I Was — The Verb of Being Before Time Began

Sixteen times this word appears in the sacred Scrolls, yet each utterance carries the weight of eternity compressed into a single syllable. The verb ἤμην — a prolonged form of that most ancient root — speaks not merely of past existence but of a quality of being that transcends the ordinary. When the Beloved Disciple takes up his pen, he uses this word in the very first chapter of his testimony: "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1). But before that beginning, before the whisper of creation stirred the waters, this verb already belonged to the One who was with God and who was God. You must understand: this is not the Greek philosophers' abstract being, the cold to on of their speculations. This is the living, breathing, personal existence of the God of Abraham, who revealed Himself to Moses as Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh — I AM THAT I AM.

The First Occurrence: When Being Becomes Blessing

The first time this particular form appears in the New Testament, it carries the fragrance of divine encounter. In John 1:1, the Word was with God — and that was is our word ἤμην. The Greek grammatical form reveals something extraordinary: the imperfect tense, indicating continuous action in past time. The Word did not simply exist for a moment and then pass away. The Word was being with God, eternally, without beginning and without end. The ancient sages of Israel taught that before creation, the Torah existed in the mind of the Holy One. But here, the apostolic witness declares something more intimate: a Person, not a principle; a Son, not a system. The early church understood this as the foundation of all reality — that being itself finds its source in the relational existence of Father and Son. When you read "I was" in the Scriptures, you are not reading about a static fact. You are entering into the dynamic life of the eternal God.

The Shift from Greek Philosophy to Hebrew Reality

In classical Greek, ἤμην and its cognates spoke of existence in the abstract — the bare fact that something is or was. Aristotle used such language to discuss the categories of being, the essence of things. But when the translators of the Septuagint chose this word to render the Hebrew hayah — the verb of becoming, of being present, of covenant faithfulness — they transformed the concept utterly. Consider the burning bush: Moses asked for the Name, and the Voice replied, Ehyeh — "I AM" or "I WILL BE" (Exodus 3:14). The Septuagint translates this with ego eimi, but the sense of ἤμην carries the same weight of faithful presence. The Greek mind asked, "What is the nature of being?" The Hebrew heart asked, "Who is present with us?" The apostolic writers, steeped in both traditions, chose this verb to declare that the One who was with God is the same One who became flesh and dwelt among us. Being is not a concept to be analyzed; being is a Person to be known.

The Apostle Who Most Treasured This Word

It is no accident that the Beloved Disciple, John, uses this form more than any other New Testament writer. Where the Synoptic Gospels rush forward with action verbs — Jesus went, Jesus said, Jesus healed — John lingers in the eternal present of the Word who was. In John 8:58, Yeshua declares, "Before Abraham was, I AM." The contrast is striking: Abraham came into being (aorist tense), but the Son was already existing (imperfect tense of eimi). The early church father Ignatius of Antioch, writing from his journey to martyrdom, echoed this same understanding: Jesus Christ was with the Father before the ages, and was manifested at the end of times. The apostolic tradition holds that this verb of continuous being is the grammatical key to understanding the preexistence of Messiah. He did not become the Son at His birth; He was the Son from eternity, and He took upon Himself the form of a servant while never ceasing to be what He had always been.

The LXX Bridge: From Hayah to Eimi

When the Septuagint translators encountered the Hebrew verb hayah, they faced a challenge. Hayah means not only "to be" but "to become, to happen, to come to pass." It carries the sense of dynamic presence, not static existence. In Genesis 1:2, the earth was (hayah) formless and void — a state of being that invited divine intervention. In Exodus 3:1, Moses was (hayah) shepherding the flock — a continuous action that prepared him for encounter. The translators chose ἤμην and its cognates to capture this richness, but something was lost and something was gained. Lost was the sense of becoming, of unfolding purpose. Gained was the clarity that the God of Israel is — not a god who becomes what circumstances demand, but the One who was and is and is to come. When John writes that the Word was with God, he is not saying the Word came into existence at creation. He is saying that before creation, before time, before the foundation of the world, the Word was — fully, eternally, personally present with the Father.

Yeshua and the Verb of Eternal Being

The most profound use of this word in relation to Messiah appears in John 17, the high priestly prayer. Yeshua prays, "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24). The verb "have given" is in the aorist, but the underlying reality is the eternal ἤμην — the glory that the Son was possessing before time began. This is not a glory earned through suffering, though He indeed earned glory through the cross. This is the glory that was His by nature, by eternal generation from the Father. The early church understood this as the foundation of the atonement: the One who was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself (Philippians 2:6-7). The verb of being becomes the grammar of humility. He who was all things became nothing, so that we who were nothing might become all things in Him.

The Bridge of the Septuagint: When Being Speaks Hebrew

Let us trace this word through the Septuagint, for there we discover the Hebrew soul beneath the Greek form. In Psalm 23:4, David writes, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." The Septuagint renders "You are with me" using a form of eimi, but the Hebrew original has attah immadi — "You with me." No verb at all in the Hebrew! The being is implied, assumed, unspoken. Yet when the translators chose ἤμην and its relatives, they were declaring that God's presence is the foundation of all reality. In Exodus 33:14, the LORD promises Moses, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." The Hebrew panai yelechu — "My face will go" — becomes in the Greek "I myself will be with you." The verb of being becomes the verb of covenant presence. This is what the apostolic writers understood: when Yeshua said, "I was with the Father," He was claiming the same covenant presence that led Israel through the wilderness. The One who was with God is the One who is with us, even to the end of the age.

Your Calling to Be With the One Who Is

Beloved, you have been reading about a verb — but this verb is an invitation. The One who was in the beginning, who was with God, who was God — this same One now calls you into His own eternal being. You were not present when the foundations of the earth were laid, but you were known. You did not witness the glory that the Son had before the world began, but you are called to share it. The early church understood that to be "in Christ" is to participate in His eternal was — to be joined to the One who transcends time and yet entered time for your sake. So let this word become your prayer: "Lord, You were before all things, and in You all things hold together. Let me not merely know about Your being, but let me be in You. Let my fleeting existence be anchored in Your eternal presence. For You who were in the beginning are the same yesterday, today, and forever. And because You are, I also shall be." Amen.