Short answer
No. In John 8:58 Jesus says, "Before Abraham was, I am". Christians hear God's (﷾) name in "I am". But in John's Greek, "I am" is ego eimi, two everyday words. In the next chapter a blind man Jesus healed says the same two words about himself. No one thinks he was claiming to be God. In the Greek Old Testament, the name God gives Moses is ho on, "the One who is". Jesus did not say it. Existing before Abraham would not make anyone God either. And the Bible speaks of people known to God (﷾) before birth, like Jeremiah. In the same talk, eighteen verses earlier, Jesus calls himself "a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God". Islam teaches that Jesus was a servant and prophet of God (﷾).
Full explanation
How Christians read the verse
Christians read John 8:58 as a claim to eternal existence. They hear in "I am" the name God gave Moses at the burning bush, where God (﷾) first spoke to him. Or they hear the bare "I am he" that God (﷾) says of Himself in the Greek of Isaiah. They also point out that the crowd picked up stones straight afterwards.
“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
“Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
In the Greek Old Testament God tells Israel they are His witnesses, "so that you may know and believe and understand that ego eimi", "I am he", with no word completing "I am".
What the Greek actually says
John wrote his Gospel in Greek. The words of Jesus in 8:58 are ego eimi, the ordinary way to say "I am" or "it is I". The Greek translation of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, was made centuries before Jesus. It gives God's (﷾) words to Moses as ego eimi ho on. The name Moses is to carry to the people is ho on, "the One who is". Jesus did not say ho on. If he had meant to claim God's (﷾) name, the words that carry it are missing. Some point instead to Isaiah, where in the Greek God (﷾) says of Himself ego eimi. But the words alone cannot carry that claim. The healed blind man says exactly the same ego eimi, with nothing after it, in John 9:9. Who is speaking, and what he says next, decides what the words mean.
“Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.”
In the Greek Old Testament God says to Moses "ego eimi ho on", "I am the One who is", and the name Moses is to give the people is "ho on", "the One who is": "ho on has sent me to you".
“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
In the Greek Old Testament God tells Israel they are His witnesses, "so that you may know and believe and understand that ego eimi", "I am he", with no word completing "I am".
| Who speaks | The Greek words |
|---|---|
| God (﷾) to Moses, in the Greek Old Testament (Exodus 3:14) | ego eimi ho on, “I am the One who is”. The name He gives Moses is ho on, “the One who is”. |
| Jesus (John 8:58) | ego eimi, “I am”: not the name ho on that God (﷾) gives Moses |
| The healed blind man (John 9:9) | ego eimi, the same two words |
Jesus does not use the name ho on. And being known to God (﷾) before birth does not make anyone God: God (﷾) knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the womb.
Existing before birth is not being God
The Bible speaks of people who existed in God's (﷾) knowledge and plan before they were born. God (﷾) knew Jeremiah and appointed him a prophet before he was formed in the womb. Paul, a Christian missionary of the first century, says God (﷾) speaks of things that are not yet "as though they were". A Muslim reads "before Abraham was, I am" the same way. Some Christians point to the change of verb. Abraham "came to be", while Jesus says "I am". But the Greek present tense is the ordinary way to speak of a state that began earlier and still goes on. In John 14:9 Jesus says "Have I been so long time with you". The Greek verb there is the same present eimi. And even if Jesus did exist before Abraham, that would make him earlier than Abraham. It would not make him eternal or God.
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
“(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”
“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”
What Jesus called himself in the same conversation
Eighteen verses before 8:58, Jesus speaks to the same crowd. He describes himself as a man who told them the truth he heard from God (﷾). Earlier still, in 8:28, he says "I am he". In the same breath he says he does nothing of himself, but speaks as his Father taught him. So in this same talk, Jesus explains his own "I am" as the words of a man taught by God (﷾).
“But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.”
“Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.”
Why the crowd picked up stones
John 8:59 does not say why the crowd picked up stones. Two chapters later the charge is spelled out: "thou, being a man, makest thyself God". Jesus answered it from the Psalms, the Jewish book of songs and prayers. There Scripture calls men "gods", those "unto whom the word of God came". He said his claim was to be the Son of God. The Bible gives that title to others too. Adam is called the son of God, Israel is God's firstborn son, and the peacemakers are called children of God. Jesus also said that Jerusalem had stoned the prophets sent to it. None of them had claimed to be God. A crowd's anger shows only that it rejected the speaker. What he claimed is shown by his own words, not by what his enemies accused him of.
“Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
“The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”
“Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?”
“Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.”
“And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:”
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
What the Qur'an says Jesus is
The Qur'an records Jesus speaking of himself as a servant of Allah (﷾) whom God (﷾) made a prophet. It says he was a servant whom God (﷾) favoured and made an example to the Children of Israel.
“He said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet;”
“He was no more than a servant: We granted Our favour to him, and We made him an example to the Children of Israel.”
Verse by verse
John 8:58 — Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 58
“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
Cited for
Christians read "I am" as the divine name of Exodus 3:14, so that Jesus claims to be the God who spoke to Moses.
The response
In the Greek that John wrote, Jesus says only ego eimi. The name in the Greek Exodus is ho on, and Jesus does not use it. The healed blind man says ego eimi in John 9:9. In John 8:28 Jesus' own "I am he" is followed by "I do nothing of myself". Some point to the bare ego eimi God (﷾) says in the Greek of Isaiah. They meet the same problem: the healed blind man says the same bare ego eimi, one chapter later in the same Gospel.
Where it lands — Jesus says two ordinary Greek words that anyone could say. They are not God's (﷾) name, and they do not show that Jesus is God.
John 8:59 — Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 59
“Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
Cited for
The crowd tried to stone Jesus, so they understood him to be claiming to be God.
The response
The verse gives no reason. When the charge was put into words in John 10:33, Jesus answered it from the Psalms. He said his claim was to be the Son of God. The Bible gives that title to others too. Adam is called the son of God, Israel is God's firstborn son, and the peacemakers are called children of God. Earlier in John 8 he had called himself a man who heard the truth from God (﷾).
Where it lands — The crowd's anger is not Jesus' own claim, and his own words describe a man sent by God (﷾).
Perspectives
Mainstream Christian
Jesus existed before Abraham because he is the eternal Son of God. His "I am" takes up the name God revealed to Moses. The crowd's attempt to stone him shows that they heard a claim to be God.
In John 8:58 Jesus says "Before Abraham was, I am", which Christians read as a claim to eternal existence.
Rebuttal
John does record these words, but being known to God (﷾) before birth, as Jeremiah was, does not make anyone God. The Greek present tense can simply describe a state that began earlier and still goes on. Even real existence before Abraham makes him earlier than Abraham, not eternal and not God.
Christians read Jesus' "I am" as an echo of God's words to Moses in Exodus 3:14.
Rebuttal
The name God gives Moses in the Greek Exodus is ho on, and Jesus does not say it. The healed blind man says the same ego eimi in John 9:9. So the bare ego eimi, which God (﷾) also says in the Greek of Isaiah, is not by itself God's (﷾) name.
The crowd tried to stone Jesus straight after he said it. Christians take this as proof that they heard a claim to be God.
Rebuttal
John 8:59 gives no reason. When the charge was put into words in John 10:33, Jesus answered from the Psalms that his claim was to be the Son of God. Jerusalem also stoned prophets who never claimed to be God.
The Islamic perspective
Jesus was a servant and prophet of God (﷾). John 8:58 uses ordinary Greek words, not God's (﷾) name. Existing in God's (﷾) plan before Abraham does not make anyone God.
The Greek ego eimi is ordinary speech: the healed blind man says the same words of himself in John 9:9.
In the Greek Old Testament, the name God gives Moses is ho on, "the One who is". Jesus does not say it in John 8:58.
The Bible says God (﷾) knew Jeremiah and appointed him a prophet before he was formed in the womb. No one takes that to make Jeremiah God.
Paul says God (﷾) calls things that are not yet as though they were. So existence in God's (﷾) plan comes before birth.
In the same conversation Jesus calls himself a man who told the truth he heard from God (﷾).
In John 8:28 Jesus follows his "I am he" at once by saying he does nothing of himself.
When he was accused of making himself God, Jesus cited the Psalm that calls men to whom the word of God (﷾) came "gods". He said his claim was to be the Son of God. The Bible also gives that title to Adam and to Israel, and calls the peacemakers children of God.
Jerusalem stoned earlier prophets who never claimed to be God. So a stoning shows rejection, not a claim to divinity.
The Qur'an teaches that Jesus was a servant of Allah (﷾) and a prophet, not God.