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HOUSMAIL HM047 26
November 1999 WHEN JESUS SAID "I AM" It
has long been claimed by Trinitarians that in John
8:58 Jesus used the words "I AM" to
appropriate the Divine Name to Himself, in order to claim that He is God. However,
as we shall see, that is a misuse of the passage which falls far short His
real intention. To
set the background for what follows, we note first that the whole of John's
Gospel must be understood in the context of John's stated purpose in John 20:31. John did NOT write
to convince us that Jesus is God! Rather His purpose is that we should
believe that Jesus is the Christ, (MESSIAH), the SON of God. And that
identity is to be understood in terms of the many Old Testament prophecies to
which the Gospels point us. (Luke 24:45-46) There we find Jesus clearly identified, neither as God, nor as
an already existing person, but as the FUTURE human Son of God, who will rule
for ever over the Kingdom of God on earth. Also,
the relationship between Jesus and His Father must be understood alongside
Jesus' own ABSOLUTE statement that his Father ALONE is the ONLY true God, and
that He himself is NOT God, but the SON of God. (John 17:3) It would indeed be a
glaring contradiction if, in other parts of the same Gospel, Jesus was using
the words "I AM" to claim the Divine name for Himself as God! USE
OF THE WORDS IN ENGLISH If
someone came into a room where I and several others were present and asked
"which one here is Allon?", I would put my hand up and say .....
"I AM". No
one would ever assume from that answer, that I was claiming to be God! A
couple of generations ago the "grammatically correct" answer would
have been "I AM HE". However, in our time, the common usage of our
language no longer requires the word "HE" to be spoken aloud. We
all know that it is implied, and we make the necessary mental adjustment as
we listen to what is said. In
other circumstances, the words "I AM" would be quite meaningless
without specific additional spoken words. e.g. To introduce myself to someone
who does not know me, I would need to say "I AM ..... ALLON". To
convey additional information about myself I would need add other words.
(e.g. "I AM ..... A CHRISTIAN"). The
Koine Greek of the New Testament is like that. The words "I AM"
appear repeatedly in the Greek text, with "extra words" which
indicate their meaning. And on the other occasions when they do stand alone,
the translation into English requires the insertion of the necessary IMPLIED
extra words which give us their proper meaning in context ..... words that
Greek speakers of the first century KNEW were implied! The
Greek words for "I AM" are "egw eimi". (letters
"egw eimi" in
the English alphabet) Using
the search facility in the Interlinear Greek "Online Bible", I
found some 24 places where they appear in John's Gospel. Then I used the RSV
Interlinear Greek-English New Testament to check each of those, to see how
the words were used. If you are interested enough, you can check it out for
yourself. (Hey, it's not that hard! Our Sunday School
students ages 7-12, have all been able to memorise the Greek alphabet, and
most of them can also write it!). On
15 of these occasions, they appear with other words following. e.g.: *
John 4:26 "I ..... who speak to you ..... AM HE" (Translated
from Greek which literally says "I AM, the [one] speaking to you") *
John 6:35 "I AM ..... the bread of life". *
John 8:12 "I AM ..... the light of the world". *
John 8:18 "I bear witness to myself". (Translated from Greek
which literally says, "I AM the [one] witnessing concerning
myself".) *
John 11:25 "I AM ..... the resurrection". In
John's Gospel, the words "egw
eimi"appear standing alone, on NINE
occasions. (John 6:20, 8:24, 8:28, 8:58, 9:9, 13:19, 18:5,
18:6, & 18:8) SIX
of these are translated "I AM HE". (John
8:24, 8:28, 13:19, 18:5, 18:6, & 18:8) ONE
is translated "IT IS I" (John 6:20) ONE is translated "I AM ..... the man" (John 9:9) Spoken by the blind
man healed at the pool of Siloam. And ONE is simply rendered as "I
AM". (John 8:58) On
EIGHT of those occasions the translators have recognised that something
needed to be added after the words "I AM", to make the meaning
clear ..... AND THEY HAVE DONE SO! In John 6:20, 9:9, 18:5, 18:6, & 18:8, they are used in exactly the same way as we would in English,
to identify the speaker to others. There is no suggestion at all that Jesus
was using the Divine name or claiming to be God. And it goes without saying,
doesn't it, that the blind man was most certainly NOT claiming to be God! In John 13:19, Jesus uses the words
"I AM", to identify Himself to the disciples present at the Last
Supper, as the one spoken of in the Messianic prophesy in Psalm 41:9-11. In the Psalm, Jesus
is clearly NOT God (the LORD). He is the one who prays to God. His impending
betrayal by Judas, and His death and resurrection, are all clearly mentioned
there. He said that He was reminding the disciples of it in advance, so that
when it did happen they would be able to believe His claim that "I AM
[HE]", the promised Messiah, who fulfilled the prophesy when He was
betrayed by Judas. That
leaves us with the THREE remaining references in John Chapter 8. In
John 8:24, 8:28,
the translators have seen fit to add the word "HE", because it is
clearly required by the context. When Jesus says, "I AM [HE]", He
is using it in a similar way to what we have just seen in John 13. In John 8:12 He has just said
"I AM .... the light of the world". In John 8:16 & John 8:18 His claim to be sent
by the Father, (who alone is truly God) clearly separates between Himself and
God. In John 8:23 He again claims that
He is "from above". (i.e. that the authority by which He has been
sent, is not from any mere earthly human source - like theirs - but has been
received from God.) Thus,
it should be abundantly clear that when Jesus says "I AM" again in John 8:58 (in the very same
conversation) He is NOT using the Divine name of Himself. Instead, He clearly
means the same "HE" already identified only a few verses earlier.
And it ought to be translated as "I AM HE", giving it the same
meaning, as it clearly has in the other places in the same chapter. CONCLUSION Dare
we suggest that it is only theological bias which has perpetuated the
"grammatical monstrosity" created by the translators when they
TRANSLITERATED "egw eimi" as "I AM" instead of TRANSLATING it as "I
AM [HE]"? Properly
viewed, Jesus has NOT claimed the Divine name for Himself. Nor has He claimed
to have been alive before Abraham. Rather, the overall message of the chapter
is that the place of Jesus in the PROPHETIC PLAN of God, was fixed and spoken
of, long before the time of Abraham. That dates back to the Garden of Eden,
where both the Kingdom of God, and the Future Saviour are first mentioned. (Genesis 1:26 & 3:15) Allon |