John 8:58 (I am, I have been, I was?)

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Dec 22 12:50:17 EST 1999


At 11:19 AM -0600 12/22/99, Grant wrote:
>The reason I decided to learn Greek (i think there was a topic a while
>back about this) is to learn all the legitimate interpretations of
>passages such as Philippians 2:6 (very much aware of this scripture now! )
>and others.  I would just like to say that B-Greek has helped me
>understand and look at scriptures in a way I never did before.  I would
>just like to give a warm thanks to all who have corresponed with me. I
>know at time I can be a little stubborn though.
>
>John 8:58 "EIPEN AUTOIS IHSOUS AMHN AMHN LEGW hYMIN PRIN ABRAAM GENESQAI
>EGW EIMI"
>
>I have read many variations in which some translate as "I am" while other
>seem to try to show an age rather than identity such as "I have been" or
>"I was."
>
> From a scrictly grammatical standpoint, is "I have been" a correct
>rendering?  Which English tense is closer to the Greek tense: the "I am"
>tense or the "I have been" tense?
>
>Sincerely,
>Grant POlle

One could say, "I was," but I think that "I am" captures the paradoxical
sense that the statement presents. If one is willing to sacrifice the
structure of the Greek and reformulate the content, I think one might
write, "My existence antedates the birth of Abraham." Come to think of it,
that reformulation fits the old observation (which is at least partly true,
as anyone who has had to memorize Greek verb paradigms is well aware) that
English tends to express major notions with nouns while Greek tends to
express major ideas with verbs.




Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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