John 8:58
(‘Before Abraham was, I am.‘)
“Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am’.” (John 8:58 NRSV, Emphasis mine)
DOES THE “I am” statement of Jesus in John 8:58 prove that He Is God? These words are being compared by our detractors as parallel to the spoken words of God as their proof Jesus is God with the Old Testament in Exodus 3:14 when God spoke and said:
“And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’.”
(Reference: NKJV)
Is the statement of Christ’s “I am” really the same as the spoken words of God in Exodus 3:14? According to biblical scholars, a more accurate translation of Exodus 3:14 reads like this:
Hebrew
אהיה אשר אהיה
“EHYEH-ASHER-EHYEH” (Hebrew Transliteration)
“I shall be what I shall be.” (English Translation)
Now let us read and compare John 8:58 and Exodus 3:14 and analyze the facts behind this argument on the claim Jesus is “God” because of Christ’s statement, “I am.” We shall examine and explore the two possible translations of this passage of Exodus and get to the bottom of the actual correct textual interpretation:
“Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Before Abraham was, I am.”
(Reference: Jn. 8:58, Emphasis Mine)
The God of the Old Testament said:
“‘I AM WHO I AM‘ or ‘I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE’.”
(Reference: Exodus 3:14, Emphasis Mine)
Defenders of Christ-is-God theology cite John 8:58 as one of their biblical bases in proving their belief that Jesus Christ is God. However, there is no explicit statement from Christ in this verse that He is God. Those who believe in Christ’s alleged deity understand or, shall we say, falsely conclude His statement as an indication and affirmation of His divinity. Why did they come up with this line of reasoning—that Jesus is God—simply because Christ uttered, “I AM?” And God also made the same statement in Exodus 3:14:
“And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’.”
(Reference: NKJV)
God declared “I AM” when He introduced Himself to Moses. Using the concept of parallelism, Trinitarians conclude that Jesus is God simply because Christ spoke the same terms uttered by God. To prove there is no bias here, this type of reasoning was utilized by Josh McDowell and Bart Larson, two defenders of the alleged divinity of Christ, in their book, “Jesus: A Biblical Defense Of His Deity,” that Christ’s use of the term is indicative of his claim to deity. Let us read:
“On several occasions Jesus used the term ego eimi of Himself as it can be used only of God. The clearest example is when the Jews said to Jesus: ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM’ [Greek: ego emi]. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him’ (John 8:57-59). The Jews sought to kill Him for the presumption of that claim to deity.”
(Reference: John McDowell & Bart Larson, Jesus: A Biblical Defense Of His Deity p.22, Emphasis Mine)
Josh McDowell and Bart Larson also proposed that Jesus is the Almighty God. They claimed that:
“He took to himself the Old Testament names and titles for God and also allowed others to call Him by the same names and titles . . . This Galilean teacher was claiming to be Almighty God.”
(Reference: John McDowell & Bart Larson, Jesus: A Biblical Defense Of His Deity p.22, Emphasis Mine)
Moreover, they maintained that:
“Jesus claimed for Himself the name of God which was most revered by the Jews, a name considered so sacred that the Jews would not even utter it: YHWH (now often pronounced Yahweh or Jehovah).”
(Reference: John McDowell & Bart Larson, Jesus: A Biblical Defense Of His Deity p.21-22, Emphasis Mine)
McDowell and Larson postulated a concept that Jesus is the Almighty God of the Old Testament and claimed for Himself the name of God YHWH, which now often pronounced as Yahweh or Jehovah.
(Let us pause here for a brief moment. Before we continue this discussion, we would like to emphasize that throughout this discussion, we are only citing the term “Jehovah” in reference to the usage of the word Jehovah for God by apologists and scholarly critics. However, it’s important to note that the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) does not support the erroneous term “Jehovah” or Yahweh as God’s name).
Let us now continue…
The same idea is shared by some Christian apologists who even went further in saying that Jesus was the Jehovah or the God who spoke to Moses in Exodus 3:14. Typical of this is Geisler’s reasoning in his book “Christian Apologetics,” wherein he alleges that:
“Perhaps the strongest and most direct claim of Jesus to be Jehovah occurs in John 8:58 where he said to the Jews, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’. The Jews’ reaction left no doubt as to how they understood his claim. They knew he had claimed not only preexistence before Abraham but also equality with God . . . Jesus had clearly claimed to be the “I AM” of Exodus 3:14 that refers to Jehovah alone.”
(Reference: Norman L. Geisler, Christian Apologetics, p.331, Emphasis Mine)
But the real question is, is Jesus the God who said “I AM” in Exodus 3:14?
The answer is NO!
And when Jesus said “I AM” (Greek, εγω ειμι) in John 8:58, was He indicating His alleged divinity?
Definitely not!
What was Christ affirming in this verse then?
That He was before Abraham.
How was Christ before Abraham when Christ was born after Abraham?
It must be remembered that Abraham is His ancestor and came into existence before Christ was born. However, Christ is before Abraham because He was foreordained by God even before the foundation of the world; let us read the following passages to prove this very point:
“foreknown, indeed, before the foundation of the world, and revealed in the last times because of you …”
(Reference: I Pet. 1:20, Literal Standard Version, Emphasis Mine)
Therefore, this is also in concise harmony that Christ is the Lógos (Plan) of God (Jn 1:1a) in the very beginning, even before the foundation of the world. Thus, it is in this sense that Christ was before Abraham!
In the context of John chapter 8 it should be noted that Jesus and the Jews were having an argument about Abraham and Jesus’ authority. We can glean nothing from the chapter that Jesus claimed to be God. Rather, He told the Jews that He was “a man” telling them the truth, which He heard from God (John 8:40). Jesus was not telling the Jews that His name is “I AM.” Likewise, He never told them, “I am God.” If Jesus were God, He would have plainly told them so. On the contrary, Jesus clarified to them that He came from and was sent by God (John 8:42).
Christ uttered the statement “egō eimi,” and God also spoke the equivalent of those words in Hebrew in Exodus 3:14. But does it prove that He is the same God who spoke in the Old Testament?
No!
Christ was not the only one who uttered these words. The truth is, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, there were others who used the same words. In fact, in Judges 13:11 of The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English by Sir Lancelot Brenton, it is stated:
“And Manoë arose and followed his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Art thou the man that spoke to the woman? and the angel said, I am.”
(Reference: Judges XIII:11, Emphasis Mine)
The angel said to Manoë, “I am.” Would our Trinitarian friends accept that the angel is also the true God because he uttered the same statement?
Aside from that angel, who else uttered the same term?
In John chapter 9 verse 9, the formerly blind man emphatically stated, egō eimi!
Does that make the blind man or qualify him also as the God of the Old Testament because he uttered what God declared in Exodus 3:14? Let our Trinitarian friends honestly answer that question.
Therefore, one could notice immediately that Jesus and the formerly blind man had uttered the same statement, “egō eimi,” because most English translations rendered John 9:9 differently. Below are a few of the English translations of the Greek term “egō eimi,” spoken by the formerly blind man with an intentional variation:
King James Version
“I am he”
New King James Version
“I am he”
New American Standard Bible
“I am the one”
New International Version
“I am the man”
New Revised Standard Version
“I am the man”
Today’s English Version
“I am the man”
New Living Translation
“I am the same one!”
The addition of the words “he” or “the man” in these translations somehow conceals the fact that Jesus and the formerly blind man spoke the exact words in the Greek New Testament ‒ “egō eimi.”
Is it true, as Geisler alleges, that Jesus is the Jehovah who spoke in Exodus 3:14?
The Tetragrammaton – YHWH, as one of God’s names in the Old Testament, interpreted by Geisler as Jehovah. Suppose this allegation that Jesus was the same God or Jehovah who uttered the statement “I AM” in Exodus 3:14 were true. In that case, the irony is our Trinitarian friends would have to accept that aside from having a Jesus who is Jehovah, there is another Jesus, the servant of Jehovah. Why? Going back to Exodus, chapter 3, Jehovah or YHWH, the Lord God introduced Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in verse 15. However, in the New Testament, the same God, or Jehovah, was introduced by Apostle Peter as the One who glorified Jesus, His servant. This is his testimony as it is written in Acts 3:13:
“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.”
(Reference: Acts 3:13, NKJV, Emphasis Mine)
Now consider these scenarios: if Jesus were the God who spoke to Moses in the burning bush, then who would be His servant by the name of Jesus in Acts 3:13?
Are we prepared to accept that there are two Jesuses, one who is the God of Abraham and one who is called the servant of the God of Abraham?
Is there such a thing in the Bible as “Jesus who is the servant of Jesus?”
There is none!
Jesus, who is God’s servant, is truly different from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus is not the YHWH or Jehovah of the Old Testament, as Geisler and his co-apologists avow.
Moreover, Apostle Paul teaches that Jesus is the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16). How could Jesus be the seed of Abraham and at the same time His God (Matt 22:32)? Therefore, serious theological implications would result if we accept the Trinitarians view that Jesus was the YHWH or God who spoke to Abraham in Exodus 3:14.
Now, let’s analyze the three-word name of God in Exodus 3:14: EHYEH-ASHER-EHYEH.
Aside from the four-letter name of God, YHWH, technically called Tetragrammaton, is commonly translated into English as “Yahweh” or “Lord” in some modern English versions and “Jehovah” in some older English versions of the Bible. The Hebrew Bible mentions God’s various names, such as “Elohim” (Gen 1:1), “El Elyon” (Gen 14:18), “El Shaddai” (Gen 17:1), and the three-word name of God “EHYEH-ASHER-EHYEH” in Exodus 3:14 is translated as “I AM WHO I AM” in most English versions of the Old Testament.
Although the majority of the English versions of the Bible render the three-word name of God “EHYEH-ASHER-EHYEH” in Exodus 3:14 as “I AM WHO I AM,” it must also be noted that this is how the translators perceived it as a translation of God’s name. However, is “I AM WHO I AM” the most precise English translation of the Hebrew name of God? Jewish Scholar Rabbi Joseph Telushkin answers:
“At one point, Moses says to God: ‘When I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His Name?’ what shall I say to them?’ God answers: *Ehyeh-asher-ehyeh. Thus shall you say to
the Israelites, ‘Ehyeh sent me to you.
The three-word name God gives Himself is not easy to translate. The most precise rendering is ‘I shall be what I shall be,’ although it sometimes is translated as ‘I am that I am.’ The 1962 Jewish Publication Society translation of the Torah despaired of coming up with an accurate rendition, and just left the words in their Hebrew original.”
(Reference: Jewish Literacy, Content Page 15. Burning Bush [Exodus 3:2–3] “I Shall Be What I Shall Be/Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh” [Exodus 3:14], Emphasis Mine)
To a Jewish scholar like Telushkin, the most precise rendering of ehyeh-asher-ehyeh is “I shall be what I shall be.” And he is not alone in this view. Wayne A. Grudem, a Protestant theologian and trinitarian, translated God’s name similar to Telushkin’s understanding. He reasons:
“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ It is also possible to translate this statement ‘I will be what I will be’.”
(Reference: Systematic Theology, Chapter 11, p. 126 PDF Edition, Emphasis Mine)
Furthermore, in the footnotes of several English translations of the Bible, we could find their difficulty in translating God’s name. Below are several examples of what each translation footnotes have to say:
(Footnotes):
Contemporary English Version
“Since it seems related to the word translated ‘I am,’ it may mean ‘I am the one who is’ or ‘I will be what I will be’ or ‘I am the one who brings into being’.”
Common English Bible
“Or I Will Be Who I Will Be.”
English Standard Version
“Or I am what I am, or I will be what I will be”
Easy English Bible
“The words can mean, ‘I am what I am.’ They can also mean, ‘I will be what I will be’.”
Good News Translation
“I am who I am … I Am; or I will be who I will be … I Will Be.”
New International Version
“Or I will be what I will be”
International Standard Version
“Or I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE or I AM THE ONE WHO IS”
Holman Christian Standard Bible
“Or I AM BECAUSE I AM, or I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE”
Living Bible
“the Sovereign God, or ‘the Living God’; literally, ‘I am who I am,’ or ‘I will be what I will be’.”
New Revised English Bible
“I am: or I will be what I will be”
New Living Translation
“Or I will be what I will be.”
New Revised Standard Version
“Or I am what I am or I will be what I will be”
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
“…God’s name: ‘ehyeh ‘I am’ or ‘I will be (come)’ for ‘Yhwh,’ the personal name of the God of Israel.”
It’s very apparent that the translators had a difficult time getting a possible translation of God’s name in Exodus 3:14 into English. Nobody is certain how God’s three-word name should be translated into English.
In view of this precise analysis, there is no parallelism between John 8:58 and Exodus 3:14. Although Jesus uttered the Greek term “egō eimi,” Trinitarians have failed to provide any concrete proof that He is the same God of the Old Testament who said this term in the Hebrew Bible. We can say that there is a deception involved on the part of some Christ-is-God apologists when they tried to equate Jesus’ words in John 8:58 with God’s statement in Exodus 3:14.
IN CONCLUSION
1
In the final analysis, the statement made by God in Exodus 3:14, “EHYEH-ASHER-EHYEH,” has been translated by Hebrew language scholars more accurately as “I shall be what I shall be.” This statement does not parallel the utterance of ‘Jesus’ in John 8:58, where He states “egō eimi” (I am) in Greek. Trinitarians have claimed the latter statement to be proof of His divinity, but the linguistic analysis of the phrase from both the Hebrew and the Greek does not support this claim. As such, it is important to recognize the distinction between the two statements and their respective meanings in order to avoid potential misunderstandings or misinterpretations. Therefore, in John 8:58, Christ’s utterance of the Greek term “egō eimi” ‒ (I am) is not proof of His alleged divinity, and there is absolutely no parallelism between God’s statement and that of Christ.
2
The Greek word “egō eimi”, which means “I am”, was emphatically stated by the blind man and the Angel of God, the same words spoken by Christ. However, this statement does not make them God.
3
The theological implications for claiming that Jesus uttered the words “egō eimi” implies that He is the same God of the Old Testament, creates a serious and formidable challenging dilemma for Trinitarians when trying to reconcile the idea that Jesus is the same God who spoke to Moses in the burning bush in the Old Testament while at the same time is found to be glorified by God as His Servant in Acts 3:13. This presents a complex conundrum for the proponents of the Christ-is-God doctrine. The reference to Jesus as a Servant of God contradicts the belief in the Trinity, which posits that Jesus is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father. As such, it is not surprising why Trinitarians struggle to reconcile such a serious contradiction when considering the true definition of the Trinity.
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SUPPORTERS OF THE BELIEF in the divinity of Christ, also known as the Christ-is-God or the God-man doctrine, assert that God exists as a trinity consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Although they are three in nature and considered distinct beings, proponents maintain that they form a single God. The concept of the Trinity lacks explicit biblical endorsement; thus, proponents often argue that it represents a profound mystery beyond human comprehension and should be accepted by faith alone.
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