Referring to Christ's statement recorded in John 8:58, some authors who believe that Christ is God explain, "This wasn't just a bad grammar. 'I am' was the sacred, unspeakable name of God-so holy that you weren't allowed to say it-and here was Jesus, not only saying it, but applying it to Himself..." (A Field Guide to Christianity, by Allan & Gus Eyre, p. 44).
However, should Christ's utterance of the phrase 'I AM' be taken to mean "that Jesus Christ is Himself God", then we would be compelled to accept that Jacob and the blind man healed by Jesus are "the God", for they too, uttered the phrase "I am" (Gen. 27:24; John 9:9, New American Bible).
Furthermore, if one would suggest that Christ had pre-existence because of the phrase "before Abraham was," then again, he would confront the problem of explaining how Jesus could have had pre-existence (and thus was ahead of Abraham) when He is Abraham's seed:
"Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, 'And the seeds', as of many, but as of one, 'And to your seed', who is Christ." (Gal. 3:16, New King James Version).
If Christ were "the God" of the Bible as some claim, then how could He be the seed of Abraham and at the same time his (Abraham's) God?
In what sense then was Christ "before Abraham" or ahead of Abraham? In God's plan of creation-the Bible explains-Christ was already foreknown before the foundation of the world. Concerning Jesus Christ, the Scripture says:
"Foreknown, indeed, before the foundation of the world, he has been manifested in the last times for your sakes." (I Pet. 1:20, Confraternity Version).
Even before the foundation of the world, God had already foreknown or planned to send Christ. But God's plan to send Him had found fulfillment only when He (Christ) was conceived and born of a woman named Mary through the Holy Spirit (Gal. 4:4; Matt. 1:18, 20).
So, Christ was the very first in God's plan of creation though He was not the first to be created by God. It is therefore in this context that Christ statement, "before Abraham was I AM" should be understood. Christ was already in God's plan of creation before Abraham was born.
Nevertheless, the biblical fact that Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world never proves that He is God. Christians were already chosen by God for the adoption of Christ even before the creation of the world. (Eph. 1:4-5), New International Version). To insist then that Christ is God because of such foreknowledge would be to conclude that even those people who were chosen for adoption of Christ even before the creation of the world are Gods as well.
The God spoken of in the Scriptures is never Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself taught who the only true God is:
"Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: 'Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You ... 'And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent'." (John 17:13, New King James Version).
Notice that when Christ lifted up His eyes to heaven and said "Father", He was neither referring nor talking to Himself but to someone else-the "Father" who is "the true God."
And to prove that He is different from the Father, Christ further said, "My Father is greater than I" (John 14:28). Therefore, Christ or the Son is indubitably not the Father, hence, not God.
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