The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering the Heart of Christian Belief

by James R. White

They also recognize that the response of the Jews would be rather strong if this was simply a claim of preexistence. The oft-repeated charge of blasphemy as found in John makes this clear. Rather, the usage of a term used of God himself (as will be shown later) would be sufficient to bring the response of verse 59, where the Jews pick up stones so as to kill Him. The phrase was so understood by the early church as well. Irenaeus showed familiarity with it as “I am,”[6] as did Origen[7] and Novatian.[8] Chrysostom wrote, “As the Father used this expression, ‘I Am,’ so also doth Christ; for it signifieth continuous Being, irrespective of time. On which account the expression seemed to them to be blasphemous.”[9] The context of this passage is far too strong to allow this to be rendered as a simple historical narrative, resulting in the conversion of the present indicative into a perfect tense.[10]