Why is There Doubt Over the “I am” Statements in the Gospel of John? Below are extracts from this very good article.
Much of contemporary New Testament scholarship views the “I am” sayings of Jesus found in the Gospel of John as being controversial. The seven sayings in John are as follows:
• I am the Bread of Life (6:35)
• I am the Light of the World (8:12)
• I am the Door (10:9)
• I am the Good Shepherd (10:11, 14)
• I am the Resurrection and the Life (11:25)
• I am the Way and the Truth and the Life (14:6)
• I am the Vine (15:1, 5)
Although many Christians hope to sustain the historicity of Jesus himself saying the “I am” statements (1), a number of Christian New Testament evangelical scholars believe that it is unlikely Jesus actually said these words, which is a view shared by most scholars in the field (2). Professor Craig Keener states that “all Johannine scholars acknowledge Johannine adaptation of the Jesus tradition” (3). In other words, John’s author recasts Jesus’ teachings in his own words. This means that although Jesus’ precise words (ipsissima verba) may not be preserved in John’s gospel, his voice (ipsissima vox) is (4). Craig Evans agrees with Bart Ehrman that Jesus probably never said the “I am” statements recorded in John (5). Christian scholar Michael Licona provides several reasons why:
1. Although the message is the same, the way Jesus “sounds” in John is very different than the way He “sounds” in the Synoptics. Most scholars thus believe that John paraphrased Jesus using his own style.
2. The way Jesus “sounds” in John’s Gospel sounds very much like how John “sounds” in 1 John. That is, the grammar, vocabulary, and overall style of writing in both are strikingly similar.
3. The Messianic Secret.
The third point, the Messianic Secret, refers to the theme in the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus commands his followers to maintain silence about his Messianic mission (Mark 8:29-30, 1:43-45; also Matthew 16:16-20 and Luke 9:20-21). Yet if Jesus took such measures to remain secretive in public about being the Messiah, as he is in Mark’s gospel, then one would not expect him to be claiming to be God so publicly and in such a clear manner as we find John reporting. The conclusion drawn here is that it is unlikely Jesus would have said the “I am” statements.
Bart’s response to a question at BartEhrman.com here.
…There have been large debates about John’s Christology in large part because it appears inconsistent. In one place Jesus will say “I and the Father are one” and in another “If you have seen me you have seen the Father,” but in another he says “The Father is greater than me.” Lots of these apparent inconsistencies can be found, even next to each other, as in ch. 1 where he is identified both as the Word through whom the universe is made but then later (different pericope) in very human terms, “messiah, rabbi, king” etc.
I’d say that John’s overall Christology is the highest of the NT, but it is nowhere near what it became by the fourth century, with “homoousias” (the Fathre and the Son are of the “same essence”) etc.
