The next common proof text Trinitarians use is John 8:58.
Of all the verses that have been presented to me over the years, this one, in my view, demonstrates just how far some are willing to go in order to secure scriptural support for the doctrine of the Trinity.
The New King James Version renders the verse this way:
“Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58 NKJV)
You’ll notice the “I AM” is all in uppercase.The reason the New King James Version capitalizes “I AM” is because the translators believe Jesus is identifying himself as God. In their view, He is invoking the divine name revealed at the burning bush.
The phrase Jesus uses in Greek—assuming He was even speaking Greek at that moment rather than Aramaic or Hebrew—is egō eimi.
Trinitarians point out that this is the same Greek expression used in the Septuagint when God speaks to Moses at the burning bush. In Exodus 3:14, the New King James Version reads:
“And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’”
So the argument goes like this:
Jesus says egō eimi. God says egō eimi in the Septuagint. And therefore, Jesus is claiming to be God.
But there are some problems with this reasoning—so many, in fact, that it can be difficult to know where to begin.
Still, we have to begin somewhere.
So, let’s look at what the Greek Septuagint actually says in Exodus 3:14.
One advantage we have today is that we can verify these things instantly. Everything is accessible online. We don’t have to rely on secondhand claims. We can check the text for ourselves.
For example, the website biblestudytools.com provides the Greek Septuagint text along with an English rendering. Let’s look at what it actually says.
So if Jesus were truly making a statement that he was the one who spoke at the burning bush, quoting the Septuagint to his listeners, wouldn’t have had said,
“…before Abraham was, I am THE BEING”?
Most Bible translations render John 8:58 as “I am.”
But some translators actually do what translators are supposed to do—they bring the Greek grammar into natural English rather than simply reproducing the word order.
You see, in Greek, word order is flexible. For example, it would be perfectly normal in Greek to say something like, “Hungry I am,” or “A Christian I am.” That would be grammatically fine in Greek.
But if we translated that into English while preserving the Greek word order, we’d all sound like Yoda.
Hmm… is Yoda Greek?
Anyway, a good translator doesn’t preserve Greek word order if it produces awkward English. A good translator adjusts the structure so it reads naturally:
“I am hungry.”
“I am a Christian.”
That’s how translation works.
And this is precisely what some translators—who are not driven by theological assumptions and bias —have done with John 8:58.
Here are just a few examples:
Jesus said to them: Verily, verily I say to you, before Abraham came into being, I was. (Anderson New Testament)
Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was born, I was. (Lamsa Bible)
“Truly, truly I tell you,” said Jesus, “I have existed before Abraham was born.” (Moffatt Translation)
“I tell you,” said Jesus, “I existed before Abraham was born!” (Goodspeed Translation)
Of course, simply rendering the Greek words egō eimi as “I am” could just be poor translation. It doesn’t mean he’s calling himself God. For that we have to enter into the realm of speculation. And a good way to expose when speculation gets silly is to take it to its logical conclusion. If Jesus was referring to Exodus 3:14 when he said I am as trinitarians would have us believe, then he was not expressing a subject and verb, like you and I do when we say “I am,” but he was treating it like the name of God.
You know, it’s very interesting that the very next verse in Exodus uses the tetragrammaton, YHWH.
“And God says again to Moses, “Thus you say to the sons of Israel: YHWH, God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, has sent me to you; this [is] My Name for all time, and this [is] My memorial, to generation [and] generation.” (Exodus 3:15 Literal Standard Version)
So if “I am” is not a subject/verb construction, but a name for God, then we should be able to swap it out for another name of God, right?
Here’s Jesus saying the same thing.
“Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, Yehovah.” (John 8:58)
Now does that make any sense to you? Of course not. Because Jesus is trying to tell them that he existed before Abraham was born. He’s not telling them about his nature. Even if he said, “before Abraham was, I am Yehovah,” it still wouldn’t fit, because the Jews were not challenging his nature, but his statement that he had seen Abraham.
If every time Jesus was to mean he is God when he said egō eimi it would sure limit his ability to speak cognitively, wouldn’t it? Like at John 15:5 when Jesus says, “I am the vine.” Is he telling us that he is God?
Remember when Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well. He told her this:
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am He, the One speaking to you.” (John 4:24-26 NASB)
The “He” is italicized in this NASB rendering, because in the Greek it doesn’t appear. In the Greek, all Jesus says in answer is “I am” (egō eimi). But he was telling he that he was the Messiah, not that he was God. In fact, he says “God is spirit”, but Jesus was flesh and blood when he said this just as he was flesh and blood when he told the Pharisees that he had existed before Abraham.
There’s another place where Jesus uses I am, egō eimi, that is most instructive in this discussion.
Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” (Matthew 14:22-27 NKJV)
Here, the New King James Version doesn’t render egō eimi in all caps like it does at John 8:58. It makes a proper translation into English as “It is I; do not be afraid.”
The Literal Standard Bible, however, does not do that. It gives way to interpretation.
“and immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage! I AM; do not be afraid.”” (Matthew 14:27)
“Don’t be afraid. I’m not a ghost. I’m Yehovah, God Almighty!”
Seriously?
They’re terrified. They think they’re seeing a ghost. And instead of saying, “Hey, it’s me—Jesus. You know me,” we’re supposed to believe that He chose that exact moment to reveal Himself by invoking the divine name?
I don’t think so.
Here’s the real issue. First, these translators abandon normal translation principles and adopt a stilted rendering. But even that doesn’t quite get them where they want to go. So the next step is to claim that when Jesus said this, He was invoking the Septuagint rendering of Exodus 3:14. That makes the interpretation even more strained.
And on top of that, something important is left out: in the Septuagint, Exodus 3:14 does not simply call Yehovah “I AM.” The Greek text reads, “I am THE BEING” — egō eimi ho ōn — not merely “I am.”
These are the lengths many go to in order to put words into Jesus’ mouth and claim that He was teaching the Trinity.
And even with all of that effort, at best, they can only argue for a duality — not a Trinity.
Come on, guys. Just translate what’s actually there, and leave interpretation in the hands of the reader.
Trinitarians are quick to criticize the New World Translation for being biased in its rendering of some verses. But perhaps it’s time to remove the rafter from your own eye and examine your own translations before condemning someone else’s.
Thank you for watching all the way to the end and thank you for your continued support.