. Mark 12:26 .

{20} Your father Abraham {t} rejoiced to see my {u} day: and he {x} saw it, and was glad. (20) The power of Christ showed itself through all former ages in the fathers, for they saw in the promises that he would come, and very joyfully laid hold of him with a living faith. (t) Was very desirous. (u) A day is a space that a man lives in, or does any notable act in, or endures any great thing in. (x) With the eyes of faith; He 11:13.

56. Abraham rejoiced to see my day, &c.—exulted, or exceedingly rejoiced that he should see, he exulted to see it, that is, by anticipation. Nay, he saw it, and was glad—he actually beheld it, to his joy. If this mean no more than that he had a prophetic foresight of the gospel-day—the second clause just repeating the first—how could the Jews understand our Lord to mean that He "had seen Abraham?" And if it mean that Abraham was then beholding, in his disembodied spirit, the incarnate Messiah [Stier, Alford, &c.], the words seem very unsuitable to express it. It expresses something past—"he saw My day, and was glad," that is, surely while he lived. He seems to refer to the familiar intercourse which Abraham had with God, who is once and again in the history called "the Angel of the Lord," and whom Christ here identifies with Himself. On those occasions, Abraham "saw ME" (Olshausen, though he thinks the reference is to some unrecorded scene). If this be the meaning, all that follows is quite natural.

You glory much in this, that you have Abraham to your father. This father of yours foresaw my coming into the world, and my dying upon the cross. He saw it by the eye of faith, in the promise which was made to him, That in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. He saw it in the type of Isaac’s being offered, then receiving him in a figure, Hebrews 11:19 . He saw it in the light of Divine revelation. He saw my coming in the flesh; my dying upon the cross for sinners; the publication of my gospel to the whole world, by which means all the nations of the earth became blessed in his seed. And he was glad, with the joy of faith, which gives the soul a union with an absent object by faith made certain to it, Hebrews 11:1 .

John 8:56 . Ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν , your Father ) John 8:37 ; John 8:39 , “I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; Abraham is our father.”— ἠγαλλιάσατο , ἵνα , exulted that ) Evinced his eagerness with longing desire. A similar expression occurs, Romans 10:1 , “My heart’s desire, εὐδοκία τῆς ἐμῆς καρδίας ,” ἵνα , that follows verbs of desiring. This ἀγαλλίασις , exultation , preceded, his seeing; and again χαρά , joy , accompanied the seeing.— τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν ἐμήν , my day ) The day of the Majesty of Christ: Php 1:10 , “sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;” 1 Corinthians 1:8 , “blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ;” which day presupposes all the times of Christ, even in the eyes of Abraham. The days of Christ’s flesh (when He bestowed Himself on others) are one thing, the day of Christ Himself and of His glory is another thing [ i.e. the two are altogether distinct]. This latter day was future in respect to this speech. Therefore the joy of Abraham preceded that day.— καὶ εἶδε , and he saw it ) He saw it, even then in the revelation of My Divine glory; see verses following and Hebrews 11:13 , “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them,” etc. He saw the day of Christ, who of the seed of the patriarch, which was about to be equal in number to the stars, is the greatest and brightest luminary.

And inasmuch as he saw this day, which is to be altogether a day of life, he did not see death; John 8:51 , etc., “If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death :— Abraham is dead —and Thou sayest, If a man,” etc.—Thus the vehemence of the Jews is rebutted. He did not however see it, as the apostles did: Matthew 13:17 , “Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them.”— καὶ ἐχάρη , and he rejoiced ) having obtained his wish.

56 . rejoiced to see my day ] Literally, exulted that he might see My day , the object of his joy being represented as the goal to which his heart is directed. This is a remarkable instance of S. John’s preference for the construction expressing a purpose, where other constructions would seem more natural. Comp. John 4:34 ; John 4:47 , John 6:29 ; John 6:50 , John 9:2-3 ; John 9:22 , John 11:50 , John 16:7 . Abraham exulted in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah through implicit belief in the Divine promises. and he saw it, and was glad ] A very important passage with regard to the intermediate state, shewing that the soul does not, as some maintain, remain unconscious between death and the Day of Judgment. The Old Testament saints in Paradise were allowed to know that the Messiah had come. How this was revealed to them we are not told; but here is a plain statement of the fact. The word for ‘was glad’ expresses a calmer, less emotional joy than the word for ‘rejoiced,’ and therefore both are appropriate: ‘exulted’ while still on earth; ‘was glad’ in Hades. Thus the ‘Communion of Saints’ is assured, not merely in parables ( Luke 16:27-28 ), but in the plainer words of Scripture. Comp. Hebrews 12:1 .