Note 23 at Joh 8:58: Jesus didn't seek to clarify the Jews' misunderstanding of His previous statements. Instead, He made a new statement that anyone who would not accept that Jesus was God in the flesh (1Ti 3:16) could not possibly understand. "Before Abraham was, I am." He not only said that He existed before Abraham, but He also was again associating Himself with the great "I AM" statement of Ex 3:14 (see note 5 at Joh 8:24). This statement could leave no doubt that Jesus was claiming deity in the highest sense of the word.