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NASB | Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "You shall say this to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" |
Bible Question:
Hi Tim You wrote: There isn't any doubt as to what Jesus was doing in this verse. He uses the exact phrase that Jehovah used of Himself in Ex. 3:14, as translated by the LXX. The LXX says in Ex 3:14: (transliterated) Kai apen ha theos prahs Monsan, legon, eigo emi ha On, (And spoke the God toward Moses, saying, I am the Being. Translation provided in the LXX: And God spoke to Moses, sayking, I am THE BEING. 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" . And further recommends an author of whom I make mention of by saying, “ I recommend Rolf Furuli's chapter concerning John 8:58 for a through explanation of this point.” ------------------------------------------------------ 'I am' in John's Gospel The Expository Times, 1996, page 302 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 egw eimi. [1] I wish briefly to draw attention to the normality of the Greek in all such passages, and the unlikelihood of the words egw 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 egw 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, egw 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): egw ouk eimi ek tou kosmou toutou. In 14:10 the verb is omitted, because it is understood from the rest of the sentence: egw en tw 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: egw en tw patri mou kai humeis en emoi kagw 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 egw humeis ou dunasthe elthein. (Continued) |
Bible Answer: Hi Truthfinder, Exodus 3:12, "And He said, 'Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I/ who have sent you:..." Exodus 3:13, "Then Moses said to God, "Behold I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, 'The (God) of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them? 14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "I AM/ has sent me to you.'" John 8:54, "Jesus answered, "If I glorify Myself,/ My glory is nothing; it is My (Father) who glorifies Me, of whom you say, 'He is our God'; 55 and you have not come to know Him but I know Him;/..." When we study this we know of Jesus that "He is our God". When we know that He is our God then we can go on and agree with John 10:30 that "I and the Father are one." We can go on with the passage here in front of us and know that He [I, We] "must work the works of Him who sent Me,/ as long as it is day; night is coming when no *one can work." In comparing the Old and New Testaments we should be able to see the difference between Moses ("and I/ am has sent me to you) and Jesus (working "the works of the One who sent Me"/). Moses was a man and Jesus was a Man. Here is my interpretation also of John 8:29 for what it is worth, for it should be of interest to you as a "Truthfinder". John 8:26, "...but (He) who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world." They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father./ Jesus therefore said, "When you lift up the Son of (Man), then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as *My/Father taught Me. 29 And the (One) who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him./" When we go on in the passage, v.32, and "know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free"; then we will even want to change John 11:7,8 where it reads "the disciples" to being "His disciples". We will know that He is the Light of the world and become truly His disciples. John 11:9 From the heart, Ray |