Jesus continued, “I’m going away. You will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you can’t come.” The Jewish leaders said, “He isn’t going to kill himself, is he? Is that why he said, ‘Where I’m going, you can’t come’?” He said to them, “You are from below; I’m from above. You are from this world; I’m not from this world. This is why I told you that you would die in your sins. If you don’t believe that I Am, you will die in your sins.” “Who are you?” they asked. Jesus replied, “I’m exactly who I have claimed to be from the beginning. I have many things to say in judgment concerning you. The one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” They didn’t know he was speaking about his Father. So Jesus said to them, “When the Human One is lifted up, then you will know that I Am. Then you will know that I do nothing on my own, but I say just what the Father has taught me. He who sent me is with me. He doesn’t leave me by myself, because I always do what makes him happy.” While Jesus was saying these things, many people came to believe in him. (John 8:21-30, CEB)
“If you don’t believe that I Am, you will die in your sins.”
One of the reasons I like the CEB is because it does not add words that are not in the text to confuse the text more. Especially in John. There are several places in John where Jesus says, “ἐγώ εἰμι” which is “I Am.” This is Jesus saying the name of God that was given to Moses at the burning bush. In many translations, like the NRSVue for instance, these are usually translated as I am he, and this completely loses what Jesus was saying.
I Am is the name of God, and the people Jesus was speaking to would have heard this and understood that. They heard him claim the name of God and still had the audacity to ask who are you?
What would you have done?
aSacredRebel 