Does Jesus Use of “I Am” Mean He Is God? by Alane Rozelle
In John 9:9, the miraculously healed but formerly blind man said, “I am,” exactly the same two Greek words that Jesus uses when he makes his “I am” statements (as recorded throughout the book of John). First, it’s interesting to note that when the blind man says in Greek “ego eimi,” it is usually and correctly translated as “I am he,” referring, of course, to his attempt to clarify to everyone that, “Yes! I am he; I am the one — the formerly blind man, but now I’m healed.” Yet when Jesus says the same thing precisely in order to identify himself as the Messiah (John 4:26), it’s usually rendered as “I am” or even “I AM” (CEB, ISV, JUB, TLV). This in turn is popularly, but quite erroneously, used to support the falsehood that Jesus was somehow claiming to be God, since in the OT God/Yahweh said to Moses “I am that I am”
(Ex 3.14, literally, “I will be what I will be”).
When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman he was making the stupendous claim to be the Messiah, the Christ of the woman’s declaration in the verse immediately preceding (4:25). Elsewhere in John, Jesus is recorded as stating that he is the “bread of life” (6:35) and “the resurrection and the life” (11:25). But saying “ego eimi the bread of life” is nothing at all like declaring
“I am what I am/I will be what I will be” as said by God to Moses (Ex. 3:14).
Note that it’s not the “ego eimi” of God’s self-revelation that is the focus for those who say Jesus is God. The real declaratory focus are the subsequent two words — “o ohn” — the Divine identifiers, we might say. In the NIV God says to Moses: “I am [ego eimi] who I am [o ohn].”
“I am the Self-Existing One.” “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am [o ohn] has sent me to you.’” But the English translations highlight the wrong two words, i.e., instead of ego eimi it should be o ohn: “o ohn [the self-existing one] has sent you.”
(cp. Philo, Life of Moses, vol. 1.75: “He who is”).
The NT writers never record Jesus using “o ohn” in reference to himself, let alone “ego eimi o ohn.” Furthermore, what other words would you have Jesus use in order to identify himself? For example, when you say “I am a teacher” or “I am Bob” or “I am the only one who has the key to that door,” if you were to write them in Greek the same words would be used as self-identifiers: “ego eimi.” There is no simpler and clearer way to identify you! Jesus never said “I AM” or “I am that I am” or “I will be what I will be.” He simply said, “I am the good shepherd; I am the way, the truth and the life; I am the vine”; “I am the Messiah” (John 4:25-26), etc. Like the healed blind man, Jesus was merely identifying himself for those asking or looking for him (cp. John 18:4-8).
Jesus from the beginning claimed to be the promised Messiah. He never claimed to be YHWH, the God of Israel (who is also the God of Jesus!). He never claimed to be “The Great I AM” of the OT. He did, however, repeatedly claim to be the unique Son of God, the Messiah lord (Luke 2.11,
kristos kurios) and this is not the Lord God. Jesus is related to the One Lord God in Luke 2:26 where he is the Lord’s Anointed (Messiah). Luke has brilliantly and precisely introduced the hero and principal “player” of his narrative in the two-volume (Luke and Acts) work he gives us. Luke wrote nearly a third of the NT.
What a blessed achievement! Luke and Jesus never for a moment believed that there are two who are both GOD. That would shatter the great commandment, which forbids any multiplying of God (Mark 12:29; John 17:3; 5:44; Mal. 2:10). Jesus rejected the blasphemy of claiming to be GOD! (John 10:33-36).
The above was taken from
Focus On The Kingdom Vol. 18. No. 12
