I am (biblical term)

Christian term used in the Bible

Part of a series on

Christology

Concepts

*     * Christ (Messiah)
* Kyrios

*     * Son of God
* God the Son

*     * Logos
* Incarnation
* Pre-existence

* Active obedience
* Communicatio idiomatum
* Consubstantiality
*     * Exaltation
* Humiliation

*     * God-man
* Homoiōma

*     * Hypostatic union
* Person
* Prosopon

*     * Imitation
* Intercession

*     * Kenosis
* Syncatabasis

*     * Knowledge
* Love
* Perfection
* Wisdom

* Threefold office
* Redeemer

Doctrines

Christological doctrines

* Adoptionism
* Apollinarism
* Eutychianism
* Chalcedonism (Neo)
* Docetism
*     * Dyoenergism
* Monoenergism

*     * Dyothelitism
* Monothelitism

*     * Dyophysitism
* Monophysitism

* Miaphysitism
* Henotikon
*     * Homoousionism
* Homoiousianism

* Homoianism
* Nestorianism
* Theopaschism

By denomination

* Extra calvinisticum
* Lutheran Christology

* v
* t
* e

Pius X church, Vernier, Switzerland: Ego eimi hē hodos, "I am the way" in Greek. From an Istanbul church: Ego eimi hē ampelos hē alēthinē, "I am the true vine." Latin translation at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church (McCartyville, Ohio): "I am the way, the truth [and] the life."

The Koine Greek term Ego eimi (Ἐγώ εἰμί, pronounced [eɣó imí]), literally 'I am' or 'It is I', is an emphatic form of the copulative verb εἰμι that is recorded in the Gospels to have been spoken by Jesus on several occasions to refer to himself not with the role of a verb but playing the role of a name, in the Gospel of John occurring seven times with specific titles. It is connected to the passage in Exodus 3:14 in which God gives his name as אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה, Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, translated most basically as "I am that I am" or "I shall be what I am". In the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 3:14), it is the personal name of God, revealed directly to Moses.[1] These usages have been the subject of significant Christological analysis.[2][3]

## New Testament

[edit]

In the New Testament, the personal pronoun ἐγώ in conjunction with the present first-person singular copulative εἰμι is recorded to have been used mainly by Jesus, especially in the Gospel of John.

It is used in the Gospel of John both with and without a predicate nominative. The seven occurrences with a predicate nominative that have resulted in some of the titles for Jesus are:

* I am the Bread of Life (John 6:35)
* I am the Light of the World (John 8:12)
* I am the Door (John 10:9)
* I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14)
* I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)
* I am the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
* I am the Vine (John 15:1,5)

### Without predicate nominative

[edit]

This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (January 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

"I am" is also used without a predicate nominative, which is not very common in Koine Greek. Thus, it is generally interpreted as a self-identification of Jesus with God. In John 8:24 Jesus states: "For unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins", and later the crowd attempts to stone Jesus in response to his statement in John 8:58: "Before Abraham was, I am". Many other translations, including the American Standard Version, have rendered John 8:24 as something like "For unless you believe that I am [He], you will die in your sins". Some consider the phrase in John 8:58 to be grammatically different from that in John 8:24, as the copulative verb can be used with any predicative expression and not only a predicate nominative, such as in "ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἦτε" ("where I am, you also may be") in John 14:3. "πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι" ("before Abraham was") can be taken as a predicative prepositional phrase, and thus "ἐγώ εἰμὶ" ("I am") in John 8:58 does not grammatically require a predicate nominative. However it is rather unusual for a present tense verb to be used with a temporal adverb like πρὶν in a declarative statement, though there are rare exceptions outside the New Testament. Thus, explanations of John 8:58 generally depend on theology and not Greek grammar.

### With predicate nominative

[edit]

This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (January 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

There are other times the phrase is used in the New Testament, but with a predicate nominative and/or adjectives in between ἐγώ and εἰμι: a centurion in Matt 8:9 and Luke 7:8, Zechariah in Luke 1:18, Gabriel in Luke 1:19, a man blind from birth in John 9:9 who is healed by Jesus and told to go wash in the Pool of Siloam, Peter in Acts 10:21 and Acts 10:26, Paul the Apostle in Acts 22:3, Acts 23:6, Acts 26:29, Romans 7:14, Romans 11:1, Romans 11:13, 1 Corinthians 15:9 and 1 Timothy 1:15, some Corinthian believer in 1 Corinthians 1:12 and 1 Corinthians 3:4, John the Baptist in the negative (οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐγὼ, 'I am not') in John 3:28 and Acts 13:25 (compare with Jesus in John 8:23, 17:14,16), and Pilate in a question (Μήτι ἐγὼ Ἰουδαῖός εἰμι, 'Am I [a] Jew?') in John 18:35.[4][5][6]

## Old Testament

[edit]

ἐγώ εἰμι also occurs without an explicit or implicit predicate nominative in the Septuagint, but instead either with a prepositional phrase such as in "μὴ ἀντὶ θεοῦ ἐγώ εἰμι ..." ("Am I in place of God ...") Genesis 30:2, or with a predicative clause such as in "πάροικος καὶ παρεπίδημος ἐγώ εἰμι μεθ' ὑμῶν" ("As a foreigner and a sojourner I am with you") in Genesis 23:4, or with the idiomatic meaning 'It is I' such as in "καὶ εἶπεν Ἰωαβ ἀκούω ἐγώ εἰμι" ("And Joab said: I hear; it is I.") in 2 Samuel 20:17.[7]

It has been suggested that the unique expression of the Tetragrammaton יהוה (YHWH) is a verbal cognate noun derived from היה (hayah), the Hebrew linking (or 'copular' or 'copulative') verb, 'to be'. Translations often render this word in compliance with the tradition of the Septuagint, "Lord".

## In Christian philosophy

[edit]

The philosopher Joseph de Torre, commenting on the philosophical implications of "I am" as the name of God, wrote:

> Aristotle conceived God as the First Mover but outside the world, because of his defective concept of "act", which is more physical than metaphysical. What St. Thomas did was to take this concept and raise it to a metaphysical plane, and then he combined it with Plato's concept of "participation". But he did all this under the guiding light of the faith, since it is the Bible that describes God as HE WHO IS (Exodus, 3): he saw that God is the fullness of being, the very Act of Being, the perfection of being, the subsistent act of being; and everything else is a participation in the act of being, which must be created by God "out of nothing", since God cannot share His infinite act of being.[8]

## See also

[edit]

* I AM (book)
* I Am that I Am
* Ego eimi
* Holy Name of Jesus
* Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament
* The Thunder, Perfect Mind
* Dinanukht

## Further reading

[edit]

* The "I am" of the fourth Gospel by Philip B. Harner ISBN 0-8006-3060-2, 1970

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "NAMES OF GOD - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
2. ^ Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi by Karl Rahner 2004 ISBN 0-86012-006-6 page 1082
3. ^ Hurtado, Larry W. (June 2003). Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-6070-2 pages 370–371
4. ^ Nestle-Aland "Novum Testamentum Graece", 27th revised edition (a.k.a. "NA27"), Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, July 2006, ISBN 1598561723
5. ^ "The Greek New Testament", 4th Edition with Dictionary, United Bible Societies (a.k.a. "UBS4")
6. ^ "John 1 WHNU;SBLGNT - εν αρχη ην ο λογος και - Bible Gateway". Biblegateway.com. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
7. ^ "Unbound Bible". Unbound.biola.edu. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
8. ^ De Torre, Joseph (1980). Christian Philosophy (3rd ed.). Manila, Philippines: Sinag-Tala Publishers. p. 276\. ISBN 971-554-055-4.

* v
* t
* e

Gospel of John

Bible
(New Testament)|

| Chapters|

* John 1
* Book of Signs
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* 6
* 7
* 8
* 9
* 10
* 11
* 12
* Book of Glory
* 13
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* 18
* 19
* 20
* Epilogue: 21

|

Verses|

* John 1:1–20; 23; 25–33; 35–42
* 3:16
* 14:6
* 18:38
* 20:1–31

Events
(chronological)|

* Wedding at Cana
* Bread of Life Discourse
* Feeding the 5000
* Healing a blind man
* Healing a paralytic
* Healing a sick son
* Jesus and the woman taken in adultery
* Walking on water
* Raising of Lazarus
* Anointing
* Foot washing
* Passion of Jesus
* Last Supper
* Farewell Discourse
* Crucifixion
* Burial
* Empty tomb
* Resurrection of Jesus
* Restoration of Peter

Phrases|

* In the beginning
* Logos
* Disciple whom Jesus loved
* Doubting Thomas
* Ecce homo
* Feast of Dedication
* "Love one another"
* Jesus wept
* Noli me tangere
* Quod scripsi, scripsi
* That they all may be one
* Via et veritas et vita
* The truth will set you free

People|

* Andrew
* Annas
* Caiaphas
* Herod Antipas
* Jesus Christ
* John the Baptist
* Joseph of Arimathea
* Judas Iscariot
* Mother of Jesus
* Lazarus
* Malchus
* Martha
* Mary Magdalene
* Mary, sister of Martha
* Nathanael
* Nicodemus
* Philip
* Pontius Pilate
* Simon Peter
* Thomas
* Zebedee

Groups
Angels
Pharisees
Sadducees
Samaritans
Sanhedrin

Places|

* Ænon
* Bethabara
* Bethany
* Bethsaida
* Cana
* Capernaum
* Galilee
* Jacob's Well
* Jerusalem
* Jordan River
* Judea
* Kidron
* Samaria
* Sea of Galilee
* Solomon's Porch
* Sychar

"I AM" sayings|

* I am (biblical term)
* Bread of Life
* Light of the World
* Gate for the Sheep
* Good Shepherd
* Resurrectio et Vita
* Via et veritas et vita
* True Vine

Related|

* Authorship
* Johannine community
* John the Apostle
* John the Evangelist
* Johannine literature
* Holy Spirit
* Textual variants
* Apocryphon of John
* Second Apocalypse of John
* Pillar New Testament Commentary

Adaptations|

* St John Passion (J. S. Bach, 1724)
* Structure
* Discography
* Passio (Pärt, 1982)
* The Gospel of John (2003 film)
* The Gospel of John (2014 film)

Manuscripts|

* Papyrus 2
* 5
* 6
* 22
* 28
* 36
* 39
* 44
* 45
* 52
* 55
* 59
* 60
* 63
* 66
* 75
* 76
* 80
* 84
* 90
* 93
* 95
* 106
* 107
* 108
* 109
* 119
* 120
* 121
* 122
* 128
* Ohrid Glagolitic fragments

Sources|

* Greek Text
* Latin Vulgate
* Wycliffe Version
* King James Version
* American Standard Version
* World English Version

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template