Christ says: "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). He does not say: "I was", but "I am", that is, from everlasting, in an eternal present. The Apostle John in the prologue of his Gospel writes: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God: all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made of all that exists" (John 1:1-3). So that 'before Abraham', in the context of Jesus' polemic with the heirs of Israel's tradition, who appealed to Abraham, means: 'well before Abraham' and is illuminated by the words of the prologue of the Fourth Gospel: 'in the beginning was with God', that is, in the eternity proper to God alone: in the eternity shared with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Quicumque Symbol proclaims: "And in this Trinity nothing is before or after, nothing greater or less, but all three persons are coeternal and coequal with one another."

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 6 November 1985].

1. "I believe . . . in Jesus Christ, his (God the Father's) only Son, our Lord; who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary". The cycle of catechesis on Jesus Christ, which we develop here, makes constant reference to the truth expressed in the words of the Apostles' Creed, now quoted. They present Christ to us as true God - Son of the Father - and, at the same time, as true Man, Son of the Virgin Mary. The previous catecheses have already enabled us to approach this fundamental truth of the faith. Now, however, we must seek to deepen its essential content: we must ask ourselves what true God and true Man mean. This is a reality that is revealed before the eyes of our faith through the self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ. And since it - like every other revealed truth - can only be rightly accepted through faith, what is at issue here is the 'rationabile obsequium fidei', the reasonable obedience of faith. The next catecheses, which focus on the mystery of the God Man, are intended to foster such faith.

2. We have already noted above that Jesus Christ often spoke of himself, using the title "son of man" (cf. Mt 16:28; Mk 2:28). Such a title was connected with the messianic tradition of the Old Testament, and at the same time responded to that "pedagogy of faith" to which Jesus deliberately resorted. For he wanted his disciples and listeners to come to the discovery on their own that the 'son of man' was at the same time the true Son of God. We have a particularly significant demonstration of this in Simon Peter's profession, which took place in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi, to which we have already referred in the previous catecheses. Jesus provokes the apostles with questions and when Peter comes to the explicit recognition of his divine identity, he confirms his testimony by calling him "blessed because neither flesh nor blood has revealed it to him, but the Father" (cf. Mt 16:17). It is the Father, who bears witness to the Son, because he alone knows the Son (cf. Mt 11:27).

3. Nevertheless, in spite of the discretion to which Jesus adhered in application of that pedagogical principle of which we have spoken, the truth of his divine filiation became more and more evident by what he said, and particularly by what he did. But while for some it was an object of faith, for others it was a cause of contradiction and accusation. This manifested itself in definitive form during the trial before the Sanhedrin. The Gospel of Mark recounts (Mk 14:61-62): "The high priest questioned him, saying, 'Are you the Christ, the blessed Son of God?' Jesus answered, 'I am! And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven'". In the Gospel of Luke (Lk 22:70) the question is formulated as follows: "'Are you then the son of God?' He answered them: 'You say so yourselves: I am'".

4. The reaction of those present is unanimous: "He has blasphemed! . . . you have heard the blasphemy . . . He is guilty of death!" (Matthew 26: 65-66). This accusation is, so to speak, the result of a material interpretation of the ancient law.

Indeed, we read in the Book of Leviticus: "Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death: the whole community shall stone him" (Lev 24:16). Jesus of Nazareth, who before the official representatives of the Old Testament claims to be the true Son of God, pronounces - according to their conviction - blasphemy. He is therefore 'guilty of death' and the sentence is carried out, though not by stoning according to Old Testament discipline, but by crucifixion, according to Roman law. Calling himself "Son of God" meant "making himself God" (cf. Jn 10:33), which provoked a radical protest from the guardians of Old Testament monotheism.

5. What eventually came to pass in the trial brought against Jesus had in fact already been threatened earlier, as the Gospels, particularly that of John, report. We read there more than once that the listeners wanted to stone Jesus, when what they had heard from his mouth sounded to them like blasphemy. They found such blasphemy, for example, in his words on the subject of the Good Shepherd (cf. John 10: 27, 29), and in the conclusion he came to on that occasion: "I and the Father are one" (John 10: 30). The Gospel account continues: "The Jews again brought stones to stone him. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father; for which of them do you wish to stone me?" The Jews answered him, 'We do not stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy, and because you, who are man, make yourself God'" (Jn 10:31-33).

6. Similar was the reaction to these other words of Jesus: "Before Abraham was, I Am" (Jn 8:58). Here too Jesus was faced with an identical question and accusation: "Who do you claim to be?" (Jn 8:53), and the answer to that question resulted in the threat of stoning (Jn 8:59).

It is therefore clear that, although Jesus spoke of himself above all as the "son of man", nevertheless the whole of what he did and taught bore witness that he was the Son of God in the literal sense of the word: that is, that he was with the Father one, and therefore: as the Father, so also was he God. Proof of the unambiguous content of this testimony is the fact that he was recognised and accepted by some: "many believed in him": (cf. e.g. Jn 8:30); and, even more, the fact that he found in others radical opposition, indeed the accusation of blasphemy with the disposition to inflict on him the punishment, provided for blasphemers by the Old Testament Law.

7. Among Christ's statements on this subject, the expression: "I Am" appears particularly significant. The context in which it is pronounced indicates that Jesus here recalls the answer given to Moses by God himself, when he is asked about his name: "I am he who am . You shall say to the Israelites: I am he that sent me to you" (Ex 3:14). Now, Christ uses the same expression "I Am" in very significant contexts. The one mentioned, concerning Abraham; "Before Abraham was, 'I Am': but not only that. Thus, for example: "If . . . you do not believe that I Am, you will die in your sins" (Jn 8:24). And again: "When you have lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I Am" (Jn 8:28), and further: "I tell you this now, before it happens, so that, when it has happened, you may believe that 'I Am'" (Jn 13:19).

This "I Am" is also found in other places in the Synoptic Gospels (e.g. Mt 28:20; Lk 24:39); but in the statements quoted above, the use of God's name, proper to the Book of Exodus, appears particularly clear and firm. Christ speaks of his paschal "elevation" through the cross and subsequent resurrection: "Then you will know that I Am". Which means: then it will be fully evident that I am the one to whom the name of God belongs. With such an expression Jesus therefore indicates that he is the true God. And even before the passion he prays to the Father like this: "All things that are mine are yours and all things that are yours are mine" (Jn 17:10), which is another way of saying: "I and the Father are one" (Jn 10:30).

Before Christ, the Word of God incarnate, let us also join Peter and repeat with the same transport of faith: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16, 16)

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 26 August 1987].

1. In the previous catechesis we paid particular attention to those statements in which Christ speaks of himself using the expression "I Am". The context in which these statements appear, especially in the Gospel of John, allows us to think that, in resorting to this expression, Jesus refers to the Name by which the God of the ancient covenant qualifies himself before Moses, when entrusting him with the mission to which he is called: "I am he who am . You shall say to the Israelites: I am he who sent me to you" (Ex 3:14).

Jesus speaks of himself in this way, for example in the discussion about Abraham: "Before Abraham was, I Am" (John 8: 58). Already this expression allows us to understand that "the Son of Man" bears witness to his divine pre-existence. And such a statement does not stand alone.

2. More than once Christ speaks of the mystery of his Person, and the most succinct expression seems to be this: "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; now I leave the world again, and go to the Father" (John 16: 28). Jesus addresses these words to the apostles in his farewell discourse on the eve of the Easter events. They clearly indicate that before "coming" into the world, Christ "was" with the Father as Son. They thus indicate his pre-existence in God. Jesus makes it clear that his earthly existence cannot be separated from this pre-existence in God. Without it his personal reality cannot be correctly understood.

3. Similar expressions are numerous. When Jesus mentions his coming from the Father into the world, his words usually refer to his divine pre-existence. This is particularly clear in the Gospel of John. Jesus says before Pilate: "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world: to bear witness to the truth" (John 18: 37); and perhaps it is not without significance that Pilate later asks Him: "Where are you from?" (John 19: 9). And before that we read: "My testimony is true, because I know where I come from and where I am going" (Jn 8:14). Regarding that "where are you from?" in the nocturnal conversation with Nicodemus we can hear a significant statement: "No one has ever ascended into heaven except the Son of Man who came down from heaven" (Jn 3:13). This "coming" from heaven, from the Father, indicates the divine "pre-existence" of Christ also in relation to his "departure": "What if you saw the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?" - Jesus asks in the context of the "Eucharistic discourse" near Capernaum (cf. Jn 6:62).

4. Jesus' entire earthly existence as Messiah results from that "before" and is reconnected to it as to a fundamental "dimension" according to which the Son is "one" with the Father. How eloquent in this respect are the words of the "priestly prayer" in the Upper Room: "I have glorified you above the earth, doing the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me before thee with that glory which I had with thee before the world was" (John 17: 4-5).

The Synoptic Gospels also speak in many places of the "coming" of the Son of Man for the salvation of the world (cf. e.g. Lk 19:10; Mk 10:45; Mt 20:28); however, John's texts contain a particularly clear reference to the pre-existence of Christ.

5. The fullest synthesis of this truth is contained in the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel. It can be said that in that text the truth about the divine pre-existence of the Son of Man acquires a further, in a certain sense definitive explication: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God: all things were made through him . . . In him was life, and the life was the light of men; the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not receive it" (Jn 1:1-5).

In these phrases the evangelist confirms what Jesus said of himself when he declared: "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world" (Jn 16:28), or when he prayed that the Father would glorify him with that glory that he had taken of him before the world was (cf. Jn 17:5). At the same time, the pre-existence of the Son in the Father is closely connected with the revelation of the Trinitarian mystery of God: the Son is the eternal Word, he is "God from God", of the same substance as the Father (as the Council of Nicaea expressed it in the Symbol of Faith). The Council formula precisely reflects John's Prologue: "The Word was with God and the Word was God". Affirming the pre-existence of Christ in the Father is tantamount to recognising his Divinity. To his substance, as to the substance of the Father, belongs eternity. This is what is indicated by the reference to the eternal pre-existence in the Father.

6. John's Prologue, through the revelation of the truth about the Word contained therein, constitutes as it does the definitive completion of what the Old Testament had already said about Wisdom. See, for example, the following statements: "Before the ages, from the beginning he created me; for all eternity I shall not fail" (Sir 24:9), "My creator pitched my tent and said to me: pitch your tent in Jacob" (Sir 24:8). Wisdom, of whom the Old Testament speaks, is a creature and at the same time has attributes that place her above the whole of creation: "Though unique, she can do all things; though remaining in herself, she renews all things" (Wis 7:27).

The truth about the Word, contained in John's Prologue, reconfirms in a certain sense the revelation about wisdom in the Old Testament, and at the same time transcends it in a definitive way. The Word not only 'is with God', but 'is God'. Coming into this world in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word "came among his own people", for "the world was made through him" (cf. Jn 1:10-11). He came among "his own" because he is "the true light, the one who enlightens every man" (cf. Jn 1:9). The self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ consists in this "coming" into the world of the Word, who is the eternal Son.

7. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:14). Let us say it once again: John's Prologue is the eternal echo of the words with which Jesus says: "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world" (Jn 16:28), and of those with which he prays that the Father will glorify him with that glory that he had with him before the world was (cf. Jn 17:5). The Evangelist has before his eyes the Old Testament revelation about Wisdom, and at the same time the whole Paschal event: the departure through the cross and the resurrection, in which the truth about Christ, Son of Man and true God, became completely clear to those who were his eyewitnesses.

8. In close connection with the revelation of the Word, that is, with the divine pre-existence of Christ, the truth about Emmanuel is also confirmed. This word - which in literal translation means "God with us" - expresses a particular and personal presence of God in the world. That "I am" of Christ manifests precisely this presence already foretold by Isaiah (cf. Is 7:14), proclaimed in the wake of the prophet in Matthew's Gospel (cf. Mt 1:23), and confirmed in John's Prologue: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14). The language of the evangelists is multiform, but the truth they express is the same. In the synoptics, Jesus pronounces his "I am with you" particularly in difficult moments (e.g. Mt 14:27; Mk 6:50; Jn 6:20), at the time of the calmed storm, as well as in the perspective of the apostolic mission of the Church: "Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world" (Mt 28:20).

9. Christ's expression: "I came forth from the Father and am in the world" (Jn 16:28) contains a salvific, soteriological meaning. All the evangelists manifest it. The Prologue of John expresses it in the words: "To those who . . . received him (the Word), he gave power to become children of God", that is, the possibility of being begotten of God (cf. Jn 1:12-13).

This is the central truth of all Christian soteriology, organically connected with the revealed reality of the God-Man. God became man, so that man could truly participate in God's life, could indeed become, in a certain sense, God himself. The early Fathers of the Church were already clearly aware of this. Suffice it to recall St Irenaeus, who, exhorting people to follow Christ, the only true and sure teacher, stated. "Through his immense love he made himself what we are, to give us the possibility of being what he is" (cf. St Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, V, Praef.: PG 7, 1120).

This truth opens up boundless horizons for us, in which to situate the concrete expression of our Christian life, in the light of faith in Christ, Son of God, Word of the Father.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 2 September 1987]