From: George Goolde (goolde@mtnempire.net)
Date: Wed Dec 22 1999 - 17:34:59 EST
<x-flowed>At 02:48 PM 12/22/99 -0800, you wrote:
>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.
Which shows that we all have theological presuppositions which sometimes
color our understanding of the Greek text.
George
George A. Goolde
Professor, Bible and Theology
Southern California Bible College & Seminary
El Cajon, California
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