Bibliography
Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John: Anchor Bible, New York: Doubleday, 1966/70, 535-7.
D A Carson, The Gospel According to John: Pillar, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990, 289.
William Manson, ‘The Ego Eimi of the Messianic Presence in the New Testament’ in Jesus and The Christian (London: James Clarke, 1967), 174-83.
Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John: NICNT, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971, 365 fn 92.
Introduction
The “I am” statements are a particular form of titular Christology that are a distinctive feature of the Gospel of John. While there is evidence for it in the synoptics (e.g. Mark 6:50), John’s account of Jesus’ teaching shows that Jesus used it as an explicit means of teaching his high Christology. In each of the four quarters of the Gospel of John, and therefore in each half, at least one “I am” statement appears.
The Old Testament Background
The Old Testament background to the “I AM” statements is the revelation that Yahweh made to Moses in the account of the burning bush in Exodus 3:14. God revealed himself to Moses as “I am who I am” and “I am” (Exod 3:14). The two expressions in the MT are אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (‘I will be that which I will be’) and אֶהְיֶה (‘I will be’). The two expressions both feature the imperfect 1cs of the equative Hebrew verb ‘to be’, הָיָה (hayah). Etymologically, the divine name Yahweh (יְהוָה) is derived from the Hebrew verb ‘to be’.
In the LXX of Exodus 3:14, Yahweh describes himself as ᾿Εγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, (‘I am the one being’). It is a statement of self-existence and self-determination. Exodus 3:14 LXX is almost certainly the basis of the subsequent uses of the ἐγώ εἰμι formula in the LXX, though subsequent passages in the Old Testament tend not to feature the verbal form hayah.
Other instances of the formula in the Book of Exodus all have the nominative predicate, and naturally occur in contexts of the divine revelation of God’s character, or the self-identification of God. The translations of the LXX offered below are modified, amended, and modernized revisions of Brenton.
Consider Deuteronomy 32:39 LXX, which features the Greek form ἐγώ εἰμι, though not the Hebrew form witnessed in the MT of Exodus 3:14.
Some regard that the true background for ἐγώ εἰμι in John is Isaiah 40-55, but this is surely a false dichotomy, as the use in Isaiah almost certainly based on the foundational LXX Penteteuchal texts Exodus 3:14 and Deuteronomy 32:39. Nevertheless, the use of ἐγώ εἰμι in its different forms in Isaiah 40-55 has parallels with the later Johannine use.
First is the use of the phrase ἐγώ εἰμι in an absolute sense. We must note that this use is difficult to distinguish from the second, the implied predicate, but place these examples provisionally together as examples of the absolute use.
As Isaiah 41:4 is a statement of God’s self-existence and eternity, it seems best to treat this as an absolute use.
Second is the use of ἐγώ εἰμι with the implied predicate. There is one verse that Brenton translates as having an implied predicate, “I am [he]”.
There is another use here that strictly takes a predicate, but I will include it here because of its affinities with the identifying use of the phrase with an implied predicate.
Third, there is the use with the nominative predicate
A further instance of the nominative predicate use is found in Joel 2:27 LXX, this time indicating the presence of Yahweh, as well as his identity.
In the Gospel of John, ἐγώ εἰμι is first used by Jesus at John 4:26. Jesus’ uses of the phrase can be divided into three classes: (1) the absolute use without a predicate, (2) the use with an implied predicate, and (3) the use with an explicit nominative predicate. The background and context of John’s Gospel suggests that the absolute use connotes the full divinity of the man Jesus Christ. The use with the predicate nominative adds to the connotation of divinity specific aspects of the ministry of Jesus and his work of rescuing lost humans.
The first class is where Jesus uses the phrase absolutely without a predicate (John 8:24, 28, 58, 13:19).
The clear claim to divinity in the ultimate instance in chapter 8 shows the other three instances in this class as pregnant with divine claims.
The second class are those instances of the phrase with an implied predicate (John 4:26, 6:20, 18:5).
Primarily the form can be one of strict self-identification (such as in the case of the formerly blind man’s self-identification in John 9:9). However, John in another place does change the order of the words potentially so that any confusion with the technical self-identifying phrase might be avoided: thus, in John 7:36, καὶ ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν, ('And where I am, you are not able to come'). Nevertheless, while in each of these listed instances, the occasion of these statements is Jesus identifying himself, the context in the two last strongly implies theophany, and the first Christophany is enriched and seen as pregnant with deeper meaning by reading on in the narrative.
The third class consists of seven different phrases with a predicate nominative, that build on the previous two classes, and in which the predicate makes various Christological claims and statements.
Now again, there is the possibility that we over-read the construction. For example, in John 8:18, the self-identification of the construction with the nominative predicate is quite apparent: "I am the one who testifies about myself (ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ μαρτυρῶν περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ), and the Father who sent me testifies concerning me.” Nevertheless, even here we cannot discount the connotations of divinity attaching to the phrase ἐγώ εἰμι.
The seven distinct theologically significant constructions consisting of the phrase ἐγώ εἰμι with the predicate nominative in John’s Gospel are as follows:
(1) I am the Bread of Life (John 6:35, 51)
ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς || I am the bread of life (John 6:35)
ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ζῶν ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς || I am the living bread which came down from heaven (John 6:51)
The image of bread specifically trades on the manna in the wilderness motif. Instead of focussing on perishable food from Jesus, his supplicants should seek Jesus himself as the bread who has come down from heaven.
(2) I am the Light of the World (John 8:12; cf. 9:5)
ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου·|| I am the light of the world (John 8:12)
φῶς εἰμι τοῦ κόσμου. || I am the light of the world (John 9:5)
Jesus self-identification as the light of the world sees development during Jesus' temple teaching at the occasion of the festival of tabernacles, where a unique light show is set up in the court of women in the temple. Jesus appropriates this to himself and uses it Christologically. Then in John 9, Jesus as the 'light of the world' is further developed in conjunction with his restoration of the sight of the man born blind.
(3) I am the Gate for the Sheep (John 10:7, 9)
ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα τῶν προβάτων || Truly truly I say to you, that I am the gate of the sheep (John 10:7)
ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα·|| I am the gate (John 10:9)
The image of the sheep gate suggests that Jesus is the way or means of access to safety and pasture.
(4) I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14)
Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός || I am the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14)
Prior to John 10, Jesus had diagnosed the Pharisees as blind (John 9:39-41). They were part of the ruling class of Israel, often referred to as shepherds. While Yahweh was always the shepherd of Israel (e.g. Gen 48:15, 49:24; Pss 23:1, 28:9, 80:1; Eccles 12:11), leaders were frequently referred to as shepherds (e.g. Num 27:17; Isa 63:11) and this title was likewise transferred to the Davidic king when he arose (2 Sam 5:2, 7:7; 1 Kgs 22:17; 1 Chr 11:2; Ps 78:70-72). The Messiah to come was therefore, a fortiori, described in shepherd terms, for example:
I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. (Ezekiel 34:23 NIV)
(5) I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)
ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή || I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)
As early as John 2:19, Jesus has declared that he will raise his own body in three days. This is noteworthy, as it is not merely a statement that his body will be raised, but that Jesus will raise it. Jesus appropriates to himself the prerogatives of the judgement of the world and the resurrection to either judgement and life in John 5:25-30. There, Jesus declares that he has life in himself (vv. 21, 26, cf. 6:33), a claim anticipated in the prologue (1:4). In the context of Martha mentioning her faith in the general resurrection at the tomb of her recently deceased brother (John 11:24), Jesus goes one step further—not only does he give life, but he is the resurrection and the life. All of this is fulfilled and justified in the vindicating resurrection of Jesus (John 21).
(6) I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)
ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή·|| I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6)
(7) I am the True Vine (John 15:1, 5)
Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινὴ || I am the true vine (John 15:1)
ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος || I am the vine (John 15:5)