[B-Greek] the verb eimi

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Wed Feb 24 23:16:27 EST 2010


εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Ἰησοῦς· ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί.

It could be that this relates to Ex 3.14 
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, καὶ εἶπεν Οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ Ὁ ὢν ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς. 

however, I tend to relate it more to 2nd Isaiah where it is used many, many times.  Note, e. g. Is 41.10
μὴ φοβοῦ, μετὰ σοῦ γάρ εἰμι, μὴ πλανῶ, ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ θεός σου ὁ ἐνισχύσας σε καὶ ἐβοήθησά σοι καὶ ἠσφαλισάμην σε τῇ δεξιᾷ τῇ δικαίᾳ μου. 

My recollection is that Joachim Jeremias wrote a piece on these passages which was of considerable interest.
 george
gfsomsel 


… search for truth, hear truth, 
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, 
defend the truth till death.


- Jan Hus
_________ 



----- Original Message ----
From: Normand Joseph <njoseph at sympatico.ca>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Wed, February 24, 2010 6:23:37 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] the verb eimi

Hello everyone,



Question : I received a comment today in regards to the verb Jesus used: “I am”  εἰμί  . ESV  John 8:58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." The person was saying that the verb could also mean "have been, was", or be used in reference to something that happened in the past (before the present). Now, some will use this expression to say that Jesus echoes God’s self-identification to Moses in Exod.3.14. 



Does the verb εἰμί  mean have been in certain context? 



Normand Joseph

Pasteur

Église Baptise Évangélique de Gatineau

Email:  <mailto:njoseph at sympatico.ca> njoseph at sympatico.ca          

Web site:  <http://www.ebeg.ca/> www.ebeg.ca



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MH FOBOU, META SOU GAR EIMI, MH PLANW, EGW GAR EIMI hO QEOS SOU hO ENISCUSAS SE KAI EBOHQHSA TOI KAI HSFALISAMHN SE THi DECIA THi DIKAIAi MOUKAI EIPEN hO QEOS PROS MWUSHN, EGW EIMI hO WN", KAI EIPEN hOUTOS ERIES TOIS hUIOIS ISRAHL hO WN APESTALKEN ME PROS hUMAS."EIPEN AUTOIS IHSOUS, "AMHN, AMHN, LEGW hUMIN, PRIN ABRAAM GENESQAI EGW EIMI


      



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