*I AM

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

Genesis 15:1. After these things — 1st, After that act of generous charity which Abram had done, in rescuing his neighbours, God made him this gracious visit. 2d, After that victory which he had obtained over four kings: lest Abram should be too much elevated with that, God comes to tell him he had better things in store for him. The word of the Lord came unto Abram — That is, God manifested himself to Abram; in a vision — Which supposes that Abram was awake, and had some sensible token of the presence of the divine glory saying, Fear not, Abram — Abram might fear lest the four kings he had routed should rally and fall upon him. No, saith God, fear not: fear not their revenge, nor thy neighbours’ envy; I will take care of thee. I am thy shield — Or, emphatically, I am a shield to thee, present with thee, actually defending thee. The consideration of this, that God himself is a shield to his people, to secure them from all destructive evils, a shield “ready to them,” and a shield “round about them,” should silence all perplexing fears. And thy exceeding great reward — Not only thy rewarder, but thy reward. God himself is the felicity of holy souls; he is the “portion of their inheritance, and their cup.”

God is a Shield to His children.

2.) I AM THE LORD WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF UR

Gen 15:7, “And He said to him, “I AM the LORD who

brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.”

God gave Abraham the historical truth which can be verified by his personal experience.

3.) I AM GOD ALMIGHTY.

Gen 17:1, “Now when Abram was ninety-nine

years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I AM God Almighty; Walk before Me,

and be blameless.”

XVII.

CONFIRMATION OF THE COVENANT BY THE SACRAMENT OF CIRCUMCISION.

Abram was ninety years old and nine.—Thirteen years, therefore, had passed by since the birth of Ishmael, who doubtless during this time had grown very dear to the childless old man, as we gather from the wish expressed in Genesis 17:18.

I am the Almighty God.—Heb., El shaddai. The word is Archaic, but there is no doubt that it means strong so as to overpower. Besides its use in Genesis we find it employed as the name of Deity by Balaam (Numbers 24:4; Numbers 24:16); by Naomi (Ruth 1:20); and in the Book of Job, where it occurs thirty-one times. We may thus regard it as “one of the more general worldwide titles of the Most High” (Speaker’s Commentary). In Exodus 6:3 it is said, with evident reference to this place, that El shaddai was the name of God revealed to the patriarchs, but that He was not known to them by His name Jehovah. Here, nevertheless, in a passage said by commentators to be Elohistic, we read that “Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said to him I am El shaddai.” But the very gist of the passage is the identification of Jehovah and El shaddai, and the great object of the manifest care with which Moses distinguishes the Divine names seems to be to show, that though Jehovah became the special name of Elohim in His covenant relation to Israel after the Exodus, yet that the name was one old and primeval (Genesis 4:26), and that the God of revelation, under various titles, was ever one and the same. And so is it now, though we, by following a Jewish superstition, have well-nigh forfeited the use of the name Jehovah, so greatly prized of old (Genesis 4:1).

Walk before me.—The same verb as that used of Enoch (Genesis 5:22), and of Noah (Genesis 6:9), but the preposition before implies less closeness than with. On the other hand, Noah was described as “perfect among his contemporaries” (ibid.), while Abram is required still to strive after this integrity (see Note on Genesis 6:9).

Gen 35:11, “God also said to him, “I AM God Almighty;

Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a multitude of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come

from you.”

) I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHER ABRAHAM.

Gen 26:24, “And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I AM the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you.

I will bless you and multiply your descendants,

For the sake of My servant Abraham.”

5.) I AM THE LORD.

Gen 28:13, “Then behold, the LORD was standing above it and said, “I AM the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants.”

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Jacob’s dream and vow. Setting out on the way to Haran, he was overtaken by night, and slept in the field. He was far from any dwelling, or he did not wish to enter the house of a stranger. He dreams. A ladder or stair is seen reaching from earth to heaven, on which angels ascend and descend. This is a medium of communication between heaven and earth, by which messengers pass to and fro on errands of mercy. Heaven and earth have been separated by sin. But this ladder has re-established the contact. It is therefore a beautiful emblem of what mediates and reconciles John 1:51. It here serves to bring Jacob into communication with God, and teaches him the emphatic lesson that he is accepted through a mediator. “The Lord stood above it,” and Jacob, the object of his mercy, beneath. First. He reveals himself to the sleeper as “the Lord” Genesis 2:4, “the God of Abraham thy father, and of Isaac.” It is remarkable that Abraham is styled his father, that is, his actual grandfather, and covenant father. Second. He renews the promise of the land, of the seed, and of the blessing in that seed for the whole race of man. Westward, eastward, northward, and southward are they to break forth. This expression points to the world-wide universality of the kingdom of the seed of Abraham, when it shall become the fifth monarchy, that shall subdue all that went before, and endure forever. This transcends the destiny of the natural seed of Abraham. Third. He then promises to Jacob personally to be with him, protect him, and bring him back in safety. This is the third announcement of the seed that blesses to the third in the line of descent Genesis 12:2-3; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4.”

6.) I AM THE GOD OF BETHEL.

Gen 31:13, “I AM the God of Bethel, where you anointed a memorial stone, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.”

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

I am the God of Bethel,…. The same Angel that appeared to Jacob in a dream, at the beginning of his six years’ servitude, now appeared to him at the close of it, declaring himself to be the God of Bethel; or that God that manifested himself to him at Bethel, as Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase the words; for this is a distinct vision from that in the preceding verses, concerning the rams of different colours, and are both put together for the sake of brevity, and because they belong to the same affair:where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: See Gill on Genesis 28:19, Genesis 28:20; hereby signifying the divine approbation of the name Jacob gave to that place, and of what he did in it, and to put him in mind of his promise there made:

now arise, get thee out from this land: of Mesopotamia, or Syria, and out of Haran, a city there, where Jacob now was, and Laban lived:

and return unto the land of thy kindred: to the land of Canaan, the place of his nativity, and where his relations dwelt: this shows, that this appearance of God to him, as the God of Bethel, was at the close of his six years’ service.”

Jacob knew the God of Bethel.

7.) I AM GOD, THE GOD OF YOUR FATHER.

Gen 46:3, “Then He said, “I AM God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.”

Some emperors, some kings, some masters, etc. wanted to be God in order to have absolute power, so they did historical horrible evil deeds.

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Verse 3. – And he said, I am God, the God of thy father – literally, I am the El (the Mighty One), the Elohim of thy father. Though in consequence of this phrase the section (vers. 1-7), indeed the entire chapter, is usually assigned to the Elohist (Tuch, Bleek, Vaihinger), yet the contents of this theophany are felt to be so substantially Jehovistic in their import (Hengstenberg), that certain critics have been constrained to give verses 1-5 to the Jehovist (Colenso), or, omitting the last clause of ver. 5, to the redactor (Davidson). In Genesis 28:13 the designation used is “I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father.” As on that former occasion when setting out for Padanaram, so now, when departing for Egypt, he receives a comforting assurance. Fear not to go down into Egypt. Them was reason for Jacob’s apprehensions, since Abraham had been in peril in the land of the Pharaohs (Genesis 12:14-20), Isaac had been forbidden to go thither (Genesis 26:2), and Egypt had been foreshadowed as a place of servitude for his descendants (Genesis 15:13). מֵרְדָה is an irregular infinitive רֵדָה for רֶדֶת (cf. דֵּעַה for דַּעַת, Exodus 2:4), with מִן. prefixed after a verb of fearing (vide Ewald’s ‘Hebrews Synt.,’ § 336). For I will there make of thee a great nation – literally, for to a great nation will I put thee there (cf. Genesis 21:13). Jacob had previously received the injunction, accompanied by the Divine benediction, to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 28:3). Twice over had it previously been predicted that he should develop into a multitudinous people (Genesis 28:14; Genesis 35:11). The present promise was an indication that the fulfillment of the prophecy was at band. Genesis 46:3.”

8.) I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHER–THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB.

Exo 3:6, “And He said, “I AM the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

Moreover he said, I am the God of thy fathers,…. Of every one of his fathers next mentioned:

the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; with whom the covenant respecting the land of Canaan, and the promise of the blessed seed the Messiah, was made: this again shows that the Angel of the Lord that now appeared was God himself, Jehovah the Son of God. Our Lord makes use of this text to prove the resurrection of the dead against the Sadducees, God being not the God of the dead, but of the living; Mark 12:26.

and Moses hid his face; wrapped it in his mantle or cloak, as Elijah did, 1 Kings 19:13, because of the glory of the divine Majesty now present, and conscious of his own sinfulness and unworthiness:

for he was afraid to look upon God; even upon this outward appearance and representation of him in a flame of fire; otherwise the essence of God is not to be looked upon and seen at all, God is invisible; but even this external token and symbol of him was terrible to behold; the thought that God was there filled him with fear, considering the greatness and awfulness of his majesty, and what a poor, weak, and sinful creature he was.”

9.) I AM WHO I AM.

Exo 3:14, “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.’”

The “I AM WHO I AM” of the Old Testament is the “I AM” of the New Testament. The “I AM” of the New Testament is the “I AM WHO I AM” of the Old Testament because the Father and Son are One. Jhn 10:30, “I and the Father are ONE.”

Exodus 3:14. God said — Two names God would be known by: 1st, A name that speaks what he is in himself, I AM THAT I AM. The Septuagint renders the words ειμι ο ων, I AM the existing Being, or HE WHO IS; and the Chaldee, I AM HE WHO IS, and WHO WILL BE. That is, I am He that enjoys an essential, independent, immutable, and necessary existence, He that IS, and WAS, and IS TO COME. It explains his name Jehovah, and signifies, 1st, That he is self- existent: he has his being of himself, and has no dependance on any other. And being self-existent, he cannot but be self-sufficient, and therefore all-sufficient, and the inexhaustible fountain of being and blessedness. 2d, That he is eternal and unchangeable: the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. For the words are with equal propriety rendered, I WILL BE WHAT I AM, or, I AM WHAT I WILL BE, or, I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE. Other beings are, and have been, and shall be; but because what they have been might have been otherwise, and what they are might possibly not have been at all, and what they shall be may be very different from what now is therefore their changeable, dependant, and precarious essence, which to-day may be one thing, to- morrow another thing, and the next day possibly nothing at all, scarce deserves the name of being. There is another consideration which makes this name peculiarly applicable to God, namely that he is the fountain of all being and perfection, and that from him all things have derived their existence; so that it is he alone that has life in himself: and no creature, of whatever rank or order, has so much as an existence of its own: For in him we live, and move, and have our being. And though divers of God’s attributes are, through his goodness, participated by his creatures, yet because they possess them in a way so inferior to that transcendent, peculiar, and divine manner in which they belong to God, the Scriptures seem absolutely to exclude created beings from any title to those attributes.
Thus our Saviour says, There is none good but one, that is God. Thus St. Paul terms God the only Potentate, though the earth be shared by several potentates; and the only wise God, though many men and the holy angels are wise. And thus he describes him as one who only hath immortality, although angels and human souls are also immortal. In so incommunicable a manner does the superiority of God’s nature make him possess those very excellences which the diffusiveness of his goodness has induced him to communicate. 3d, That he is faithful and true to all his promises, unchangeable in his word, as well as in his nature; and not a man that he should lie. Let Israel know this; I AM hath sent me unto you.”

God is the greatest mystery, I cannot say I fully understand the meaning “I AM WHO I AM” OR “”I AM THAT I AM.””

The following are what Jesus Christ declares, “I AM.”

1.) I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

Jhn 8:12, “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I AM the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

Ignorance is darkness. Without TRUE knowledge is darkness.

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

12. Then spake Jesus again unto them] The paragraph John 7:53 to John 8:11 being omitted, these words must be connected with John 7:52. The officers have made their report to the Sanhedrin, leaving Jesus unmolested. After an interval He continues His discourse: again, therefore, Jesus spake unto them, i.e. because the attempt to interfere with Him had failed. How long the interval was we do not know, but probably the evening of the same day.
I am the light of the world] Once more we have a possible reference to the ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles, somewhat less probable than the other (see on John 7:37), but not improbable. Large candelabra were lighted in the Court of the Women on the evening of the first day of the Feast, and these flung their light over the whole city. Authorities differ as to whether this illumination was repeated, but all are agreed that it did not take place on the last evening. Here, therefore, there was once more a gap, which Christ Himself may have designed to fill; and while the multitude were missing the festal light of the great lamps, He declares, ‘I am the Light of the world.’ In the case of the water we know that it was poured on each of the seven days, and that Christ spoke the probable reference to it on the last day of the Feast. But in this case the illumination took place possibly on the first night only, and Christ certainly did not utter this possible reference to it until the last day of the Feast, or perhaps not until the Feast was all over. But the fact that the words were spoken in the Court of the Women (see on John 8:20) makes the reference not improbable.
he that followeth me] This expression also is in favour of the reference. The illumination in the Court of the Women commemorated the pillar of fire which led the Israelites through the wilderness, as the pouring of the water of Siloam commemorated the water flowing from the Rock. ‘The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light’ (Exodus 13:21). So Christ here declares that those who follow Him shall in no wise walk in darkness. The negative is very strong. This use of ‘darkness’ for moral evil is peculiar to S. John: see on John 1:5, where (as here) we have light and life (John 8:4) closely connected, while darkness is opposed to both.
shall have the light of life] Not merely with him but in him, so that he also becomes a source of light. See on John 7:38, and comp. ‘Ye are the light of the world,’ Matthew 5:14.
John 8:12 to John 9:41. Christ the Source of Truth and Light
In John 8:12-46 the word ‘true’ occurs six times, the word ‘truth’ seven times.”

2.) I AM FROM ABOVE.

Jhn 8:23, “And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I AM from above; you are of this world, I AM not of this world.”

AS HEAVEN IS HIGH ABOVE THE EARTH, PEOPLE DOWN ON EARTH CANNOT COMPREHEND THE LORD WHO IS FROM ABOVE.

There is indeed a gulf which they cannot pass, but it is not that between souls in Abraham’s bosom and souls in Hades. It is the gulf between heaven and earth. This He brings out in two pairs of antithetic clauses. (Comp. Note on John 1:3.) These clauses interpret each other, and no deeper meaning is to be given to the first pair than is borne by the second. We may arrange them in a pair of affirmatives and a pair of negatives—

“Ye are from beneath;” “ye are of this world.”

“I am from above” (not from beneath); “I am not of this world.”We have thus the full Hebrew expression of one thought, and this is the thought which John the Baptist, from another point of view, taught his disciples in John 3:31. They are by origin and nature of the earth. He was by origin and nature from heaven. Of the earth, their feelings and thoughts and life were of the earth, and, by devotion to things of the earth, they are destroying the spirit made in the image of God, which is within them, and the link between them and heaven. He is from heaven in origin, and is divine in nature. He has come to reveal the heavenly and the divine to the earthly and the human. In Him, and in Him only, can their spirits find deliverance from sin, and find the true life; for in Him, and in Him only, the divine and the human meet.”

3.) BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS BORN, I AM.

Jhn 8:58, “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.”

This is a proof of the divinity of Christ.

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you,…. Whether it will be believed or not, it is certainly fact:

before Abraham was, I am; which is to be understood, not of his being in the purpose and decree of God, foreordained to sufferings, and to glory; for so all the elect of God may be said to be before Abraham, being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world: or that Christ was man, before Abraham became the father of many nations; that is, before the calling of the Gentiles; for nothing is said in the text about his being the father of many nations; it is a bold and impudent addition to it: and besides, Abraham was made the father of many nations, as Ishmaelites, Israelites, Hagarenes, &c. long before the incarnation of Christ; yea, he was so from the very promise in Genesis 17:5, which so runs, “a father of many nations have I made thee”; so that this appears a false sense of the text, which is to be understood of the deity, eternity, and immutability of Christ, and refers to the passage in Exodus 3:14. “I am that I-am–I am hath sent me unto you”, the true Jehovah; and so Christ was before Abraham was in being, the everlasting I am, the eternal God, which is, and was, and is to come: he appeared in an human form to our first parents before Abraham was, and was manifested as the Mediator, Saviour, and living Redeemer, to whom all the patriarchs before Abraham looked, and by whom they were saved: he was concerned in the creation of all things out of nothing, as the efficient cause thereof; he was set up from everlasting as Mediator; and the covenant of grace was made with him, and the blessings and promises of it were put into his hands before the world began; the eternal election of men to everlasting life was made in him before the foundation of the world; and he had a glory with his Father before the world was; yea, from all eternity he was the Son of God, of the same nature with him, and equal to him; and his being of the same nature proves his eternity, as well as deity, that he is from everlasting to everlasting God; and is what he ever was, and will be what he now is: he is immutable, the same today, yesterday, and for ever; in his nature, love, grace, and fulness, he is the invariable and unchangeable I am.”

Not only Jesus Christ is before Abrham war born. Jesus Christ is befolre time and space.

4.) I AM THE DOOR.

Jhn 10:9, “I AM the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find

pasture.”

All false religions and all false gods do not have a door of salvation. The world does not have the door to truth, the door to God.

John 10:9-10. I am the door — I therefore repeat it again, as a most important truth, that I myself am the only right door of entrance into the church of God; if any one, as a sheep, enter in — By me, through faith; he shall be saved — Now and hereafter; or rather, he shall be safe, like a sheep in its fold, safe from the wolf, and from those murdering shepherds; and shall go in and out — Under my care and guidance, and that of the shepherds whom I have sent, whose instructive voice he shall hear, and whose holy example he shall follow; and shall find pasture — Food for his soul in all circumstances: in consequence of his regard to me, his waiting upon me in mine ordinances, and his attendance on the ministry of those whom I appoint to dispense to him the word of life, he shall be fed and nourished with true doctrine, and shall obtain substantial happiness. The thief cometh not but for to kill, &c. — That is, nothing else can be the consequence of a shepherd’s coming, who does not enter in by me. Such assume the character of teachers divinely commissioned, for no other reason but to promote their own interest at the expense of men’s salvation; I am come that they might have life — Life spiritual and eternal; the life of grace and the life of glory. Christ came to quicken his church in general, which was rather like a valley filled with dry bones, than a pasture filled with grazing flocks. He came to vindicate divine truths, to purify divine ordinances, to correct men’s errors, to renew their hearts, to reform their lives, to redress their grievances, to sanctify and support them under their trials and troubles, to seek that which was lost, bind up that which was broken, strengthen that which was weak; and this, to his church, was as life from the dead. He came, that men might have life, as a criminal has when he is pardoned; a sick man when he is cured; a dead man when he is raised; that we might be justified, sanctified, and at last glorified. And that they might have it more abundantly — A life more abundant than that which was lost and forfeited by sin; more abundant than that which was promised by the law of Moses; more abundant than could have been reasonably expected, or than we are able to ask or think; that whatever measure of spiritual life in union with God, through Christ, of conformity to his image, or participation of his nature, we may have received, we may still desire and expect larger measures thereof; or to whatever degrees of holiness and usefulness we may have attained and manifested, we may still proceed to higher degrees, preparing and qualifying us for still higher degrees of future glory.”

5.) I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

Jhn 10:11, “I AM the Good Shepherd; the Good

Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”

John 10:11-15. I am the good shepherd — Jesus, having represented himself as the door of the sheep, and intimated the regards which ought to be maintained to him as such, particularly by those that professed to be teachers of others, now changes the similitude, and represents himself, by way of eminence, the good shepherd, namely, the person frequently foretold in Scripture under that character, (see the margin,) and the proprietor of the sheep. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep — win expose himself to any danger for their safety, because they are his own property; but he that is a hireling — Who attends the sheep merely for hire, who is employed as a servant, and paid for his pains; whose own the sheep are not — Who has neither profit nor loss by them, and proposes nothing to himself but his own gain; seeth the wolf — Or some other savage beast; coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth — Deserts them; because, instead of loving them, he loves himself, and therefore will not expose himself to any danger on their account; in consequence of which, the beast of prey, meeting with no resistance, catcheth, and scattereth the sheep — Seizes on some and disperses the rest; the two ways of hurting the flock of Christ. The wolf signifies an enemy who by force or fraud attacks the Christian’s faith, liberty, or life. Observe, reader, it is not the bare receiving hire, which denominates a man a hireling, (for the labourer is worthy of his hire, Jesus Christ himself being judge: yea, and the Lord hath ordained that they who preach the gospel should live by the gospel,) but the loving hire; the loving the hire more than the work; the working for the sake of the hire. He is a hireling who would not work were it not for the hire; to whom this is the great, if not only, motive of working. O God! if a man who works only for hire is such a wretch, a mere thief and a robber; what is he who continually takes the hire, and yet does not work at all! The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling — Because he loves the hire, not the sheep; and takes the work upon him merely for the wages he is to receive. From what our Lord here says, it plainly appears to be the duty of every minister of the gospel, intrusted with the care of a flock, to reside ordinarily among them. For, if approaching danger to himself, or them, is no excuse for his fleeing away and leaving them, far less will interest, or pleasure, or any lesser matter, be an excuse for such unfaithfulness. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep — With a tender regard and special care. Being the good shepherd, and the owner of the sheep, I pay such earnest and constant attention to my flock, and take such care of it, that I not only know every particular sheep, but I know every thing relating to each. I know the circumstance, wherein they are placed, am well acquainted with their wants, and can judge what aids they stand in need of. Besides, I love them all with an ardent affection, and approve of their obedience to me, because, though it is imperfect, it is sincere. And am known of mine — With a holy confidence and affection. As I know, love, and approve my sheep, so I am known and beloved of them in return, for they have just apprehensions of my dignity and character; in particular, they know that I am their Shepherd and Saviour, sent from God, and that I am able to feed them with knowledge, and to deliver them from the punishment of sin, and to bestow on them everlasting life. As the Father knoweth me, &c. — That is, I know my sheep, and am known of mine, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; for so the passage ought to be rendered, and construed in connection with the foregoing verse; as if he had said, The mutual knowledge subsisting between me and my sheep, is like that which subsists between the Father and me. It is a knowledge which implies an inexpressible union. See John 17:21-22. And I lay down my life for the sheep — He speaks of the present time: for his whole life was only a going unto death. I show the greatness of the love which I bear to my sheep by dying for them, which no hireling did, or ever will do.”

6.) I AM THE SON OF GOD.

Jhn 10:36, “are you saying of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I AM the Son of God‘?”

Clearly, Jesus claims to be the Son of God.

Verse 36. – If it be so, Say ye of him whom the Father sanctified (or, consecrated), and sent into the world. The order of these words requires us to conceive of this consecration as occurring previously to the incarnation of the eternal Son. Before his birth into the world he entered into relations with the Father to undertake a work of indescribable importance. He was destined, or designated, or appointed, and then sent to do this sublime deed of redemption. Unlike those to whom the eternal Logos came, conferring thereby honorific titles, and calling them to occasional and alas! His discharged duties, he was the eternal Word himself, and he was moreover (as those old judges (lid) “to die like men,” to lay down that life in order that he might take it again; consequently, he asks, with sublime self-consciousness, “Say ye of him, thus consecrated, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am Son of God?” It is remarkable that Christ should, instead of repeating the phrase, “I and the Father are one” – one as we have seen, in power and purpose and attribute – imply that in that former saying he had but told them he was “Son of God,” in a sense to which the old Hebrew kings, notwithstanding their theocratic symbolism and mysterious names of honor, could not aspire. This is clearly a bold utterance of the Messianic dignity (cf. John 1:49; John 5:19, 20). The fact that he continually treated the two ideas of Father and Son as correlative (John 8:19; cf. John 9:35-37; John 14:7-13, etc.) makes the one assertion an equivalent of the other. This is a much greater claim than that yielded to the judges of old, and it is a new revelation of the Father and of the Son. Moreover, he showed them that there were many anticipations, foreshadowings of the incarnation of God in their own Scripture. We have an argument from the less to the greater, but one which, while it technically freed him from the charges of blasphemy, revealed the age-long preparation that had been made for the union between the Infinite and finite, between the Creator and creature, between the Father and his child, which was effected in himself. Some may have supposed that in the leveling up of the theocratic adumbrations of the Incarnation, he was virtually relinquishing the uniqueness of his own; but the following words, and the interpretation put on them by his hearers, answer such a charge. John 10:36.”

7.) I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.

Jhn 11:25, “Jesus said to her, “I AM the resurrection

and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies.”

Verses 25, 26. – Jesus said to her, I am the Resurrection. Not merely that God will give me what I ask, but that I am in some sense already his gift to man of resurrection, inasmuch as I am that of Life. (So Luthardt and Godet, but not Meyer, who makes ζωή the positive result of ἀνάστασις.) By taking humanity into his Person, Christ reveals the permanence of human individuality, that is, of such individuality as is in union with himself. He associates (John 14:6) “the Life” which he gives with” the Way” and “the Truth,” i.e. with the whole sum of human experience and of human meditation and speculation, i.e. with all the conduct of the will and the mind. He that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live. In these words he identifies the “life” with the transfiguration of the bodily life. The grand method of this blessed life is faith. The life which is the condition and ground of resurrection is the natural consequence of a faith which accepts Christ, and identifies itself with him. But “there are some who have believed, and have what you call died” – though they die, they shall live. In such cases, so-called “death” is veritable “life.” The life of faith will survive the shock of death, and whosoever liveth, and believeth on me, shall never die – shall never taste of death (cf. John 6:51, 8:51). This is no new teaching for the more thoughtful of his hearers. There are multitudes now believing (and therefore living) in him. They shall never die in the sense in which death has been hitherto regarded; they shall by no means die forever. Faith is eternal life: death is only a momentary shadow upon a life which is far better. Whether the corruption of the grave passes over the believer or not, he lives an eternal life, which has no element of death nor proclivity to death in it. So far the Lord is lifting Martha to a higher experience of life and a comparative in difference to death. Before he offers any further consolation, he probes to the quick her faith in him and in the eternal life. Believest thou this? Τοῦτο; “Is this thy belief?” not τουτῷ; “Dost thou believe in my statement?” “Believest thou that the Resurrection which I am and which I give can thus transform for thee the whole meaning of death?” The fullness of life after death is assured in virtue of the resurrection which Christ could effect at any moment, and will eventually effect for all. This life of which Christ speaks may be the life which is the consequence of the resurrection (ἀνὰστασις) of man effected in the Incarnation, or it may be the condition of “resurrection” and sufficient proof that, if a man receive it by faith, he is free’ from all the curse of physical death, and assured of a perfect victory over it. So also the οὐ μὴ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα may either mean “not forever,” and thus the words may be taken to refer to the resurrection. “He will not forever die,” i.e. death may supervene, but will be conquered; or οὐ μὴ may mean “never,” “in no wise,” and the “never die” may refer to spiritual death, overlooking physical death altogether. The whole narrative is a great parable of life through death. John 11:25.”

8.) I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.

Jhn 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father

except through Me.”

I call this Scripture the Manifesto of Jesus Christ.

6. I am the way] The pronoun is emphatic; I and no other: Ego sum Via, Veritas, Vita. S. Thomas had wished rather to know about the goal; Christ shews that for him, and therefore for us, it is more important to know the way. Hence the order; although Christ is the Truth and the Life before He is the Way. The Word is the Truth and the Life from all eternity with the Father: He becomes the Way for us by taking our nature. He is the Way to the many abodes in His Father’s home, the Way to the Father Himself; and that by His doctrine and example, by His Death and Resurrection. In harmony with this passage ‘the Way’ soon became a recognised name for Christianity; Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9; Acts 19:23; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:22 (comp. Acts 24:14; 2 Peter 2:2). But this is obscured in our version by the common inaccuracy ‘this way’ or ‘that way’ for ‘the Way.’ (See on John 1:21; John 1:25, John 6:48.)
the truth] Better, and the Truth, being from all eternity in the form of God, Who cannot lie (Php 2:6; Hebrews 6:18), and being the representative on earth of a Sender Who is true (John 8:26). To know the Truth is also to know the Way to God, Who must be approached and worshipped in truth (John 4:23). Comp. Hebrews 11:6; 1 John 5:20.
and the life] Comp. John 11:25. He is the Life, being one with the living Father and being sent by Him (John 6:57, John 10:30). See on John 1:4, John 6:50-51, and comp. 1 John 5:12; Galatians 2:20. Here again to know the Life is to know the Way to God.
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me] Christ continues to insist that the Way is of the first importance to know. ‘Through Him we have access unto the Father’ (Ephesians 2:18). Comp. Hebrews 10:19-22; 1 Peter 3:18.”

9.) I AM THE VINE, YOU ARE THE BRANCHES.

Jhn 15:5, “I AM the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

Verse 5. – Christ returns to the main theme of the previous verse, but here discriminates more forcibly the vine from the branches, and yet holds and binds them into a unity. I am the vine, ye are the branches; which shows that he treated the disciples themselves as the organs of his earthly fruit-bearing; and then draws a larger circle and makes a complete and comprehensive statement on which the very existence of the “true vine,” the “body of Christ, including the Head,” depends, viz. He that abideth in me, and I in him – i.e. whenever the conditions of which I have spoken to you are fulfilled; wherever there are human souls deriving from their connection with me the full advantage of the life ever streaming forth from me – the same beareth much fruit; the entire end of their new life is secured. He beareth “much fruit.” In other words, many of those blessed fruits of the supernatural life appear, which the great Husbandman desires to receive. And this strengthens the position of the previous verse, which threatened excision from the vine to such as bear no fruit. Such, though in one sense “in the Vine,” do not abide in him. Because apart from – severed from – me ye can do nothing. The ὅτι suggests the question – Can the negative result justify the positive assertion? It does in this way. There are two premises: the first is,” I am the Vine, and ye are the branches,” and the second is, “Severed front me a branch can effect nothing,” having no independent fruitfulness or stability. All its powers are derived from this supernatural source, and depend on Christ’s faithfulness to his own nature and functions; therefore, “He that abideth in me, and I in him, bringeth forth much fruit.” The language here does not repress the endeavor of the human will after righteousness, nor pronounce a judgment on the great controversy between Augustinians and Pelagians. These words are not addressed to unconverted men, but to disciples, who have to learn their constant need of spiritual contact with their invisible Lord. Let a believer, let an apostle, sever himself from Christ, and live on his own past reputation or his supposed strength, on the clearness of his intellect, the vigor of his body, the eminence of his position, he can and will do nothing. John 15:5.”

This is the Relationship between Christ and His Church.

10.) I AM KING OF THE JEWS.

Jhn 19:21, “So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; rather, write that He said, ‘I AM King of the Jews.’”

Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate.—Better, Therefore said . . ., i.e., because the inscription could be read by all comers, and the Messianic title, “King of the Jews,” would be exposed to scorn. Yet these are the men who said, in order to accomplish the death of Jesus, “We have no king but Cæsar.”

The expression, “chief priests of the Jews,” occurs only here in the New Testament, perhaps in contrast to the title, “King of the Jews,” to indicate that their anxiety about the title came from them as representatives of the national honour.

What I have written I have written.—The words are a formula to signify that the thing was done and could not be undone. There are frequent instances of similar expressions in the Rabbinical writings.”

11.) I AM JESUS THE NAZARENE.

Act 22:8,“And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I AM Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.”

Matthew Poole’s Commentary

I am Jesus of Nazareth; that contemned (though not contemptible) name is owned by Christ from heaven, that they might not be ashamed when they were reproached by it on earth. Of the rest, See Poole on “Acts 9:5“.

12.) I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA.

Rev 1:8, “I AM the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty.”

Rev 21:6, “Then He said to me, “It is done. I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

I will give water to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life, without cost.”

6. It is done] We should read the plural: the word therefore is not an exact repetition of that in Revelation 16:17. If we ask, what is the subject to this verb, “They are come into being,” perhaps the best answer is “all things.” The new universe of which the creating Word has just gone forth, has now been made, “and God sees that it is good.”
Alpha and Omega] As in Revelation 1:8 (not 11), Revelation 22:13. Here, as in the former passage, it is God the Father that speaks.
of the fountain of the water of life] See Revelation 7:17 and note, Revelation 22:1 : also our Lord’s words in St John’s Gospel, John 4:14, John 7:38. The last quoted passage is, with a touching grotesqueness confounded with this in the Epistle describing the Martyrs of Gaul (Eus. H. E. v. i. 18).
freely] i.e. not “abundantly,” but gratis: cf. Isaiah 55:1.”

13.) IAM THE FIRST AND THE LAST.

Rev 1:17, “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I AM the first and the last.”

I fell at his feet as dead] So Daniel 8:17 sq., Daniel 10:8-9; Daniel 10:15 (Ezekiel 1:28; Ezekiel 43:3; Ezekiel 44:4 do not necessarily imply so much): cf. Exodus 3:6; Exodus 20:19; Exodus 33:20; Jdg 6:22; Jdg 13:22; Isaiah 6:5, and also Luke 24:37; John 21:12. St John was in presence of both the sources of supernatural terror—of God’s Presence made manifest, and of One come from the dead.
he laid his right hand, &c.] So Daniel 10:10; Daniel 10:16. As in Luke 24:39, the Lord’s touch serves to remind the Disciple of His still remaining perfect humanity. Sharing our nature, He is no longer the object of such blind terror as we should feel before an Angel or a disembodied spirit, or still more before God if revealed otherwise than in Christ.
the first and the last] i.e. the Eternal, as Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 48:12.

Becaue Jesus Chris is the First and the Last, it also means He covers everthing, so Christians do not be afraid.

14.) I AM ALIVE FOREVERMORE.

Rev 1:18, “and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I AM alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”

I am he] Literally, I am the First and the Last, and He that liveth; and I was dead and am alive.
l am alive] The words “was” and “am” are emphatic—contrasting His temporal and temporary death with His eternal life: see on Revelation 1:4.
Amen] Should be omitted.
of hell and of death] Read, of death and of hell. “Hell” is Hades, the receptacle of the dead: usually personified in this book, as indeed is death, Revelation 6:8, Revelation 20:13-14. But here they are rather conceived as places, prisons wherein the dead are confined, and from which Christ can deliver them. We read of “the gates of death” in Psalm 9:13; Job 38:17, and “the gates of hell” in Isaiah 38:10; Matthew 16:18.”

If anybody was dead, he is no more. But Jesus Christ arose from the dead by the power of

God. He is alive forevermore, because Christ is eternal. Chinese civilization is wrong in teaching Yuan Lo is king of Hell. There is no king in Hell, all are inmates and sufferers. Jesus Christ is the Only One who has the keys of death and Hell.

15.) I AM COMING QUICKLY.

Rev 3:11, “I AM coming quickly; hold firmly to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”

Rev 22:20, “He who testifies to these things says,

“Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

Verse 20. – He which testifieth these things saith – viz, the Lord Jesus, as in ver. 16 – Surely I come quickly; yea, I come quickly. As the book opens, so it closes with this promise. This is the anchor and stay of the faithful, the sound of an alarm and a warning cry to the wicked. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Omit “even so.” Thus in calm and patient hope the apostle answers his Lord. So the writer who delivers the message is the first to proclaim his belief in what is herein contained. Revelation 22:20.”

16.) I AM THE ROOT AND THE DESCENDANT OF DAVID

Rev 22:16, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you of these things for the churches. I am the Root and the Descendant of David, the Bright Morning

Star.”

Many misunderstand this Scripture.

Mat 22:42-46, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.”

He said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,

‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,

“SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES UNDER YOUR FEET”’?

“Therefore, if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?” No one was able to offer Him a word in answer, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him any more questions.”

17.) UNLESS YOU BELIEVE THAT I AM, YOU WILL DIE IN YOUR SINS.

Jhn 8:24, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”