History of the Second Advent message and mission, doctrine and people / by Isaac C. Wellcome.
- Wellcome, I. C. (Isaac Cummings), 1818-1895
- Date:
- 1874
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: History of the Second Advent message and mission, doctrine and people / by Isaac C. Wellcome. Source: Wellcome Collection.
732/774 page 684
![time, and more than justified the suspicions of his jealous examiners concerning his real meaning. “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you. Before Abraham loas^ I amr ^ Greek—Prin Ahra- am genesthai^ “before Abraham was born, that is, before he had an existence, ego simi^ IamP Observe, our Lord does not say “ Before Abraham was, I was,” but “I am.” He claims pre-existence indeed, but he claims more than this. lie is. the I am. The si)eaker vuis “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” (Ileb. xiii. 8.) The idirase “I am” denotes existence merely, with no note of beginning or end. “ Applied to God it denotes continued exist- ence without respect to time, so far as he is concerned. . . . The manner in vdiich Jesus used it v’ould strikingly suggest the applica- tion of the same language to God. The question here was about the pre-existence of Jesus. The objection of the Jews was that he Avas not fifty years old and could not, therefore, have seen Abraham. Jesus replied to that that he existed before Abraham- The passage corresponds with John’s affirmation, already noticed, that An the be- giyining loas the TForc/,’ and proves most conclusively the personal pre-existence of Christ. ... It may be interesting to notice the Socinian hypothesis by which the plain teaching of this passage is sought to be evaded. The first exposition is, ‘ That Christ existed before the patriarch Abraham had become, according to the imi)ort of his name, the father of many nations, that is, before the Gentiles were called.’ The second is, ‘Before Abraham was’born, I am he, i. e., the Christ, in the destination and appointment of God.”^ A little attention vdll serve to show the exceeding absurdity of these expositions. ISleither of them claims anything peculiar for Christ, nothing indeed more than his auditors, without arrogance, mifiht have claimed for themselves. The first w^ould make our Lord talk thus irrelevantly: “I solemnly assure you [verily, verily, I say unto you], before Abraham shall have become vdiat his name signi- fies, the father of many nations, I am. Be not indignant at this an- swer, nor think I magnify myself, for vdiat I assert of myself is equally true of each of you; iox before Abram be made Aibraham^ 1 Meyer in loc.: “ Ehe Abraham ward, bin Icb, alter als Abraham’s werden ist meine exis- tenz.” Erasmus in loc.: “ Antequam Abraham nasceretur ego sum.”](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29008530_0732.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
