[B-Greek] John 8:58
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at juno.com
Sat Jan 15 03:20:05 EST 2005
On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 01:47:31 -0600 "Gary Hedrick" <gary at cjf.org> writes:
> 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
___________________
I think Isaiah might be a more fruitful source from which to derive the
"I am" passages of John. I believe Joachim Jeremias wrote something on
this though it has been quite a number of years since I read it.
Is 43.10 hINA GNWTE KAI PISTEUSHTE KAI SUNHTE hOTI EGW EIMI
MT L:Ma(aN T."D:(W. W:Ta)a:MiYNW. LiY W:TfBiYNW. ***
K.iY_)a:NiY HW.) *** (as in your Hebrew NT)
43.25 EGW EIMI EGW EIMI hO ECALEIFWN TAS ANOMIAS SOU
45.8 EGW EIMI KURIOS hO KTISAS SE
45.18 EGW EIMI, KAI OUK ESTIN ETI
45.19 EGW EIMI hO QEOW, KAI OUK ESTIN ALLOS
46.4 hEWS GHROUS EGW EIMI, KAI hEWS AN KATAGHRASHTE, EGW EIMI
etc.
george
gfsomsel
___________
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