by Ptr. Art Calaguas
Shalom.
Let us review the Greek verse of John 8:58:
εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Ἰησοῦς· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί.
As stated last week, this can formally or quite literally be translated as:
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham came into being, I AM.”
The εγώ εἰμι (I AM) at the end of the statement is like saying the Lord existed before Abraham and because εἰμι is grammatically a present indicative verb with a continuous aspect; it means that he emphatically continues to exist. This is an obvious claim to divinity as it again harks back to Exodus 3:14 as we saw earlier with the other previous εγώ εἰμι declarations. And if he existed before Abraham, it follows that the Lord Jesus existed also before the descendants of Abraham, namely Isaac and then Jacob and so on.
In the Old Testament (OT), the identification of and the continuity and faithfulness of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to their descendants is something all Jews know very well. Exodus 3:15 is foundational for this.
The Hebrew verse of Exodus 3:15 is given as follows:
וַיֹּאמֶר֩ עֹ֨וד אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה כֹּֽה־תֹאמַר֮ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ יְהוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֗ם אֱלֹהֵ֨י אַבְרָהָ֜ם אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִצְחָ֛ק וֵאלֹהֵ֥י יַעֲקֹ֖ב שְׁלָחַ֣נִי אֲלֵיכֶ֑ם זֶה־שְּׁמִ֣י לְעֹלָ֔ם וְזֶ֥ה זִכְרִ֖י לְדֹ֥ר דֹּֽר׃
Here is my formal/literal translation:
And God said again to Moses, “thus you will say to the sons of Israel, the LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, sent me to you; this (is) my name forever and this is my memorial/remembrance for (all) generations.”
Thus, this self-revelation of the LORD God is imprinted in the innermost being of the Jewish people. As a case in point, the Gospel of Matthew narrates that the Sadducees tried to trap the Lord Jesus about the resurrection (since this Jewish party did not believe in resurrection, unlike the Pharisees). The Lord concluded that they did not know the Scriptures nor the power of God, and asserted that resurrection life was different and the resurrected would then be akin to the ἄγγελοι (“angeloi” meaning messengers/angels) of heaven. Then he asked them if they remembered that God had said in the Torah (Matthew 22:32 cf. Mark 12:26-27, Luke 20:37-38):
Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰακώβ… which can be translated as: “I AM the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” The Lord then further told them:
οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ θεὸς νεκρῶν ἀλλὰ ζώντων. This is translated as “He is not the God of (the) dead but of (the) living.”
There are other examples. Acts 3:13 narrates that the Apostle Peter in his sermon at Solomon’s Colonnade (after Pentecost) after the healing of the beggar who was lame from birth declared:
ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ, ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν, ἐδόξασεν τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν,…
This can formally be translated as:
“The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus,…”
We can see the connection of Exodus 3:14 and 3:15 with the absolute εγώ εἰμι (I AM) declaration of the Lord Jesus in John 8:58 and its linkages with other Scriptures. This concept of the LORD God as ever-existing, eternal and timeless is also expressed in Revelation 1:4; 4:8; and 16:5 in an eschatological and apocalyptic framework.
Revelation 1:4 in the Greek and my translation are given as follows:
Ἰωάννης ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησίαις ταῖς ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ• χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἑπτὰ πνευμάτων ἃ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ,…
John, to the seven assemblies (to the ones) in Asia; grace to you (pl) and peace from (the one) who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven spirits which (are) before his throne,…
The highlighted portion (ὁ ὢν – the one who is) is actually found in Exodus 3:14; in the Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation (ca. 250 BC). It is part of the very famous self-identification of the LORD to Moses (“I AM who I AM”). The LXX renders it this way:
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν· καὶ εἶπεν Οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ Ὁ ὢν ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
It can be formally/literally translated this way:
And God said to Moses “I AM the one who is;” and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The one who is has sent me to you.’”
Alternatively, the phrase ““I AM the one who is” can also be rendered “I AM the existing one” or “I AM the one who exists” or “I AM the one being.” It expresses the eternal existence of the LORD God.
Part of Revelation 4:8 in the Greek and a translation are given below:
Ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος κύριος, ὁ θεός, ὁ παντοκράτωρ, ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος.
“Holy, holy, holy LORD, God, the all-ruling, the One having been, and the One being, and the One coming.”
Of course, it could also share the language of Revelation 1:4 and be rendered as:
“Holy, holy, holy LORD, God, the all-ruling, who was, and who is, and who is coming.”
A portion of Revelation 16:5 again quotes (partly) the identification of the LORD God. Here is the Greek portion and my translation:
Δίκαιος εἶ, ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν, ὁ ὅσιος, …
“Righteous are (you), the one who is, and who was, the holy One, …”
Hence, the Apostle John has not only highlighted the self-identification of the Lord Jesus with the Father. He has made it also clear that the Lord Jesus wanted all believers to remember and understand that the LORD God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, is the One who is, the One who was, and the One who is coming.
The Lord would also declare in John 10:30, in only six (6) Greek words that ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν (“I and the Father are one”). And again, as expected, the Ἰουδαῖοι and their cohorts attempted to stone him.
We should note here that the Ἰουδαῖοι and the crowd fully understood what the Lord Jesus said: he and the Father God were not “one person” but “one (something).” Grammatically, the adjective ἕν (“hen” from εἷς “heis”) means simply “one” and is neuter (not masculine, not feminine) and singular. Hence, the claim was not about being one person but rather being one in essence or nature. Truly, it was another way of revealing the “I AM.”
We will continue next week with another εγώ εἰμι declaration.
God bless us all.