From: BibAnsMan@aol.com
Date: Tue Sep 26 1995 - 07:59:12 EDT
On 9-26-95 06:37:05 EDT Carl W. Conrad writes,
<<I don't have the tools for searching texts of EGW EIMI outside of John
ready to hand, but I think it appears once (and perhaps in more than one
gospel) in Jesus' response to Caiaphas at the Sanhedrin trial.>>
I have studied "ego eimi" in the past and have found it fascinating. "ego
eimi" is never used without a predicate, prepositional phrase, or other
implied parts from previous clauses by anyone except Jesus in the N.T. I
have made a thorough search several times using Logos Research System's logos
2.0 program. "ego eimi" appears 48 times in the New Testament. It appears
referring to Jesus without predicate, preposition, or implied modifiers in
Matthew 14:27; 26:22, 25; Mark 6:50; 13:6; 14:62; Luke 21:8; 22:70; 24:39;
John 4:26; 6:20; 8:24, 28, 58; 9:9; 13:19; 18:5, 6, 8. Outside of these
references there is always a prepositional phrase attached or a predicate
except in the case of Acts 26:29 where there is clearly a carryover from the
previous clause implied in Greek.
I believe that in the vast majority of these references above, Jesus was
declaring Himself to be the One in Exodus 3:14, "I am who I am." At the very
least, those who oppose this would have to admit that John and other writers
come awfully close to heresy in the implications of "ego eimi" without the
predicate. Did they make a mistake? I think not. They meant to write "ego
eimi" without the predicate in many constructions reminds one of Exodus 3:14.
"ego eimi" is the equivalent Greek phrase to "YHWH" in the Old Testament.
Interesting to note is the context of John's writings where Jesus constantly
refers to Himself with "ego eimi" and a predicate in John 6:35, 41; 8:12, 18;
10:7, 11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1; Revelation 1:8, 17; 2:23; 21:6; 22:16. Did
anyone else in the entire Scriptures refer to Himself in this way? No. Only
the One who says, "ego eimi" is able to speak of Himself in this way.
Jim McGuire
Professor at Logos Bible Institute
13248 Roscoe Blvd.
Sun Valley, CA 91352
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