黄瓜视频

It is commonly claimed that when Jesus used the phrase 鈥淚 am鈥� (峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�, ego eimi), he was making a direct reference to the name of God in the Old Testament, YHWH. There is some truth to this, but I want to suggest three important caveats to this claim:

1. 鈥淚 am鈥� (峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�), by itself, is not a code for the name of God;
2. 鈥淚 am鈥� is only intended to refer to deity in some of Jesus鈥� sayings;
3. Paying too much attention to the 鈥淚 am鈥� part of the sentence distracts readers from paying attention to the rest of the sentence.

1. 鈥淚 am鈥� (峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�), by itself, is not a code for the name of God

It is true that an important passage in Exodus uses 鈥淚 am鈥� to refer to God.

God said to Moses, "I AM who I AM"; and he said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" (Exod 3:14; the 鈥渁ll caps鈥� is one way that modern Bibles represent the phrase in this verse)

In Hebrew, the phrase 鈥淚 am鈥� (讗侄纸讛职讬侄謻讛 , ehyeh), is linguistically related to God鈥檚 name, 讬讛讜讛 (YHWH, often represented in English as Yahweh or Jehovah). Many Hebrew scholars suggest that YHWH means something like 鈥渢he one who is.鈥� In fact, the Septuagint (ancient Greek translations of the OT, widely used by early Jews and Christians) did not translate the second 讗侄纸讛职讬侄謻讛 in Exodus 3:14 as 峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�, but rather as 峤� 峤⑽�, 鈥渢he one who is.鈥�

The Hebrew word 鈥淚 am鈥� (讗侄纸讛职讬侄謻讛 , ehyeh), however, is not a code word or a technical title for God. It is often used by God in the Old Testament, but rarely as his title. It is used by many people simply to refer to themselves. Jephthah (Jdg 11:9), Ruth (Ruth 2:13), David (1 Sam 18:18), Jonathan, (1 Sam 23:17), Hushai (2 Sam 16:18), Job (Job 12:4) and many others use it to refer to themselves. It is a quite normal way to say 鈥淚 am鈥� for anyone.

In the New Testament, 峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉� is used by Jesus, Judas (Matt 26:25), Gabriel (Luke 1:19), the blind man (John 9:9), Peter (Acts 10:21) and Paul (Acts 22:3, 26:29, Rom 11:13, 1 Tim 1:15), always to refer to themselves. This matches the use in Greek outside the NT. The Septuagint uses 鈥淚 am鈥� (峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�) in very normal ways. God uses the phrase often, but so does Jacob (Gen 27:32), Deborah (Jdg 5:3), Gideon (Jdg 6:15) and others. As I have searched through other works written in ancient Greek (Philo, the Pseudepigrapha, Plato and other philosophers), I have run across many such ordinary occurrences of 峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�.

So, since 峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉� usually has a very ordinary meaning, it can only refer to deity if something significant in the context leads us to believe that deity is suggested.

2. 鈥淚 am鈥� is only intended to refer to deity in some of Jesus鈥� sayings.

What makes 鈥淚 am鈥� distinctive in God鈥檚 declaration to Moses (Exod 3:14) is that it doesn鈥檛 have a predicate nominative. (If you鈥檝e forgotten your high school grammar, the predicate nominative is the second half of the sentence; for example, 鈥淚 am the good shepherd.鈥�). 鈥淪ay to the children of Israel: I AM has sent you.鈥� There are three times in the Gospel of John when Jesus says 鈥淚 am鈥� without a predicate nominative. These passages seem to be more about Jesus鈥� deity than all the other 鈥淚 am鈥� sayings in John.

• 鈥淭hey saw Jesus walking on the sea鈥� and they were frightened. But he said to them, 鈥淚t is I (峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�); do not be afraid.鈥濃€� (John 6:19-20)
• 鈥淭ruly, truly I say to you: before Abraham was, I am (峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�).鈥� (John 8:58)
• 鈥淛esus said to [the soldiers], 鈥淲hom do you seek?鈥� They answered 鈥淛esus of Nazareth.鈥� Jesus answered 鈥淚 am he (峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�).鈥� 鈥� when Jesus said to them 鈥淚 am he (峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�),鈥� they retreated and fell to the ground鈥� Jesus answered 鈥淚 told you that I am he (峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�).鈥濃€� (John 18:6-8)

In each of these three, the context suggests that Jesus鈥� deity is implied. In John 6:19, the phrase 鈥渨alking on the sea鈥� (蟺蔚蟻喂蟺伪蟿慰峥ξ较勎� 峒愊€峤� 蟿峥喯� 胃伪位峤毕兿兾废�) is probably an allusion to God walking on the sea (蟺蔚蟻喂蟺伪蟿峥段解€� 峒愊€峤� 胃伪位峤毕兿兾废� ) in Job 9:8. Jesus鈥� use of 峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉� and 鈥渄o not be afraid鈥� seems to further draw attention to his deity. In John 8:58, Jesus鈥� description of his preexistence, combined with the bare 峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�, is also clearly about his deity. The repetition of 峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉� in John 18:6-8, and its stunning effect on the soldiers, also implies Jesus鈥� deity.

In Jesus鈥� other, more famous 鈥淚 am鈥� sayings, the emphasis is often not on his deity, but on some other important aspect of Jesus鈥� identity. For example, when Jesus says 鈥淚 am the true vine and my Father is the gardener鈥� (John 15:1), his claim focuses not on his deity, but on the idea that he is the only vine that God tends, and so branches can only experience genuine life and the Father's pruning if they are attached to Jesus, the true vine. In fact, the vine was a symbol of Israel, and so Jesus was claiming to be the true source of life in place of Israel.

The church fathers (pastors and theologians of the first five centuries) agree with this assessment. Several of the church fathers pointed out the implicit claims to deity in the 鈥淚 am鈥� sayings in John 6:19-20, 8:58, and 18:6-8 (discussed above). But when they preached or wrote about the seven 鈥淚 am鈥� sayings, the church fathers did not pay any attention to the 鈥淚 am鈥� part of the seven sayings. They only saw significance in the titles: true vine, bread of life, good shepherd, way, light of the world. None of them made any sort of connection between the seven 鈥淚 am鈥� sayings and God鈥檚 use of "I am" in Exodus 3:14. This is significant because many of the church fathers spoke Greek as their native language. Their nearness to the time of the New Testament also meant that they had less of a historical / cultural gap to bridge.

3. Paying too much attention to the 鈥淚 am鈥� causes readers to ignore the rest of the sentence.

I have often noticed, when listening to sermons or reading student papers about 鈥淚 am鈥� sayings in John, that there is so much focus on the 鈥淚 am鈥� part, and its purported reference to deity, that the actual claims found in the rest of the sentence are overlooked. These claims (bread of life, good shepherd, door, life, etc.), while consistent with Jesus鈥� deity, are usually about some other nuance of Jesus鈥� identity. I鈥檒l talk more about these claims in my next few posts.

To sum up: the gospels clearly teach about Jesus鈥� deity. But that doesn鈥檛 mean that everything Jesus says is about his deity! 鈥淚 am鈥� (峒愇诚� 蔚峒拔嘉�) is such a common phrase that it cannot be taken as some sort of code word that always refers to deity. The tendency to see it as a code often keeps people from paying careful attention to Jesus鈥� actual claims.