[B-Greek] John 1:18b question (and John 1:8)

Tony Costa tmcos at rogers.com
Tue Dec 23 17:14:09 EST 2003


Dmitriy Reznik wrote:

"Even in Exodus 3:14 hW ON itself does not points to deity. It simply
 means "who is", and there is no need to connect any passage where this
construct is used to Ex 3:14. In the same way EGW EIMI by itself doesn't
point to deity, and simply means "I am ..." or "It's me".


Dmitriy, I suspect that this subject is going to lead us all into a
theological discussion that will vary among list members. I only wanted to
add that the wording hW ON in Exod. 3:14 LXX  is the Greek equivalent if the
Hebrew EHYEH ASHER EHYEH (I Am that I Am) found in the MT. Hebrew scholars
agree that the Divine Name Yahweh is derived from these words. Thus the
statement that Yahweh is the one "who is" points to his person and
character. The EGW EIMI statements are also found in other parts of the LXX
(eg.Isa.43:10) One cannot escape the violent reaction of Jesus' audience who
heard him utter the words that before Abraham existed EGW EIMI (John 8:58)
and the following verse states that people picked up stones to kill him.
(John 8:59) EGW EIMI certainly didn't mean to them "It's me" because there
would be nothing blasphemous about that. John 10:33 makes it clear that
Jesus' opponents took those words as a claim to him being Deity.

Tony Costa








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