A thoughtful post. Thank you.
Do you remember in the old testament where Moshe (Moses) asked God his name? And God said, I am that I am?
See, John 8:58 :hug:
Yes.God was telling Moses that He causes to become.This is what Yahweh means.Gods name Yahweh,Yehowah,Jehovah means "He causes to become." This passage has nothing to do with
John 8:58
In
John 8:58 Jesus is explaining to the Jews that before Abraham, he existed.It has nothing to do with identity.It has to do with age and existence.
Read this. "
John 8:58:
RS reads: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am [Greek, e·go′ ei·mi′].’” (NE, KJ, TEV, JB, NAB all read “I am,” some even using capital letters to convey the idea of a title. Thus they endeavor to connect the expression with Exodus 3:14, where, according to their rendering, God refers to himself by the title “I Am.”
However, in NW the latter part of John 8:58 reads: “Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.” (The same idea is conveyed by the wording in AT, Mo, CBW, and SE.)
Which rendering agrees with the context? The question of the Jews (Joh 8 verse 57) to which Jesus was replying had to do with age, not identity. Jesus’ reply logically dealt with his age, the length of his existence. Interestingly, no effort is ever made to apply e·go′ ei·mi′ as a title to the holy spirit.
Says A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, by A. T. Robertson: “The verb [ei·mi′] . . . Sometimes it does express existence as a predicate like any other verb, as in [e·go′ ei·mi′] (Jo.Joh 8:58).”—Nashville, Tenn.; 1934, p. 394.
See also NW appendix, 1984 Reference edition, pp. 1582, 1583.
Trinity — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY
