From: Wayne Leman (wayne_leman@sil.org)
Date: Sat Aug 18 2001 - 12:33:08 EDT
>
> If this is correct, then the appropriate translation would be:
>
> "Before Abraham came into existence, I AM"
Richard, although I personally think your translation here is reasonable
(and it is the one I was taught in Sunday School and Bible school), it seems
to me that we are applying a theological presupposition to the Greek here,
especially since you uppercased "I AM". I am personally comfortable with the
theological *possibility* that Jesus was identifying himself as the eternal
YHWH here, but I don't think it can be proven from the Greek of this
passage.
Go just a few verses further in John to chapter 9:9, where the blind man
that was healed ends his statement just as Jesus did, EGW EIMI. If we are
going to be consistent, analyzing only the Greek, it would seem to me that
we would need to consider the possibility that this be translated to English
as:
He kept saying, "I AM."
But I think most of us would consider this a statement of blasphemy (yes, I
know, the actions of those around Jesus in the context of John 8:58 pushes
me toward interpreting those actions as indicating their sense that what
Jesus said was also blasphemy, but I suppose other explanations can be found
for what might have been going on in the situation). I think we have
probably moved into that gray area discussing the theology of the Greek
text, rather than just focusing on the grammar and lexicon of the Greek text
itself, and Carl or Carlton may ask us to close down the theological
discussion in this thread pretty soon.
Wayne
-----
Wayne Leman
Cheyenne website: http://www.mcn.net/~wleman/cheyenne.htm
Bible translation website: http://www.geocities.com/bible_translation
Family website: http://www.geocities.com/wayne-leman
>
> Yours in His grace,
>
> Richard Ghilardi -- qodeshlayhvh@juno.com
---
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