Isaiah as a Background of the Metaphorical “I Am” Sayings in John’s Gospel

Abstract

The paper tries to show that almost all of the Johannine images used in the meta-phorical “I am” sayings can already be found as “images of God” in Isaiah. Therefore Isaiah should be also regarded as one of the main sources for the Gospel of John presenting its image of God. The fourth evangelist seems to have claimed all these images (bread of life, light of the world, door, good shepherd, resurrection and life, way and truth and life, vine), which he likely found in Isaiah, for his God-Jesus metaphor.