Jesus' Testimony to the Pharisees in John

¶ … Jesus' Testimony to the Pharisees in John 8:58 The Gospel of John reveals a number of "I AM" assertions made by Jesus Christ. They are bold declarations through which Christ makes a powerful point, namely that he IS divine. However, the language that Jesus uses also conveys a message about the mystery of His Person. He uses words and formulas that are deeply meaningful for the Hebrews to whom He speaks. "I AM" after all is more than a mere subject followed by a predicate.

It is the name of God as He called Himself when He spoke it to Moses in the Old Testament. Therefore when Jesus says to the Jews, "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58), he is deliberately equating Himself with the God of the Old Testament by using the language of that God.

At its most basic level, Jesus' "I AM" assertion in John 8:58 is meaningful because it lays the groundwork for the overall message, which, as John Frey shows, "is stated in 20, 21: '…that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." When Jesus said to the Jesus, "Before Abraham was, I AM," many things were happening.

Jesus has just defended himself against the accusations of the Pharisees, who have accused him of being a liar and of having a devil. Jesus has ruined their plans to stone a woman and they are angry with Him. They demand to know Who He is. But He does not answer immediately. Instead He writes on the ground -- in the dust. Some go away, others stay, and Jesus returns to teaching in the temple. Still, the Pharisees demand to know Who He is.

Knowing that their hearts are turned away from God Who is the Truth, Jesus begins to define Himself first by defining who they are -- "slaves of sin" (John 8:34). He, Jesus, is the Son who shall make them free (John 8:36). The reference to the family and to the father draws another outburst from the Pharisees: they declare that Abraham is their father. Jesus knows better: Satan is their father because they reject the truth, which is Christ.

Jesus says this to them, asserting that "If God were your Father, you would love me" (John 8:42). Jesus continues to speak plainly and they continue to be deliberately obtuse. Finally, he utters the meaningful phrase, "I AM!" And they gather stones to throw at Him -- for in their eyes, He has uttered blasphemy and profaned the name of God. Jesus uses the Old Testament name for God on purpose. He is deliberately calling attention to His Divinity by appealing to the Scriptures of the Jews.

Steve Brandt asserts that using the name "I AM" in public was taboo -- which is why the Pharisees decide to stone Jesus. When Moses asked God what He should be called, "God replied, 'I am who am.' Then he added, 'This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you" (Exodus 3:14). God tells Moses that He is the Being Itself.

Anthony Maas notes that "the Divine name is an imperfect form of the archaic Hebrew verb 'to be'…Whose characteristic note consists in being, or The Being simply." This Name of the Divine All or Essence became a sacred name for the Israelites. When Christ says, "Before Abraham was, I AM," he is announcing His unity with the Divine Essence -- and the Pharisees knew it. However, they were not willing to accept this announcement because they rejected the Divine Essence, as Christ points out to them.

They are degenerate sons of man, slaves of sin and Satan. Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus makes another connection to the Old Testament. He states, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit" (John 15:1-2).

Jesus makes another "I am" assertion -- here likening himself to a vine, which Leon Morris observes is a symbolic metaphor, for "in the Old Testament the vine is often a symbol of Israel, sometimes of degenerate Israel." Christ, being the Man who will renew the human raises, uses the metaphor aptly. He has come to give life to the degenerate vine that is Israel.

I am the true vine, He says -- and later, simply, "I AM." Christ uses the simple, coupling it with the word "true" in order "to distinguish His reality and genuineness from that which is false" -- namely, the Pharisees' conception of themselves as true sons of God. Thus, Jesus responds to the Pharisees who have relentlessly questioned and badgered him about Who He is by telling them, first, who they are: "He who is without sin cast the first stone." They are sinners in need of redemption.

He is the Redeemer -- the true vine -- the Divine Essence -- One with the Creator, in existence from all eternity: "Before Abraham was, I AM." Jesus affirms His Divinity continually throughout the Gospel -- always using those same words, "I AM" -- "I that speak to you am He" (John 4:26) "I am the bread of life" (6:35), "I am the light of the world" (8:12), "I am the good shepherd" (10:11), "You call me Master and Lord: and you say well; for so I am" (13:13), "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (14:6).

In each instance, Jesus expands upon the conception of the Divine Essence given to Moses so long ago. He responds to the questions and the circumstances around Him. He uses stories and parables and metaphors to make His identity known to His followers. He has come to rejuvenate the degenerate vine, to return them to the faith of Abraham -- but, first, He must convict them of sin -- and this He does in the scene with the Pharisees who are about to stone the woman.

Once convicted, they turn their wrath against God, demanding to know what authority He has over them. They consider themselves to be perfectly in line with the teachings of the ancients. They are filled with pride and do not see that they have lost the way.

Jesus thus connects Himself to the Old Testament Scriptures, affirms His identity with the Old Testament Divinity, and also presents Himself in terms of a new identity -- no longer a nameless Essence -- now a God-Man named Jesus Christ -- a source both of bodily regeneration and spiritual redemption. He calls those who hear His voice to recognize His divinity -- His Being -- and to show their love for Him by obeying His commandments (John 14:15), which are those of the God of Abraham and Moses.

He announces Himself -- and then He disappears -- or, rather, hides himself (John 8:59).