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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | God refers to himself as "The great I Am | Ex 3:14 | Tara1 | 114048 | ||
Hello to you Emmaus, Kenneth L. McKay, who graduated with honors in Classics from the Universities of Sydney and Cambridge, taught Greek in universities and theological colleges in Nigeria, New Zealand, and England, who taught at the Australian National University for 26 years, has written numerous articles on ancient Greek syntax, as well as authored a book on Classical Attic, Greek Grammar for Students, and A New Syntax of the Verb in New Testament Greek: an aspectual approach, provides the following in relation to the alleged "true parallel between Exodus 3:14 (LXX) and John 8:58": John's Gospel," Expository Times (1996): 302-303) 'I am' in John's Gospel BY K. L. MCKAY, MA, FORMERLY OF THE AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY It has become fashionable among some preachers and writers to relate Jesus's use of the words 'I am' in the Gospel according to John, in all, or most, of their contexts, to God's declaration to MOSES in Exodus 3:14, and to expound the passages concerned as if the words themselves have some kind of magic in them. Some who have no more than a smattering of Greek attribute the 'magic' to the Greek words ego eimi.1 I wish briefly to draw attention to the normality of the Greek in all such passages, and the unlikelihood of the words ego eimi being intended to suggest any special significance of this kind. It is, of course, perfectly reasonable to draw attention to Jesus's claims about himself by noting the 'I am' element common to them: 'I am the bread of life' (6:35), 'I am the light of the world' (8:12), 'I am the gate/door' (10:7), 'I am the good shepherd' (10:11), 'I am the resurrection and the life' (11:25), 'I am the way, the truth and the life' (14:6), 'I am the true vine' (15:1). These statements give important insights into the identity and work of Jesus, and we can be challenged to decide whether the words 'I am' in them convey truth, delusion, deceit, or something else. In each case the Greek words used are ego eimi, the pronoun being emphatic (as is usually appropriate in beginning a startling fresh statement, answering a question of identity or personal activity, and in some other circumstances), and the verb, also slightly emphatic,2 being the normal use of the verb 'to be' as a copula, the means of linking the subject with the significant words, 'bread', 'light', etc., which occur as noun complements.The same principle applies when the complement is an adjective or an adverb or adverbial phrase used adjectivally. With variations of context the degree of emphasis may vary, and either the pronoun or the verb may be omitted. In the parallelism of 8:23 pronoun and verb are separated: humeis ek ton kato este, ego ek ton ano eimi, but in the immediately following parallel statement the introduction of a negative brings the verb forward (thus also giving extra emphasis to toutou): ego ouk eimi ek tou kosmou toutou. In 14:10 the verb is omitted, because it is understood from the rest of the sentence: ego en to (i) patri kai ho pater en emoi estin.3 In 14:20 a development from the same statement, also in a hoti clause, omits the copula entirely: ego en to(i) patri mou kai humeis en emoi kago en humin In 10:36 the personal pronoun is not needed for emphasis, and is omitted: huios tou theou eimi. In 7:34 and 7:36 the clause structure demands the postposition of the subject: hopou eimi ego humeis ou dunasthe elthein. |
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2 | God refers to himself as "The great I Am | Ex 3:14 | kalos | 114057 | ||
How reliable is the Kingdom Interlinear Translation (KIT)? 'Jehovah's Witnesses believe they have the most accurate translation of the Bible available. They firmly believe this although their New World Translation was done without any Greek or Hebrew scholars. Their Mother Organization, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Brooklyn, New York has promised them accuracy to the original languages, never more so than in the New Testament portion of the Scriptures. They even published two Kingdom Interlinear Translations (KIT) and made the following promises: '"We offer no paraphrase of the Scriptures"..."nearly as possible word for word, the exact statement of the original"...To each major word we have assigned one meaning and have held to that meaning...". (Page 9, 1985 ed.) They further boldly state on page 8 of the same edition, "...There is no benefit in self-deception...those who provide a translation for the spiritual instruction of others come under a special responsibility as teachers before the Divine Judge. Hence we are aware of the need to be careful." 'But, have they been "careful"? Did they really translate word-for-word in every case, or paraphrase were it suited their own doctrines? Did they really keep to one meaning per word as promised, or have they blatantly tampered with the text? Did the Watchtower "translators" not only engage in self-deception, but deliberately set out to deceive their followers? We'll let the reader decide for himself as we answer the question, "How reliable is the Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Bible? Since the New World Translation (NWT) is based on the KIT, is it to be trusted, or viewed with suspicion? 'Let's begin with John 8:58. The NWT Bible reads: "Jesus said to them: "Most truly I say to YOU, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been." 'This decidedly odd rendering has caused much "tense confusion" to the Watchtower. The footnote in the 1969 purple-cover edition of the KIT states that the "I have been" is "properly rendered in the perfect tense." However, in the l985 Navy-Blue-cover edition, the footnote states that "I have been" is "properly translated by the perfect indicative" (tense). 'Wouldn't true scholars KNOW the correct tense? Here the Watchtower has presented two different tenses for the same words. Which is wrong? Which is right? Actually they made three stabs at choosing a tense. In the 1950 NWT of the Christian Greek Scriptures the Watchtower "translators" claimed John 8:58 was in the "perfect indefinite tense". All three tries are WRONG, according to Greek Scholars. The correct tense is the present tense, and the correct translation is "I am", not "I have been". 'Why do they "translate" the words "ego eimi"as "I have been" in this verse (John 8:58), when, if you turn back two pages to John 8:18, 23, 24 and 28 you will see examples where "ego eimi" is translated correctly by them, as "I am". Even in the English text under the Greek text (KIT) these same words are translated as "I am" in John 8:58 but they have been CHANGED in the New World Translation. Why? What happened to their promises of a correct word-for-word translation, with no paraphrases? Why the deception on this verse, with its subsequent cover-up, not once, but three times? Why have they changed the plain statement by Jesus Christ that He is the "I Am"? Every honest-hearted Jehovah's Witness needs to know the answer to this question. 'Numerous translations and Bible scholars correctly cross-reference this verse with Exodus 3:14 which reveals the divine name for God as "I AM". The Watchtower Society could not have its followers believing the revealing words of Jesus over their false doctrine. Jesus really is the "I AM". The Ryrie Study Bible (New American Standard Version) has this comment in the footnote for John 8:58, '"The "I AM" denotes absolute eternal existence, not simply existence prior to Abraham. It is a claim to be Yahweh of the O.T. That the Jews understood the significance of this claim is clear from their reaction (v.59) to the supposed blasphemy." 'Truly, Jesus took the Divine Name of God and applied it to Himself! The Watchtower "translators" had to mistranslate, and misconstrue Greek tenses to hide this fact. How important is this? Jesus, Himself tells us just how important it is. He tells us in John 8:24 that unless we believe that He is the "I AM", we will die in our sins!' ____________________ http://www.macgregorministries.org/jehovahs_witnesses/kit.html |
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