I AM!
1. “I AM WHO AM” – Exodus 3:14
One of the most famous stories of Moses involves his calling by God from the burning bush. Here, God reveals for the first time in the Bible “the divine name” that Israel has honored ever since. This is significant because it is not just another person ascribing something to God, but God revealing His own name to someone.
2. The “I AM” sayings of Jesus in John’s Gospel
Because of its appearance in Exodus, there was a lot of weight to the phrase “I AM,” especially when Jesus uses it many times throughout the Gospel of John. These “I AM” saying of Jesus include:
- “I am the bread of life” – John 6:35
- “I am the light of the world” – John 8:12
- “I am the door” – John 10:9
- “I am the good shepherd” – John 10:11
- “I am the resurrection and the life” – John 11:25
- “I am the way, the truth and the life” – John 14:6
- “I am the vine” – John 15:1
3. “Before Abraham was I AM” – John 8:58
Besides the famous “I AM” statements above, there was another controversial one that Jesus gives us in John 8:58. Here, he does not give any qualifier like “bread of life” or “good shepherd,” but simply takes the name “I AM,” just like God did in Exodus 3:14. The people listening, take him seriously, but they do not accept this and “picked up stones to throw at him” (John 8:59).
4. St. Thomas Aquinas and ipsum esse
One of the Church’s greatest teachers, St. Thomas Aquinas, knew the importance of the “I AM” statements from Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58. Because God describes his “being” or esse using the verb “AM,” God is saying He is not just another thing, but being itself. Aquinas used the Latin phrase, ipsum esse to describe this reality in his writings, including the Summa Theologiae, part I, question 4, article 2. Here is a short video from Bishop Barron about Aquinas the ipsum esse below:
5. What is divine simplicity?
God referring to Himself as “I AM” and St. Thomas Aquinas’s notion of ipsum esse both refer to a concept in philosophy called “Divine Simplicity,” which simply means that God is not made up of parts but is completely Himself. You can learn more about Divine Simplicity from the Philosophy for the People podcast produced by Pat Flynn. Here is a video of an episode below!