John 8:58--perfective or
imperfective?
From: Ron Henzel
<rhenzel@wheaton.edu>
Subject: John 8:58--perfective
or imperfective?
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996
15:32:17 CST6CDT):
> . . . .
>In fact, I can't think of any better and more concise
>way that Jesus *could* have stated the fact of His own eternal
>existence, can you?
>
Ron Henzel in effect asks Mitchell if he knows a better way Jesus might have
declared himself to be one who has been in existence eternally prior to
Abraham's birth -- "better," that is, than that which we read at John 8:58.
Well, assuming for the sake of argument that Jesus had as much to declare,
then we might offer that Jesus could have said the following:
PRO PANTOS TOU AIWNOS EGW EIMI.
"I have been in existence from all past eternity."
And that would have logically covered not only the fact of his pre-Abrahamic
existence, but would have also given us the thing that Ron Henzel argues per
his words we have quoted above.
Al Kidd