The Jews did not understand Jesus" meaning because they disregarded the possibility of His deity. To them it seemed ludicrous that Abraham could have seen Jesus" day in any sense since millennia separated the two men. Evidently they chose50 years old as a round number symbolic of the end of an active life (cf. Numbers 4:3). Jesus was obviously not that old since He began His public ministry when He was about30 ( Luke 3:23), and it only lasted about three and a half years. According to Hoehner"s chronology, Jesus would have been in His mid-thirties at this time. [1][source]
Context Summary
John 8:48-59 - The Eternal Christ
It is absolutely true that the Christian disciple does see death as the king of terrors or as a grim monster. Jesus has robbed death of its sting; He has destroyed Him that had the power of death. The moment of death is the moment of birth into a wider and happier existence. We are set free from this body of mortality and become possessed of the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The grave is the vestibule of Paradise. We know that the iron gate opens into the city of God. Absent from the body, we are present with the Lord. The moment of transition is so desirable that it is only comparable to the falling asleep of the tired laborer.
The Father glorified His Son by the attestation given at the Baptism and the Transfiguration, by the Resurrection from the grave, by the Exaltation to His right hand. Yet these are but stages in the glorification of our High Priest. The full outburst of His glory is yet future. We shall behold the glory with which the Father has rewarded His obedience unto death; nay, we are to share it with Him. See John 17:22; John 17:24. Notice the I AM of John 8:58. Compare Exodus 3:14. [source]
Chapter Summary: John 8
1Jesus delivers the woman taken in adultery 12He declares himself the light of the world, and justifies his doctrine; 31promises freedom to those who believe; 33answers the Jews who boasted of Abraham; 48answers their reviling, by showing his authority and dignity; 59and slips away from those who would stone him
Greek Commentary for John 8:57
Thou art not yet fifty years old [πεντηκοντα ετι ουπω εχεις] Literally, “Thou hast not yet fifty years.” Not meaning that Jesus was near that age at all. It was the crisis of completed manhood (Numbers 4:3) and a round number. Jesus was about thirty to thirty-three. And hast thou seen Abraham? So A C D and B W Theta have εωρακες heōrakes both second person singular of the perfect active indicative of οραω horaō But Aleph, Sin-syr., Coptic versions (accepted by Bernard) have και Αβρααμ εωρακε σε kai Abraam heōrake sė “Has Abraam seen thee?” Either makes sense here. [source]
Thou art not yet fifty years old [πεντήκοντα ἔτη οὔπω ἔχεις] Literally, thou hast not yet fifty years. The age of completed manhood. [source]
Hast thou seen [] Again misquoting the Lord's words. [source]
What do the individual words in John 8:57 mean?
SaidthereforetheJewstoHimFiftyyears [old]not yetare YouandAbrahamYou have seen
Greek Commentary for John 8:57
Literally, “Thou hast not yet fifty years.” Not meaning that Jesus was near that age at all. It was the crisis of completed manhood (Numbers 4:3) and a round number. Jesus was about thirty to thirty-three. And hast thou seen Abraham? So A C D and B W Theta have εωρακες heōrakes both second person singular of the perfect active indicative of οραω horaō But Aleph, Sin-syr., Coptic versions (accepted by Bernard) have και Αβρααμ εωρακε σε kai Abraam heōrake sė “Has Abraam seen thee?” Either makes sense here. [source]
Literally, thou hast not yet fifty years. The age of completed manhood. [source]
Again misquoting the Lord's words. [source]