65) Before Abraham was I AM. Was Jesus claiming to be God?

In this episode we show why the Trinitarian and “deity of Christ” understanding of Jesus’s words in John 8:58 are wrong.

In neither Hebrew nor in Greek is the phase “I am” in the Bible a title for deity.

In Hebrew, God says in Exodus 3:14 “I will be who I will be”. In Greek, it is the “Living One” who speaks to Moses.

“I am”, in Greek, ego eimi, is not a divine title.

We show that the “deity of Christ” interpretation of Jesus’s statement, “before Abraham was I am” contradicts the Apostle Peter’s belief (Acts 3:15), the disciples Steven’s belief (Acts 7), the author of the Gospel of John (John 20 30:31) and Jesus in the Gospel of John (John 17:3).

We give two possible meanings for Jesus “I am” statement in John 8:58. We favor the second interpretation.

1. Jesus’s statement relates to his superiority to Abraham in the plan and purpose of God. The Messiah Jesus was known by God before Abraham was called in God’s purpose.

2. Jesus is pre-eminent to Abraham in resurrection. Jesus was repeating what he said earlier in John chapter 8, “I am the light of the world”. All of the “I am” statements of Jesus in John 8 relate to his claim to be “the light of the world”.

We examine the Greek verb genesthai and see that especially in the Gospel of John it means to “come into being at some point in the future”. John 8:58 is best translated as “before Abraham comes to be”, that is, at some future point in time.

For additional evidence that the Trinitarian, “deity of Christ” interpretation of John 8:58 is wrong, see here. https://www.angelfire.com/space/thegospeltruth/TTD/verses/john8_58.html