From: Steven Craig Miller (scmiller@www.plantnet.com)
Date: Wed Dec 22 1999 - 13:48:22 EST
<x-flowed>To: Carl W. Conrad,
<< One could say, "I was," but I think that "I am" captures the paradoxical
sense that the statement presents. If one is willing to sacrifice the
structure of the Greek and reformulate the content, I think one might
write, "My existence antedates the birth of Abraham." Come to think of it,
that reformulation fits the old observation (which is at least partly true,
as anyone who has had to memorize Greek verb paradigms is well aware) that
English tends to express major notions with nouns while Greek tends to
express major ideas with verbs. >>
Perhaps, but EGW EIMI is just a common phrase which often in both Classical
Greek and the NT simply means nothing more than "I am he" (assuming a male
speaker). There is nothing in the Grammar of this Greek text which
necessarily demands understanding this text to suggests pre-existence. One
could just as easily interpret this passage to mean (something like):
"before Abraham was, I was appointed to this task" (literally: "Before
Abraham was, I am he").
On the other hand, I will concede the fact that the phrase PRIN ABRAAM
GENESQAI makes understanding the text somewhat difficult. Exactly what was
before Abraham? Your interpretation assumes that it was the individual or
person of Jesus which preexisted before Abraham. My interpretation merely
assumes that the appointment of the person Jesus for God's task preexisted
before Abraham.
-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller@www.plantnet.com
Disclaimer: "I'm just a simple house-husband (with no post-grad degree),
what do I know?"
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