The use of the words ‘I am’ in Jn 18:5–6 and 8 clearly
show that, while ἐγώ εἰμι is used as a simple identification
formula, the two words may simultaneously have a deeper meaning. The reason
that the soldiers fall down when Jesus utters the words ἐγώ εἰμι is not stated. It is assumed that the
reader will know. While accepting the fact that Jesus identifies himself to the
soldiers with these words, the reader must look for something that would
explain their strange reaction. Bultmann posits a miracle to account for the
reaction and there may be some truth in that, but more needs to be said. I
believe Ball is right to see the words here acting as a trigger to point to the
other occurrences of the term in the Gospel to explain Jesus’ words. The
threefold repetition of ἐγώ
εἰμι in 18:5, 6, 8 emphasizes the importance
of the expression. That this saying occurs at the moment of betrayal
particularly points back to 13:19, where the fulfilment of Scripture and Jesus’
own words were linked to the betrayal in order that the disciples might believe
‘that I am’. Thus a simple recognition formula in which Jesus states that he is
the person whom the soldiers seek is given a double meaning by the reaction of
those same soldiers to his words as well as by the previous use of ἐγώ εἰμι in the Gospel. Although it is correct
to talk of Jesus’ identity in terms of Jesus of Nazareth on one level, on
another there is something that cannot be explained without probing the
possible background and powerful impact of the words ἐγώ εἰμι. John can take simple words and, by the
way they are formulated (8:24, 28; 13:19) as well as by the reactions to them
(8:58; 18:5, 6, 8), indicate that something profound is signified in relation
to Jesus’ identity. It is to the significance of ἐγώ εἰμι in the lxx (especially of
Deutero-Isaiah) that I turn now, and, having looked at the significance of the
expression, I will then assess Deutero-Isaiah as a possible background for the
unpredicated ‘I am’ sayings in John. The goal of this investigation is to
endeavour to demonstrate that the name the Father has given to Jesus is the
holy name of Yhwh, the name borne on the turban of the high priest and the name
in which Jesus ‘keeps’ his disciples. (Alan Kerr, The Temple of
Jesus’ Body: The Temple Theme in the Gospel of John [Journal for the Study
of the New Testament Supplement Series 220; New York: Sheffield Academic Press,
2002], 326-28)
The polyvalent force of egō eimi finds its most dramatic
demonstration in the account of Jesus’ arrest, where the soldiers’ response of
drawing back and falling to the ground (Jn 18:6) demonstrates Jesus’ sovereign
control over the events leading to his death. Indeed, Jesus’ twofold pronouncement
of egō eimi in this scene serves as a
powerful exemplification of the claims linked to this elusive expression
elsewhere in John, for it encapsulates the Johannine presentation of Jesus as
the one in whom God is revealed and his promises are fulfilled.(C. H. Williams,
“I Am Sayings,” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, ed. Joel B.
Green, Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin [Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP
Academic, 2013], 399)
While the phrase may at
places constitute a simple self-reference (“It is I,” or, in more mundane
terms, “It’s me”), there are places where references to Jesus in terms of “I
am” in John’s Gospel almost certainly convey the notion of deity. One such
place is Jesus’ statement to the Jews in 8:58, “I say to you, before Abraham
was, I am.” The Jews’ reaction—they pick up stones to kill Jesus—makes clear
that they took Jesus’ pronouncement as involving a claim to deity. Another
likely instance is 18:5–6, where Jesus identifies himself to those who would
arrest him as “I am he,” at which the soldiers drew back and fell to the ground.
In this case, egō eimi may constitute
a self-reference on a literal level and at the same time involve a claim to
deity on a secondary, deeper level, as is suggested by the soldiers’ response,
which is a customary reaction to divine revelation or theophany. (See, e.g.,
Ezek. 1:28; 44:4; Dan. 2:46; 8:18; 10:9; Acts 9:4; 22:7; 26:14; Rev. 1:17;
19:10; 22:8) (Andreas J. Köstenberger, “The Deity of Christ in John’s Gospel,”
in The Deity of Christ, ed. Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson
[Theology in Community; Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2011], 106)
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