Discovery BoxJohn 8:24 
Context8:24 Thus I told you 1 that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, 2 you will die in your sins.”
John 12:19
Context12:19 Thus the Pharisees 3 said to one another, “You see that you can do nothing. Look, the world has run off after him!”
John 12:50
Context12:50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. 4 Thus the things I say, I say just as the Father has told me.” 5
1 tn Grk “thus I said to you.”
2 tn Grk “unless you believe that I am.” In this context there is an implied predicate nominative (“he”) following the “I am” phrase. What Jesus’ hearers had to acknowledge is that he was who he claimed to be, i.e., the Messiah (cf. 20:31). This view is also reflected in English translations like NIV (“if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be”), NLT (“unless you believe that I am who I say I am”), and CEV (“if you don’t have faith in me for who I am”). For a different view that takes this “I am” and the one in 8:28 as nonpredicated (i.e., absolute), see R. E. Brown, John (AB), 1:533-38. Such a view refers sees the nonpredicated “I am” as a reference to the divine Name revealed in Exod 3:14, and is reflected in English translations like NAB (“if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins”) and TEV (“you will die in your sins if you do not believe that ‘I Am Who I Am’”).
sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.
3 sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.
4 tn Or “his commandment results in eternal life.”
5 tn Grk “The things I speak, just as the Father has spoken to me, thus I speak.”
