A Plain Parallel to John 8:58

John 8:58 is often read as if Jesus is claiming His human soul-being personally existed before Abraham.

But the passage is about divine identity.

Here is a down-to-earth parallel:

A wave rises from the sea.

The wave has a beginning.

It appears in time.

But the water in the wave did not begin when the wave appeared.

If the wave could speak from the identity of the water present in it, it could say:

“Before this wave came to be, I am.”

No one would think the wave personally existed before it appeared.

No one would think the wave created the water.

No one would confuse the wave’s beginning with the beginning of the water present in it.

The point is simpler:

The wave began. The water did not begin with the wave.

That is the distinction John 8:58 requires.

Abraham came to be.

Jesus came in time as the real human man.

But the divine “I AM” revealed in Jesus did not begin with Abraham, and did not begin with Jesus’ human emergence.

So when Jesus says:

“Before Abraham was, I am”

He is not claiming that His human soul-being personally existed before Abraham.

He is speaking from the divine identity revealed in Him.

Abraham came to be.
Jesus came in time.
The “I AM” belongs to God Himself.

Igor Pogoda | Christ Rooted | Divine Identity Theology (DIT)