Reading the Gospel of John
Of the four Gospels , John has the most specific references to the deity of Christ . John affirms that Jesus is more than simply a chosen person: He shares in the deity of God Himself. Jesus own awareness of deity is expressed both in sayings about His unity with the Father … but especially in the ‘I am’ sayings [John 6:20; 8:12; 10:7; 10:10; 11:25; 14:6; and 15:1]. In addition to these sayings are several where Jesus designates Himself simply by the words I am (John 4:26; 8:24, 28; 13:19; 18:5–8). Yesterday Pastor Christian explained that this is a phrase almost impossible to translate literally; in most contexts the simple I am is not meaningful in English [compare renderings of the NASB (“I am He”) and NIV (“I am the one I claim to be”)]. But in John 8:58, the RSV [and similarly, the NASB and NIV] translates ‘Before Abraham was, I am.’ The language is much stronger in Greek than in English. Before Abraham was born (genesthai), I am (ego eimi) [thus, the NASB and