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John 1:19,22
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? …

John 10:24
Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

John 19:9
And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

Even.

John 8:12
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 5:17
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied.
Jesus' response emphasizes consistency in His message and mission. From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus has been revealing His identity through His teachings, miracles, and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. This statement underscores the idea that Jesus' identity and purpose have been clear and unchanging, even if misunderstood by His audience. In the context of John's Gospel, "from the beginning" can also refer to the prologue (John 1:1-18), where Jesus is introduced as the Word, who was with God and was God. This phrase connects to the theme of Jesus as the eternal Logos, who has been revealing God's truth consistently. Jesus' reply also serves as a gentle rebuke to the Pharisees, suggesting that their inability to understand is due to their unwillingness to accept the truth He has consistently presented.

• The religious leaders voice a direct, even confrontational, demand for Jesus’ identity.

• Their question is not born of ignorance alone but of mounting resistance—see earlier objections inJohn 5:18 andJohn 7:20.

• Similar challenges appear elsewhere:

•John 10:24—“If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

•Luke 22:67—“If You are the Christ, tell us.”

• The question exposes unwilling hearts; although the signs and teachings testify openly, they refuse to embrace the obvious (John 3:19–20).

• John notes that “they” (the Pharisees and other opponents present,John 8:13) press Jesus yet again.

• Their persistence reveals more about them than about Him: they hear but do not believe (John 8:43–47).

• Contrast with genuine seekers like Nicodemus inJohn 3:1–2, who approached with humility and eventually embraced the truth (John 19:39).

• Jesus answers that He has never been evasive; His words and works have consistently declared who He is (John 5:17–23;John 6:35;John 7:37–38).

• Key self-revelations He has already voiced:

• “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35).

• “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12, spoken moments earlier).

• His unwavering testimony fulfillsIsaiah 48:16—“From the time it was, there am I.”

• “Beginning” points to the start of His public ministry (John 1:1–4, 14) and even to eternity past, underscoring His divine pre-existence.

• The phrase rebukes their hardness: the evidence has been before them all along (John 2:11;John 5:36;John 14:9).

• Jesus maintains transparency; any continued doubt is willful (Matthew 13:15;John 12:37).

John 8:25 captures a tension between obstinate unbelief and steadfast revelation. The leaders demand, “Who are You?” yet Jesus affirms He has been saying—and showing—the same truth from the start: He is the eternal Son, sent by the Father, the promised Messiah. Their question exposes closed hearts, while His answer underscores both His consistency and their accountability to believe.

And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.--Almost every word of this answer is in the Greek capable of more than one meaning, and the true interpretation of the whole sentence cannot be decided with certainty. To discuss it with any fulness would be to encumber the page with details which would be unintelligible to the general reader; to discuss it with anything but fulness would be unsatisfactory to the student. There is little room for addition to the investigations which are now accessible. The full notes of Meyer and Stier and Tholuck may be read in English; and Dr. Moulton's addition to his Translation of Winer'sGrammar (eighth edition, 1877, pp. 581-2), gives in a few words nearly all that can be said on the grammatical difficulty. After a careful consideration of the whole matter, it is believed, though not without hesitation, that the rendering, which is least liable to objection on any ground, is that which regards the answer as itself a question--"What I from the beginning am also speaking to you?" "You ask who I am. This has formed the substance of My teaching from the beginning, and is the substance of My teaching still." (Comp.John 8:58.) "Can it be that you ask this?"

(1) The sentence may be taken interrogatively:τὴν ἀρχὴν regarded adverbially in the sense of "at all," andὅτι in the sense of "why?" which is perhaps justified byMark 9:11, 28. So that it might mean,Why do I even speak with you at all? This is the interpretation of the ancient Greek Fathers, Cyril and Chrysostom; is preferred by Lucke ('Comm.,' 2:301-313); and with slight modifications is adopted by Ewald (who gives it more the form of an exclamation, "How is it that I should have to speak to you at all!" [this rendering is put in the margin of R.T.], Westcott and Moulton (see note to Winer, 'Grammar of New Testament,' pp. 581, 582), Matthai, and others. Meyer has differed somewhat in successive editions, but (4th edit.) translates, "What I from the beginning am also speaking to you (do ye ask)?" Can you still be asking concerning that which I have been from the beginning saying to you, viz. "Who I am"? This interpretation is singularly obscure. It turns on the fact that, except in some virtually negative sentences,ἀρχὴν cannot have the force of "at all," and falls back on the conclusion that it must, when used adverbially, have the force of "from the first." Lucke devotes great space to the proof from classical Greek thatἀρχὴν never meansὅλως, oromnino, except in association with a negative sentence, and he discusses the four exceptions to this supposed rule which some grammarians have discovered in secular Greek (Lennep. 'Ap. Phalarid.,' pp. 82, 55, and 92), and thereupon, in a different way from Meyer, endeavours to supply the negative conception. In reply to Meyer, it is fair to say that Christ had not been constantly announcing in categorical terms who he was and is; and further, that the rendering practically introduces a clause, "do ye ask," which is not in the text; moreover, its rendering transformsλαλῶ intoλελαλήκα.

(2) Many have advocated an affirmative rendering. Augustine (with Lampe and Fritzsche) takesτὴν ἀρχὴν as theἈρχή of the universe, theprincipium (asRevelation 21:6), and translates," Believe that I am thePrincipium (the Logos), because I am also speaking with you (because, humbled on your account, I have descended to such words as these)." Chrysostom and Nonnus (who turned the Gospel into Greek hexameters) associate the sentence with what follows; thus: "I, theἈρχή, who also speak to you, have many things to say and judge of you." The accusative form is thus set at nought. Calvin takesτὴν ἀρχὴν as equal toἐξ ἀρχῆς, "from the beginning" (so that the meaning would be, "I did not arise suddenly, but as I was formerly promised, so now I come forth publicly"), "because I also speak with you." In other words, "What I now speak is in accordance with the conditions made in all ages 'from the beginning.' So Delitzsch, Hebrew version of New Testament. Luthardt seems to approach this view, which he makes more difficult by insisting thatτὴν ἀρχὴν does not mean "from" but "at the beginning." The view of Winer, Grimm, Alford, Stier, Godet, Thoma, and Plummer, is substantially the same, giving toτὴν ἀρχὴν the sense ofomnino.Essentially,wholly, altogether (I am)that which even I am saying to you. The grammatical objection that this use ofτὴν ἀρχὴν demands a negative sentence in classic Greek, is not conclusive. This is the only place in the New Testament where the word is used adverbially, and it is in reply to a mocking question which has much virtual negative in it. Green ('Critical Notes') urges that the sense of "altogether" (omnino) was preserved in all kinds of sentences without distinction. He does not prove it, but it is entirely probable that it might have this force in New Testament Greek. The great advantage of the rendering is that it brings the answer into relation with the entire previous discourse, in which Christ's testimony to himself had been disputed because (in the opinion of those who were debating with him) that testimony had not been adequately supported. "I am the Revelation of the Father, the Messenger from heaven, the Bread of God, the Light of the world - essentially that which I am saying to you." Believe my own testimony thus far, and that will answer the query, "Who art thou?" There is no great distinction between this view and that of De Wette: "Von vorne herein (vor allen Dingen) bin ich was ich auch zu euch rede," as Bruckner put it - "From the beginning, from the first, (I am) what I am also saying to you." Winer's view seems to me the best. Grimm thus translates: "Omnino, hoc est sine ulla exceptione sum, quod etiam vobis eloquor, non solum sum, sed etiam vobis, praedico id quod sum."

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