DotCom 6: Who do you say I am? Part 1

Jesus asked his disciples about who people thought he was. Over the next couple of weeks we shall explore that question in our contemporary society.

First, let us dispel the myth that Jesus did not consider himself divine. There are many Biblical passages we could use for this (for example Paul's beautiful description of Jesus in Philippians 2). I've chosen to to use part of John's gospel.

One of the structures of John's gospel is the 7 "I am" statements.
6:35 I am the bread of life
8:12 I am the light of the world
10:7 I am the gate for the sheep
10:11 I am the good shepherd
11:25 I am the resurrection and the life
14:6 I am the way the truth and the life
15:1 I am the true vine

Each of these statements begin with "I am." (obviously). In Greek as in many languaegs today (eg Polish) there are two ways to say "I am", indeed two ways to express any verb. The reason is that the ending of the verb tells you if the meaning is "I" or "he, she, it, you, they". So the workd "eumi" in greek means "I am." However, if someone wants to emphasise the "I" then they can put the work for I in front of "eumi". That is they say "I Iam" (ego eumi). This is what John wrote was Jesus emphasis in all these statements. If he had spoken in English then we may have recognised the emphaise my the tone of voice "I am." John is making sure that the readers of know that Jesus was emphasising himself (singularly) in all all these statements.

But, wait, there's more.

Read
John 14:8-11 where Jesus explicity links himself to God the Father
10:30-31 where he is one with the Father
10:36 where he is recognized as the son of God
8:58-59 were he claims to pre-exist Abraham - "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!"

8:59, 10:31,39 When the Jews heard what Jesus was saying they immediately, without hesitation, concluded he was blasphemeing and deserved to die. Why - because he explicitly identified himself as God because he used the Jew's special name for God. That name is "I am" (Yhwh, Jehovah in Hebrew). In Exodus 3:14 Moses asks God what his name is ... he answers "I AM WHO I AM".

The conclusion that John wanted his readers to draw is obvious - Jesus claimed to be the great I AM, the eternal creator God giver of life.