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Re: Jhn. 1:1 discussion
jordan@chuma.cas.usf.edu (Greg Jordan) wrote:
>On Thu, 1 Dec 1994 Dvdmoore@aol.com wrote:
>> Greeks who were familiar with the Jewish Scriptures in Greek ought to
>> have been able to catch on to what Jesus was saying. Exodus 3:14 in the
LXX
>> reads, "KAI EIPEN O( QEOS PROS MWUSHN E*GW EIMI O( WN.
>The God of the Burning Bush in the Septuagint calls himself _ho On_, as in
>_ho On apestalken me pros humas_ (Ex. 3:14), not _egO eimi_, which is
>used in its ordinary sense: _egO eimi ho On_. This implies that John was
>not using the Septuagint: either a different Greek version, an Aramaic or
>Hebrew version he was translating himself.
I think that a reading of the full context of my post quoted above will
show that it is the use of the Hebrew verb for "to be" that is significant in
the relationship between Jesus' statement in John 8:58 and the Divine Name as
expressed in Ex. 3:14ff. I find that it is not difficult at all for people
with practically no knowledge of Hebrew to understand the relationship
between the Divine Name and the Hebrew verb "to be". In fact, such understand
ing is common among people who lack knowledge of Hebrew whom I know in the
Christian community of today, and I would suppose it is also the case with
those Jewish people who have limited knowledge of Hebrew. So, IMO, Jesus'
use, in an *absolute* sense, of the first person singular of that verb would
not have gone over the heads of Greek-speaking people who were interested
enough in biblical religion to have been reading the Gospel of John. And it
seems safe to assume also, that the people to whom Jesus first made the
statement of John 8:58 - since they were Jews, immersed in the Jewish
religion and Scriptures - would have immediately aprehended that Jesus was
making a statement about His equality with God, no matter whether Jesus spoke
to them in Hebrew or Aramaic.
Greg has mentioned several other points which I haven't time at the
moment to address. I hope they will be addressed in the general discussion,
and that perhaps I may be able to write in reference to them as the thread goe
s on.
David Moore