Jesus Testifies, “Before Abraham Was, I Am [Jehovah]”
John 8:58–59
58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
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.
Elder B. H. Roberts said:
“Sometimes men took offense at the teachings of Jesus Christ. The scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees frequently did so; and when He taught them the necessity of being obedient to the precepts of the gospel, they gathered about them their robes and said, ‘We have Abraham to be our father’ [see John 8:33, 39]. Then Jesus astonished them by saying, ‘Before Abraham was, I am’ [John 8:58]. ‘Why,’ said they, ‘thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?’ [see John 8:57]. And they construed His language into blasphemy.”
(“What Is Man?” in Collected Discourses, 4:234.)
