>Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>I'd like a bit of clarification on (6) to be certain that I've
>understood you rightly. What are you saying about the EGW EIMI
>statements in John's gospel, for instance.
You actually raise a number of interesting questions in the rest of your
(deleted) comments. I have to admit that I had a brief flicker of a
thought about EGW EIMI in John, but only a fleeting flicker and ruled it
out without any serious thought. But you caught me!
First, to clarify, I was thinking specifically of less interesting
passages where AUTOS (or other pron.) is found as the subject of a
predication (with a predicate nom.) with no apparent emphasis. E.g.,
AUTOS ESTIN O MELLWN LUTROUSQAI TON ISRAEL (Luke 24:21). My guess is
that in Koine AUTOS would provided clarification, avoiding the meaning:
"There is one who would redeem Israel." Does modern Greek use AUTOS with
this unemphatic force? There is a possible analogy with hOUTOS or
EKEINOS in the nom. with both non-copulative and copulative verbs.
Now to your interesting points. I personally (along with most NT
scholars it seems) think of those EGW EIMI's in John as formulaic and
allusive to the OT as Ronald Wong mentioned (but see below). There is an
interesting LXX passage: EGW EIMI EGW EIMI KURIOS LALWN DIKAIOSUNHN
(Isa. 45:19; sic!). The second EGW EIMI (EGW/ EIMI in Raulf's by the
way) corresponds to Hebrew "Yahweh," hence the LXX means: "I am 'EGW
EIMI'(=YHWH) who speaks righteousness."
The Exodus passage Ronald Wong brought up is: EGW EIMI hO WN (Exod.
3:14), yet hO WN, not EGW EIMI corresponds to Yahweh here. (hO WN [+ KAI
O HN KAI O ERCOMENOS] is found in the Apocalypse in some structurally
important passages as a title of God.)
Well, there may be more to say, but, mercifully, I must fall into bed
and others may have more profound insights here. Mention of the mountain
of literature on EGW EIMI in John brought to mind that our library new
book rack has title on this very thing (a Ph.D. thesis). Imagine earning
an advanced academic degree studying TWO Greek words!
Cariti,
S. M. Baugh
Westminster Theological Seminary
in California