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

Ilvgrammta at aol.com Ilvgrammta at aol.com
Wed Dec 22 13:58:05 EST 1999


Dear Grant,

In an article "EGW EIMI in John 1:20 and 4:25" Edwin D. Freed addresses the 
issues surrounding the so-called absolute use of EGW EIMI and whether this 
employment of the term ever occurs in the Johnannine literary corpus. He 
repeatedly demonstrates how a predicate could be supplied each time EGW EIMI 
appears in the Gospel of John. In spite of Freed's treatment, however, most 
commentators admittedly understand EGW EIMI in John 8:58 to be absolute and 
they subsequently insist that Jesus was calling himself God in the Johannine 
Gospel. In the excellent work Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament 
Based on Semantic
Domains, Louw and Nida that John 8:58 give the following: "before Abraham 
came into existence, I existed" (Louw-Nida 158). IMHO, this rendering more 
accurately reflects the meaning of Jesus' words recorded in John 8:58. It 
also helps us to understand that Jesus was evidently not speaking in a 
metaphysical sense, when he said PRIN ABRAAM GENESQAI EGW EIMI. This reading 
can be supported by the normal usage of EGW EIMI in times of antiquity and 
the ancient writings about the Messiah.

Edgar Foster




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