The gospel of John records seven statements that Jesus states, which are readily known as the “I am…” statements. There is an eighth claim that was also made by Jesus about Himself; when He simply states, “I am.” Theologian Elmer Towns states in his textbook, (Elmer Towns) “This is a statement of identification with Old Testament deity. Christ is implying, “I am…I am,” the self-existent One. He is claiming to be their God.

The Old Testament is pointing to the coming One. Many scriptures tell that someone is coming. Who is coming? Could it be the Messiah? The people of John’s time were looking, searching, hoping for the One to come. Ray Stedman states in his commentary (Ray Stedman) “In John's day, people were stirred by the fact that John the Baptist had appeared. They asked him, "Are you the Christ?" He said, "No, but he is coming after me," and when Jesus began to preach up and down the hills of Judea and Galilee, men were saying everywhere, "Is this the One? Is this the Messiah?"

The first time Jesus made this self-existent claim without explanation or without the use of a metaphor is found in John 4:26. Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well in this scripture verse. Jesus being Deity had been telling her things about herself that no one knew. The exchange between the woman and Jesus is very telling. The Deity of Christ is examined by the woman when she states to Jesus in John 4:2, “The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming, He who is called the Christ (the Anointed One); and when He arrives, He will tell us everything we need to know and make it clear to us.” The woman is making reference to two Old Testament scriptures found in Isaiah. The first one is Isaiah 45:22 which says, “Look to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” The second scripture is Isaiah 43:11. It states, “1I, even