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Re: John 8:58



On Wed, 30 Nov 1994, Gregory Jordan (ENG) wrote:

> 
> On Wed, 30 Nov 1994, Leroy Huizenga 1996 wrote:
> 
> > I do not believe that Jesus limits himself to being only the Son of 
> > Yahweh. In John 8:58 Jesus appears to claim the name of God - Before 
> > Abraham was, I am." The Greek is egw eimi - with the emphatic "I". Is 
> > this not the greek equivalent to YHWH - "I Am (what I am)"?
> 
> Yes, although a person who spoke only Greek would not get the yihyeh-Yahweh 
> pun and so see a proper name here.
> 

I'm about to show my ignorance here, maybe someone can help set me 
straight.  My understanding is that it is generally accepted that Jesus 
spoke Aramaic, language related to Hebrew.  Assuming that John is 
recording a translation of an accurate story about what Jesus said and not 
just making up the story or writing some later myth, can we assert that 
the listeners could pick up the pun?
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