God describes himself as the “I AM”

(Based on notes for Lumo)

The phrase “I AM that I AM” comes from Exodus 3:14, where God speaks to Moses from the burning bush. In the original Hebrew, the words are אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (ʾĕhîyê ’ăšer ’ĕhîy), often rendered “I am that I am” or “I will be what I will be.”

This expression (paranomia) carries a depth of meaning on the nature of God.

Core ideas behind the expression

Aspect	Explanation
Self‑existence	The verb ʾĕhîy (“to be”) is in the imperfect tense, which can convey ongoing or future action. By saying “I am that I am,” God emphasises that He is not dependent on anything else—He simply exists.
Eternal continuity	The phrasing points to an unbroken existence: past, present, and future are all encompassed in the same divine reality. God is the same “I am” now as He will be forever.
Revelation of identity	When Moses asks, “What shall I tell the Israelites when they ask who sent you?” the name given is a self‑definition rather than a title derived from lineage or role. It tells the people that the One who sends Moses is the ultimate source of being itself. Other gods had names, but the God of Israel has no name beyond his manifest existence.
Mystery and humility	Because the name is self‑referential, it resists a simple definition. It invites worshippers to recognize that God’s nature transcends human categories; we can speak of Him only in terms of being rather than attributes we can fully grasp.

How theologians have understood it

Classical Jewish thought – The Talmud (Berakhot 7a) interprets the phrase as “I will be what I will be,” stressing God’s dynamic presence in history while remaining unchanged in essence. This has been suggested as an alternative translation of the phrase, but most translators have opted for the present tense, as the future tense is implied anyway.
Early Christian exegesis – Church Fathers such as Augustine linked the phrase to the concept of ousia (essence), seeing it as a declaration of God’s immutable substance.
Modern scholarship – Many contemporary scholars view it as a theophanic statement: God reveals Himself as the ultimate ground of reality, contrasting the Egyptian gods who were tied to specific domains (e.g., sun, fertility).

Practical take‑away

When God says, “I am who I am,” He is communicating:

Absolute self‑sufficiency: He does not derive His existence from anything else.
Eternal presence: He is continuously present—past, present, and future are one in Him.
A call to trust: Since He is the source of all being, believers can rely on Him as the unchanging foundation of life.

Thus, the phrase is less a descriptive label and more an invitation to recognise the ultimate, self‑existent reality that underlies everything.

Personal Reflection

In considering the self-existence of God, I am led to ask why He created the universe and us? He needs nothing, so why bother with creation at all?

My personal answer is that God does not need the creation to exist, but He does desire creation as a platform or a context for His attributes. For example, creation is a context in which He can exhibit his attributes (mercy, power, love, wisdom, etc.). We are told in Genesis that God creates in His image, so when we see creation, we see the attributes of the creator God manifested.

We as people exist purely to reflect some of God’s attributes, or contrast them, and to worship Him as a context for His divinity. Faith in Christ (as part of the Trinity) is basically a mechanism through which we can achieve that purpose. God allowed the fall in Eden to happen partly so that we could return to God through Christ and worship as a free expression of faith, the only true form of worship. The redemption process after the fall also made God’s infinite love manifest. (There are other aspects to this story, but they need a page of their own.)