Comparative Theology · Monotheism & Christology
The "I AM" Claims in John (John 8:58)
In short
- 1.The Greek phrase ego eimi (eh-GO ay-MEE) simply means "I am he" or "I have been".
- 2.In John 9:9 the man healed of blindness says the exact same words — and nobody calls him God.
- 3.In the Greek Old Testament used at the time, God's title in Exodus 3:14 is "ho on" ("the One who is"), not ego eimi on its own.
The claim being examined
The view that "Ego Eimi" in John 8:58 is an absolute invocation of the divine name revealed to Moses (PBUH) in Exodus 3:14.
The Islamic position
"Ego Eimi" is ordinary conversational Greek for "I am he" — it is not the divine name, which the Septuagint renders "Ho On", The Existing One.
Analysis
In John 8:58 the Greek words are "ego eimi" (pronounced eh-GO ay-MEE), which is everyday speech for "I am he" or "I have been". In the Greek version of the Old Testament that Jesus's (PBUH) contemporaries used, God's title in Exodus 3:14 is "ho on" — "the One who is" — not "ego eimi" on its own. So reading John 8:58 as Jesus (PBUH) taking God's own name reads far more into two ordinary words than they carry.
From the Qur'an
لَقَدْ كَفَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ ۖ
laqad kafara alladhīna qālū inna l-laha huwa l-masīḥu ub'nu maryama
They have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is the Messiah, the son of Mary.
From the Bible
ἐκεῖνος ἔλεγεν ὅτι Ἐγώ εἰμι.
Others said, 'He is the one.' But he kept insisting, 'I am he' (Ego Eimi).
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