Who Does Jesus Say You Are?

In Christianity there is a lot of talk about who Jesus is. The Gospel of John is famous for its seven “I am” statements in which Jesus identifies himself using symbols and metaphors. “I am the Bread of Life. I am the Light of the world. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” and so forth. They are all based on the famous “I am” statement in the story of the burning bush in Exodus, where God says “I am what I am.” 

These “I Am” statements got me wondering if there were also “You are” statements made by Jesus, telling us what or who we are. So I did a search for these words in the gospels. I was not looking for what the apostle Paul or Peter or James says about us. I was not looking at what later Christianity says about us, but only what Jesus taught about us. 

After sifting through these “you are” statements, I found three statements that Jesus made about who we are. So let’s see what Jesus says about us. What did Jesus teach about our spiritual identity?