[This is another paper that I wrote for a class. This paper was written to explore Jesus’ famous “I AM” statements. These statements have extraordinary meaning and I hope that this short post encourages you and helps you grow in your faith and understanding. As always, I provide the resources that I used at the end of the post so you can study this for yourself.]
John’s gospel is a beautiful record of the life of Jesus. John’s style and theology are different from that of the writers of the Synoptic gospels. John is concerned with Christ and who he is, namely his preexistence, divinity and eternal life. In John’s Gospel, Jesus makes seven explicit statements, known as the “I AM” statements. These divine declarations are important because they “describe his exalted nature and reflect wildly arrogant claims if, in fact, he is not in some sense divine.” Jesus’ use of these statements is profound in the sense that he alludes to the Old Testament to declare his divinity. The purpose of this post is to identify the significance of Jesus’ bold statement in John 8:58 and develop a theology of the Christ based off the Old Testament.
One of Jesus’ early “I AM” statements is found in the eighth chapter of John’s gospel. The context of this statement is a heated conversation Jesus is having with the Jews. He is talking to them about being slaves to sin, to which the Jews say that they are children of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anything. He goes on to say that he speaks what he has seen from his Father, but the Jews only do what they have heard from their father. At this point the Jews object and say that Abraham is their father. Jesus then says that if Abraham was truly their father, then they would not be enslaved to sin. Next, the Jews claim to have one Father, God. Jesus responds, going so far as to say that the Jews are children of the devil! After he says this, the Jews claim that he is possessed by a demon. The discussion continues with Jesus bold claim that anyone who keeps his word will not perish. The Jews response is that of Abraham’s and the prophet’s death, and they ask Jesus, “who do you think you are?” Jesus says that Abraham rejoiced and was glad for the time that Jesus would come to earth. The Jews questioned Jesus’ claim and said that that is impossible since Jesus is not fifty years of age. This is when Jesus drops the hammer; he tells the Jews, “Before Abraham was, I am!” In response, the Jews picked up rocks and were going to stone Jesus, but he got away.
On the surface, Jesus’ claim might not seem too spectacular, but once early Jewish theology is understood, it is easy to see why they wanted to kill him. When Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am,” there are two allusions from the Old Testament that would have come to mind in every Jew that heard Jesus speak. First, the more obvious allusion, is that Jesus contrasts himself with Abraham’s birth. This “I AM” statement is a reference to Jesus’ eternal existence, focused on his incarnation. He is not merely claiming preexistence to Abraham, but deity. The second allusion, which is more striking than the first, is the allusion to Ex. 3:14, where God says, “I am who I am.” Nowhere else in Scripture is such a claim from Jesus of his equality with Yahweh. “Most scholars are critically aware that Jesus very consciously was referring directly to the revelation of the Name of God given to Moses and the great Exodus Tradition of the Jews. Exodus 3:14 must have been on his mind.” The Jews would have recognized this statement and connected it to Ex. 3:14. These two allusions are very important in understanding ancient Jewish theology, so it is important to discuss what each allusion is beginning with the latter and working towards the former.
Exodus 3:14 is the place in the Old Testament where God calls himself the great “I AM.” This passage would undoubtedly have resonated in every Jews’ mind that heard Jesus say, “I AM.” Both the context and structure of the language of this passage are key to understanding this “I AM” statement.
At this time in Exodus, Moses ran away from Egypt because he murdered an Egyptian. He moved to the wilderness by Mount Sinai, where he worked for Jethro and eventually married his daughter. One day Moses was climbing Mount Sinai when he came across a burning bush, which was not consumed but on fire. The bush begins speaking and tells Moses to take off his sandals because he is standing on holy ground. Afterwards comes this dialogue between Moses and God, in which God tells Moses that he is going to return to Egypt and set the Israelites free from their captivity. Moses eventually agrees to do this and then asks God what his name is. This is interesting because there are many different interpretations of Moses’ reasoning for asking God’ name. Some of these interpretations are as follows: Does Moses know God’s name? Does Moses need God’s name as a ‘password’ to use to the Israelites, who already know God’s name? Regardless of the reasoning for Moses asking for God’s name, God tells him.
Exodus 3:14 records this instance of God telling Moses his name. God says, “I am who I am.” This is a loaded and complicated statement; one that has been heatedly debated for quite some time. In the Hebrew, God’s name reads ehyeh aser ehyeh, which utilizes the first person singular imperfect form. This phrase can be translated many different ways. Hamilton lists nine legitimate ways in which God’s name can be translated: (1) “I am who I am”; (2) “I am who I was”; (3) “I am who I shall be”; (4) “I was who I am”; (5) “I was who I was”; (6) “I was who I shall be”; (7) “I shall be who I am”; (8) “I shall be who I was”; (9) “I shall be who I shall be.” Also, in v. 15, God states his name again, but this time he shifts to the third person and calls himself yhwh, or Yahweh. Since the New Testament was written in Greek, it is important to look at the Septuagint and the Greek language of 3:14. In the Septuagint, the language in v. 14 is ego eimi ho on, which is translated “I am the Being.” It is this divine language that is used by John when he penned Jesus’ statement. Stuart says this “name should thus be understood as referring to Yahweh’s being the creator and sustainer of all that exists and thus the Lord of both creation and history, all that is and all that is happening — a God active and present in historical affair.” In essence, when Jesus says, “I AM” in Jn. 5:28, he is claiming the name of Yahweh for himself, which to the Jews was blasphemy thus resulting in the people picking up stones to kill Jesus!
Not only did Jesus claim to be Yahweh, but he also claimed to be greater than Abraham. In the context of John 8, much time is spent in the discussion of being children of Abraham. Abraham is a central character in the Old Testament; to him belongs one of the covenants. Yahweh told Abraham that he would be a great nation and a blessing to all the nations; Abraham was the father of Israel. The Jews identified themselves with Abraham because they believed that salvation came to Abraham’s descendants alone. So, when Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am” it is no wonder that they wanted to stone him. Besides claiming divinity in this statement, Jesus claims to be greater than Abraham by saying that he existed before Abraham!
When Jesus claims to be Yahweh, he also claims to be self-existent. McKenna points out this important aspect of Jesus’ assertion that he is Yahweh:
The assertion takes us, quite breathlessly, beyond Moses and the Torah. It takes us to the election of Abraham, the father of the faith, and then beyond this election to the primordial world of Babylon’s opposition to God, to Noah and the Flood, to Adam and the Fall, and finally to the Creation itself. It takes us to the very face of God Himself, the Creator and Redeemer of all that has been made to exist outside of Himself.
Systematic theology calls this ‘aseity.’ This basically means that Yahweh, who is the Creator and Redeemer of all that has been made, does not need anything to sustain himself. His creation does nothing to sustain anything he needs. Barth says, “Freedom from creation is the ground of God’s freedom for creation.” When God declares himself to be Yahweh in Ex. 3:14, he proclaims his eternality and immutability. Eichrodt says the Septuagint translated the phrase ego eimi ho on “to denote unalterable Being as the chief characteristic of the deity.” “Jesus statement in Jn. 8:58 adds credibility to this interpretation.” Horton also says, “The cosmos, the earth, and we ourselves exist for God. God does not exist for us, and even our existence is not necessary for God’s existence or happieness.” Because Jesus claims to be Yahweh and Yahweh is self-existent, this means that Jesus “can bring to pass everything that he has promised,” namely, eternal life.
John’s use of Jesus’ bold assertion in John 8:58 goes well within his theological framework. Jesus says that before Abraham existed, I already did, thus claiming preexistence. Jesus claims to be “I AM,” which in turn, declares him to be Yahweh, who is the Creator and Redeemer of all that has been created. In the context of John 8, Jesus says that anyone who keeps his words will never face death. In another ‘I AM’ statement, Jesus declares himself to be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” which briefly means that he is the only way to Yahweh, he is absolute truth and that eternal life comes from him alone. These statements fulfill John’s goal of showing Jesus as the giver of eternal life. One statement by Jesus reveals a working theology that every believer should have: Jesus is God, he exists in himself, and he is the only means of salvation.
Bibliography
Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics. Edited by G.W. Bromiley and T.F. Torrance. Translated by G.W. Bromiley. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1956-1975.
Blomberg, Craig. Jesus and the Gospels. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2009.
Eichrodt, Walther. Theology of the Old Testament. Translated by J.A. Baker. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1951.
Foutz, Scott. “Exodus 3:14 and the Divine Name: Textual and Historical Considerations.” Quodlibet Journal: Volume 4 Number 4, 2002.
Hamilton, Victor. Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011.
Horton, Michael. The Christian Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.
Kostenberger, Andreas. A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.
_________. “John.” Pages 415-512 in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Edited by G.K. Beale and D.A. Carson. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007.
_________. John. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004.
McKenna, John. “The Great I-AM of the Lord God in Covenant with His People in the New Testament.” Quodlibet Journal: Volume 3 Number 2, 2001.
Moyise, Steve. Jesus and Scripture. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010.
Sproul, R.C. John. Orlando: Reformation Trust, 2009.
Stuart, Douglas. Exodus. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2006.
Eagerly Awaiting 