From: Bruce Terry (terry@bible.acu.edu)
Date: Fri Sep 29 1995 - 12:34:13 EDT
On Thu, 28 Sep 1995, >Jim McGuire wrote:
>On 9-28-95, Bruce Terry wrote:
>
><<Apparently you missed the discussion earlier this year in which it was
>pointed
>out that the LXX of Ex. 3:14 has hO WN used alone of God rather than EGW
>EIMI.
>First it says EGW EIMI hO WN "I am the Being" and then it says hO WN
>APESTALKEN ME PROS hUMAS "The Being sent me to you." However, this is not
>the
>equivalent of Yahweh; that in verse 15 is KURIOS.>>
>
>Bruce, you are disagreeing with scholars greater than me on this issue. A.T.
>Robertson comments on John 8:58 saying, "Undoubtedly here Jesus claims
>eternal existence iwth the absolute phrase used of God" (Word Pictures in the
>New Testament, Vol. V, pp. 158-9). Even in John 8:24, he says, "Jesus seems
>to claim absolute divine being as in 8:58" (p. 146).
>
>As for this use in the LXX of the Old Testament, see Deuteronomy 32:39. An
>astounding similar phrase occurs in Isaiah 43:10 where the very words occur
>HINA PISTEUSETE---HOTI EGO EIMI. Furthermore, Kittel regards the same
>quoting Isaiah 43:10 as well. He says, "He is equal with the Father....The
>point is not Jesus' self-identification as the Messiah ("I am he") but his
>supratemporal being" (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Abridged in
>One Volume, ed. by Geoffrey W. Bromiley, p. 207).
>
>Such noteable scholarship as Baur, Arndt, and Gingrich include the LXX of
>Exodus 3:14 in the same section as John 8:58, discussing EGO EIMI used its
>reference to God (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 223).
(with egg on my face)
Jim, where were you and Larry in the discussion earlier this year? Thanks for
the passages in Deut. and Isa. where EGW EIMI is used in the LXX of God;
however, I note in my defense that in neither place does EGW EIMI translate
)HYH (Hebrew for "I am" and probable cognate with YHWH "Yahweh"). And while I
was wrong on EGW EIMI (although note that I pointed out that it once
translates )HYH in Ex. 3:14), I still maintain that it is KURIOS (and
sometimes QEOS) that translates YHWH in the LXX, not EGW EIMI.
I have no quarrel with the idea that John 8:24 and 58 are references to the
divinity of Jesus; certainly 8:58 is at the very least a claim for his
pre-existence (cf. 1:1). I do have qualms about Jesus' saying "it's me" as he
walks on the water being a claim for divinity. The same words in different
contexts do not always mean the same things.
********************************************************************************
Bruce Terry E-MAIL: terry@bible.acu.edu
Box 8426, ACU Station Phone: 915/674-3759
Abilene, Texas 79699 Fax: 915/674-3769
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