The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version

by Michael D. Coogan

Jesus uses words with double meanings that create confusion. Likewise, Jesus's discourses employ symbolic imagery to describe Jesus's identity. That language leads to questions and protests from listeners. Another literary device is the use of “I am” statements. The Johannine Jesus uses the phrase to define himself by way of objects from everyday life such as bread (6.35), light (8.12), door (10.7), good shepherd (10.11), and true vine (15.1). In some cases, the phrase is used more abstractly. Jesus instructs his listener that he is the resurrection (11.25), the way, the truth, and the life (14.6). All of these statements point to the life-giving qualities of the divine savior. In several cases the phrase is used without a direct object (8.28,58), echoing the “I am” theophany of Exodus, where God reveals his name using the first-person form of the verb to be (Ex 3.14).