I am Session 1
The fact of receiving “I am…” statements from God indicate the following:
Revelation and Intimacy
It is a descriptor of identity – CCC 207
Diffusion of a rational entity’s will to be known
Subordination
Man was given the power to name creatures, which gave Him a role in the process of creation
Throughout the Old Testament, God often speaks to man saying “I will be your God and you shall be my people” this is not a power grab so much as a statement of well-ordered love
“I am yours and you are mine”
The will of God to make Himself known
We will find this as we continue
Sign post of God for the Jews
Signals ultimate existence
Man’s place
Job 38:4-7
John 15:5
As we will continue to study, we recognize that it is truly God's Word which speaks such statements.
Genesis 15:1
“…I am your shield…”
This idea is echoed in the Psalms
Psalm 3:3
Psalm 5:12
Psalm 18:2,30
Psalm 91:4
God often shows Himself to be on our side, especially in the midst of significant trial
CCC 205, 211:
205 God calls Moses from the midst of a bush that burns without being consumed: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." God is the God of the fathers, the One who had called and guided the patriarchs in their wanderings. He is the faithful and compassionate God who remembers them and his promises; he comes to free their descendants from slavery. He is the God who, from beyond space and time, can do this and wills to do it, the God who will put his almighty power to work for this plan.
"I Am who I Am"
Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you', and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you'. . . this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations."
211 The divine name, "I Am" or "He Is", expresses God's faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men's sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps "steadfast love for thousands". By going so far as to give up his own Son for us, God reveals that he is "rich in mercy". By giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus reveals that he himself bears the divine name: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that 'I AM'."
His will to reveal Himself and choose us
Sometimes we are laden with sorrows when contemplate all the ways the human project has failed and so we are brought to this thought when we find God concerning Himself with His broken creation, why bother?
First, there must be something valuable still present in man worth salvaging
Paradoxically, this stems from the moment of our creation, after all He knew the eventually cost of His creation
Genesis 1:26 – “made in God’s image” but sin damaged man’s likeness -> Romans 6:23
“Then God said, “Let us make humankind[a] in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth,[b] and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
CCC 204-205
God revealed himself to his people Israel by making his name known to them. A name expresses a person's essence and identity and the meaning of this person's life. God has a name; he is not an anonymous force. To disclose one's name is to make oneself known to others; in a way it is to hand oneself over by becoming accessible, capable of being known more intimately and addressed personally.
God revealed himself progressively and under different names to his people, but the revelation that proved to be the fundamental one for both the Old and the New Covenants was the revelation of the divine name to Moses in the theophany of the burning bush, on the threshold of the Exodus and of the covenant on Sinai.
Second, Salvaging must be possible, independent of what it takes
Having answered the question “at first” we must answer why “post-fall”
CCC 385
God is infinitely good and all his works are good. Yet no one can escape the experience of suffering or the evils in nature which seem to be linked to the limitations proper to creatures: and above all to the question of moral evil. Where does evil come from? "I sought whence evil comes and there was no solution", said St. Augustine,257 and his own painful quest would only be resolved by his conversion to the living God. For "the mystery of lawlessness" is clarified only in the light of the "mystery of our religion".258 The revelation of divine love in Christ manifested at the same time the extent of evil and the superabundance of grace.259 We must therefore approach the question of the origin of evil by fixing the eyes of our faith on him who alone is its conqueror.260
Third, He must be willing to assist man in the capacity needed
CCC 457
The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who "loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins": "the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world", and "he was revealed to take away sins":
Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state?
The Dignity that results CCC 27; John 3:16
The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Exodus 3:4-8
God does not reveal the fullness of His nature
Would man be able to understand it if He did at this point?
Probably not
He reveals the need to interact with the divine in a way that is holy or different from usual persons
The interaction shows God’s power over reality
This “I am” statement is not fully predicated
This seems to be correlated to the significance of a Jewish name
CCC 208
Faced with God's fascinating and mysterious presence, man discovers his own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses takes off his sandals and veils his face in the presence of God's holiness. Before the glory of the thrice-holy God, Isaiah cries out: "Woe is me! I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips." Before the divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes that he is a sinner before him: "I will not execute my fierce anger. . . for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst." The apostle John says likewise: "We shall. . . reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."
John 8:58
“...before Abraham was, I am.”
This makes no sense a part from bearing in mind the Hypostatic Union
John 1
CCC 460
The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature": For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God. For the Son of God became Man that we might become God. The only-begotten son of God became man so that we might become God. The only-begotten Son of God sharers in His Divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.
Thus this verse unmistakably witnesses to Jesus’ ultimate identity
His language preceding this passage suggest He not only knew Abraham, but had first-hand intimacy with/of Him and of this burning bush moment
Here He signals eternal existence.
In this sub-chapter we also notice, the truth of Philippians 2:5-8 since He allowed them to continue believing He had a demon even when used words to convince them otherwise.
Revelation 22:13
“…I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Christ is creations first beginning and last end
Along side verse 13 we see verse 12 and 17 and 20
Along side His identity as the Ancient of Days is the reality of His return at the end of the ages and the Church His Bide waiting for Him with Desire
CCC 451
Christian prayer is characterized by the title "Lord", whether in the invitation to prayer ("The Lord be with you"), its conclusion ("through Christ our Lord") or the exclamation full of trust and hope: Maran atha ("Our Lord, come!") or Marana tha("Come, Lord!") - "Amen Come Lord Jesus!“
Catholic Encyclopedia
Clement of Alexandria speaks of the Word as "the Alpha and the Omega of Whom alone the end becomes beginning, and ends again at the original beginning without any break
John 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.