Subject: name Jehovah |
Bible Note: Ray I word this very carefully since I tread into area many hold very dear. Since God is the definer of every thing. I view His statement “I AM” as being more a definition of who and what He is rather than a name He would be called. In effect God is establishing that once it is all boiled down He is the essence of everything. The word translated am is Hayah a verb which many think YHWH was derived from. Meaning of Hayah is ‘to be’ again taking this with what I said before God is once again saying I AM everything. Nothing that exists, exists without Him or outside of Him. He is the force that keeps everything together and establishes our reality. So I view “I AM” more as a definition rather than a name, I see God giving us His name in Exodus 3:15 Moreover God said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.' In this verse is the only place where we see God saying “this is my “name” my name forever. Every other place God speaks of who and what He is rather than what we should call Him. If we look at that name we see it includes His title or definition YHWH then further defines it with deity Elohim and personalizes it with by adding God of whom. Jesus’ use of “I am” to me in many cases is nothing more than proper sentence construction than what a lot of people make of it. However in John 8:58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." I do see His using this term to establish once again He was God. By using this wording He was showing His eternal existence, Himself as definer of everything that is or was or going to be. I clearly see and understand the many theological implications given in Jesus’ use the of the words “I am” however I tend to shy away from abstract ( I don't mean that in any negative way) and look at words more in face value. EdB |