[B-Greek] John 8:58
Gary Hedrick
gary at cjf.org
Sat Jan 15 02:47:31 EST 2005
In John 8:58, Jesus makes the rather incredible claim that before
Abraham was born, "I am" (ego eimi). Aside from the obvious import of
Jesus' declaration that He existed even before Abraham came into being,
could He also be identifying himself here as the "I AM" of Ex. 3:14? The
LXX at Ex. 3:14 has, Egw eimi ho wn ("I am the one who is").
The Hebrew at Ex. 3:14 has ahaya asar ahaya ("I am who I am," or
"I will be who I will be").
Interestingly, the Hebrew NT translates ego eimi as ani hoo, or
"I (am) he," at John 8:58, so it doesn't appear to make a clear connection
to Ex. 3:14 (that is, unless I'm missing something here). But I realize
we're not here to talk about theology, or even about Hebrew, so my question
for this list is simply this: based on the Greek texts of both John 8:58 and
also the LXX Ex. 3:14, is it plausible that Jesus was equating himself with
the great I AM of the OT? Or do you agree with critics of this view who say
the connection between John 8:58 and Ex. 3:14 is a stretch?
Also, I wonder if we have a hint as to the meaning of the Greek
text when it says in the next verse that the Judeans who heard Him responded
by picking up stones to execute Him, ostensibly for blasphemy, or for
claiming to be God. Would there have been any basis for a death sentence if
He was not equating himself with God?
I'm rather new to this list, so if there's something in the
archives about this, perhaps someone would be kind enough to point me in the
right direction. Many thanks.
Dr. Gary Hedrick
CJF Ministries
611 Broadway
San Antonio, TX 78215 USA
Phone 210-226-1075, Ext. 115 (w/ voice mail)
Fax 210-690-8421
gary at cjf.org or gmhedrick at sbcglobal.net
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