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I Am Because You Are September 14, 2025 Devotional

by David Joynt on September 14, 2025

I Am Because You Are September 14, 2025 Devotional

JOHN 8:48 | 48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

 

These verses, with their horrified reaction from the Jewish religious leaders, reinforces our interpretation of Jesus’ I Am statements. The leaders condemn Him in the harshest terms: “You are a Samaritan and have a demon!” You can’t get much more critical than suggesting He is possessed and not really Jewish!


This harshness roots in Jewish monotheism. Jesus claims to be one with God, to be the Son of God, and His use of the holiest of divine names, Ego Eimi or I AM, all strike them as blasphemous. The listeners clearly hear Jesus arrogating to Himself a divine status. He reinforces the claim throughout this chapter.

 

Christianity stands and falls with the legitimacy of Jesus’ identity claims. Do you agree?

 


Gracious God,

There is a real offense to the gospel we must not hide. Jesus’ claims cannot be minimized or ignored without His salvific power also being dismissed, along with His authority. Help me to see and support Him as He is!

Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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