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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 8:25 - 8:25
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25. σὺ τίς εῖ; It is incredible that the Jews can have failed to understand. Christ had just declared that He was from above, and not of this world. Even if the words ‘I am’ were ambiguous in themselves, in this context they are plain enough. As in Joh 8:19, they pretend not to understand, and contemptuously ask, Thou, who art Thou? The pronoun is scornfully emphatic. Comp. Act 19:15. Possibly both in Joh 8:19 and here they wish to draw from Him something more definite, more capable of being stated in a formal charge against Him. The tone of their question must be considered in determining the meaning of Christ’s reply.
τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅ τι καὶ λαλῶ ὑμῖν. The meaning of this obscure passage (comp. Joh 8:44) cannot be determined with certainty. There is doubt as to (1) whether it is a question or not; (2) whether we should read ὅ τι or ὅτι; (3) the meaning of every word except ὑμῖν. Under (3) the chief doubt is whether τὴν ἀρχήν is to be taken as an adverb (‘altogether, absolutely,’ or ‘first of all,’ or possibly ‘from the first’), or as a substantive (‘the Beginning’). The chief renderings of the whole sentence will be found in Godet, Meyer, or Westcott. Three may be noticed here. (i) How is it that I even speak to you at all? Τὴν ἀρχήν has the meaning of ‘at all’ in negative sentences, and the question or exclamation makes the sentence virtually negative. The Greek Fathers, whose authority in interpreting Greek dialogue is very great, seem almost to have taken this rendering for granted as the only one that occurred to them. It may remind us of Mat 17:17, ‘O faithless and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?’ Comp. οὐκ ἀγαπᾷς ὅτι σοι καὶ λαλῶ; Art thou not content that I condescend to speak to thee? Ach. Tat. vi. 20. (ii) What I from the beginning am even speaking to you of, or even that which I have spoken to you all along; i.e. My words from the first have been and are a revelation of My Person. This may be made interrogative by understanding ‘Do ye ask?’ before ‘what.’ Comp. Quis igitur ille est? Quem dudum dixi a principio tibi. Plaut. Captiv. III. 4:91. (iii) The Beginning (Rev 21:6), that which I am even saying to you, which seems to be the interpretation of the early Latin Fathers; Initium quod et loquor vobis. But this would require λέγω; λαλῶ means ‘I speak,’ never ‘I say.’ Moreover, the attraction of τὴν ἀρχήν from the nominative (‘I am the Beginning’) to the accusative is awkward. The later Latin rendering of S. Augustine and others, Principium, quia et loquor vobis, ‘The Beginning, because I even (humble Myself to) speak with you,’ ignores the Greek.