Proposition # 13: Jesus’ use of the divine title “I AM” [Greek, ego eimi] in John 8, verses 24 and 58 proves his deity.
Response: At John 8:58 Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Trinitarians relate this statement to the account of Exodus 3:14 where “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’” Was Jesus applying the title I AM to himself?
Interestingly, someone other than Jesus uses this exact same Greek phrase only ten verses later. At John 9:9 a man whom Jesus had healed also says “I am.”[1] [ego eimi] Should we conclude that this man is part of a triune God? Of course not, so the simple statement I am does not prove a claim to deity.
If Jesus was not claiming to be deity in John 8:58, why did the Jews want to stone him for what he said? In John 8:53 they had asked him, “Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?” With his answer “before Abraham was, I am,” Jesus was affirming his pre-eminence over Abraham in the plan of God. This self-exaltation by someone they considered a nobody was, in their opinion, a blasphemous degradation of Abraham, the father of the Jewish race and faith, as well as a prophet in special covenant with God, and they wanted to stone him for it.
Compare this to the situation at Acts 6:11 regarding accusations made against Stephen for blaspheming Moses!
In John 8:24 Jesus proclaimed, “If you do not believe that I am, you shall die in your sins.” Was he here alluding to the divine title? Twelve verses earlier, in John 8:12, he said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” And in verse 23 he said, “I am from above…I am not of this world.” So what Jesus meant in verse 24 was simply, ‘If you do not believe that I am [who I claim to be, namely, the light of the world, from above and not of this world], you shall die in your sins.’
[1] In this verse English translations read either ‘I am the man’ or ‘I am he.’ Neither the man nor he appears in the Greek text.