Throughout the New Testament, Jesus states many uses of I AM, which relate to God’s own declaration of I AM when speaking to Moses at the burning bush. These I AM statements can be categorized into two types.

The first of these is the I AM sayings with a predicate. The First of these is “I am the way and the truth and the light”(John 14:6 NIV), which has a strong metaphoric meaning. This references the way spoken of by John the Baptist and Isaiah, which foreshadows Jesus. It also has a divine meaning, referring to himself as the way to the Father, God, which shows his divinity. Another I AM statement with a predicate is, “I am the True vine.” (John 15:1). A statement that has a metaphorical meaning connected to the parable of the vineyard in the New Testament and Israel being represented as a vine in the Old Testament.  Divine meaning is present as well by Jesus being considered the true fulfillment of Israel. The Last predicate I AM statement was “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). whose metaphorical meaning is powerful because Bread is the only miracle in all four gospels and is used as a metaphor for teaching by both Jesus in the New Testament and God in the Old Testament. This also has divine meaning because Jesus is saying that his teaching is God’s teaching.

The second type of I AM statement is the Absolute sayings. The first of which is the “I am he” (John 4:26), which Jesus said to the Samaritan woman. While this is a claim of him being the Messiah, it also implies a deeper meaning. This is due to him talking about eternal life and referencing the one who proclaims all things in Isaiah. Finally, there is the singular Absolute Statement “I am” (John 8:58), which Jesus said to the Jews, which is a direct reference to God saying those exact words to Moses to prove his self-existence. This, combined with the book of John talking about how the Word, who is God, became flesh, means that Jesus was claiming to be God. In conclusion, the different types of I AM statements in the New Testament, said by Jesus, have strong metaphorical, messianic, and divine implications for Jesus’ message and identity that can be linked back to the Old Testament.  

To read the full article click on