Ego Eimi - Jn 8,24.28.58
One of the most controversial subjects is meaning of expression “ego eimi”, so I would like to touch on a topic of Jn 8,24; 8,28 and 8,58.
Jn 8, 24 I said therefore to you, that ye shall die in your sins; for unless ye shall believe that I am [he] (ego eimi), ye shall die in your sins. (Darby) In my opinion it isn't good idea to refer this verse to Ex 3,14. The much better verses are:
DBY Deuteronomy 32,39 "See now that I, I am HE (ego eimi - LXX), And there is no god with me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal, And there is none that delivereth out of my hand, " (Darby) and
DBY Isaiah 43,10 "Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I [am] HE (ego eimi - LXX): before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. (Darby) Let's notice, that both JHVH and Jesus said ego eimi, but they didn't say who they are! Nobody in Bible uses such expresions. Until now people don't know what those words mean. Some say that ego eimi in this verse means “I am true God”, some say those words show us God's existence (He is) in contrast to false gods that don't exist. Some say, that those words summarize next words "before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me". Some have other ideas that are as good as the previous ones. Very similar situation we have in Jesus words' case. Nobody knew what he meant. This mysticism is confirmed by the nearest context:
NIV John 8:25 "Who are you?" they asked. [...] It is seen that Jews didn't understand His words.
At this moment Jesus answers in a very mistical way:
ten archen ho ti kai lalo hymin Those words are mistic because there can be a few ways of translating this verse:
NLT John 8:25 "Tell us who you are," they demanded. Jesus replied, "I am the one I have always claimed to be.
NRS John 8:25 They said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "Why do I speak to you at all? Both method are correct. it is possible to say (as one Polish Bible Biblia Poznanska says), that Jesus is JHVH about whom he just spoke (JHVH is a synonym for the word "God")
A few verses later we have a very similar words of Jesus:
NRS John 8:28 So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he (Greek ego eimi), and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. Jesus again says ego eimi not saying who He is!
At the third time we have the climax:
Jn 8,56-58 (YLT)
56 Abraham, your father, was glad that he might see my day; and he saw, and did rejoice.'
57 The Jews, therefore, said unto him, 'Thou art not yet fifty years old, and Abraham hast thou seen?'
58 Jesus said to them, 'Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham's coming -- I am;' In verse 58 Jesus again says ego eimi that means "I am". Jesus Christ could have said ego emen to say that He was. JW say that Jews wanted to stone him because He said that He was older than Abraham. In their opinion that statement was a blasphemy. But they don't notice that that "blaspemy" was in verse 56!
56 Abraham, your father, was glad that he might see my day; and he saw, and did rejoice.' Why in that moment they didn't take stones to kill Him? The next verse doesn't show us that Jews were getting more angy. They did understand Jesus' words as shown in the next verse. In my opinion Jews said those words in a ironic/deriding tone of voice
57 The Jews, therefore, said unto him, 'Thou art not yet fifty years old, and Abraham hast thou seen?' And then:
58 Jesus said to them, 'Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham's coming -- I am;' At that moment when they for the third time heard those strange words that that time were't gramaticly correct they finaly understood what he meant saying ego eimi. They understood that He meant something more than His age. They reaction was immediate.
59 they took up, therefore, stones that they may cast at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went forth out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. We can see that it is the context which makes those words ego eimi mistical. Translating those words into "I was" or "I have been" translators show their misunderstanding of this fragment by narrowing their consideration down to only one verse. If they had though over this situation for a moment they wouldn't have stripped it of its mysticism. If John had wanted to mention that Jesus only was older than Abraham he would have used ego emen not ego eimi.
But non-trinitarians don't give up yet. What do they do to challenge that idea:
1. They show us, that those words ego eimi aren't mystical and don't mean "I am God". As examples they show us those verses:
NIV Luke 24,37-39
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?
39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself (ego eimi)! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."
Jn 9,8-9
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?"
9 Some claimed that he was. Others said, "No, he only looks like him." But he himself insisted, "I am the man (ego eimi)" There isn't any mysticism in those verses. It is seen that not always ego eimi must refer to calling oneself "God". But their argumentation isn't good, because these ego eimi differ from those in Jn 8,24.28.58. Meaning of these verses (Luke 24,37-39 and Jn 9,8-9) is explained by the context. In Luke 24,37 the disciples weren't sure if it was Jesus, so He dispeled their doubts by saying "It is I myself (ego eimi)". The same is in Jn 9,9 - People weren't sure if it was the same man, so he annouced that it was him (ego eimi). But in Jn 8,14.28 Jesus' words aren't explained by the context which is confirmed by Jews' question "Who are you?".Nobody else used such expression ego eimi not explained by the context exept Jesus and JHVH. But in Jn 8,58 although ego eimi is explained by the context there is something else that makes those words mystical - it is the incorrect grammatical form. It wasn't a mistake made by John, because John shows us the result of Jesus' statement.(Jn 8,59).
2. They want to show us that this verse is gramaticaly correct. In their opinion John used ego eimi, present tense, to say that Jesus existed before Abraham and continued to exist up to the moment of speaking and was still continuing to exist. But this argument is funny. Wouldn't Jews have guessed that Jesus existed at the time of speaking? Was this information necessary for Jews to know that? Nonsense. Have a look at the verse they give us as an example:
YLT John 15:27 and ye also do testify, because from the beginning ye are (present tense) with me.
NIV John 15:27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. They argue that a very similar situation in in verse Jn 8,58, where Jesus says that he existed before Abraham and continues his existence up to the moment of speaking. But to be sure they are wrong, because we have in verse Jn 8,58 construction with word "before" (Greek prin). When we use this word we have to use proper tenses that makes a correct chronology of events. When something happens before someting else which is expressed as the past it also has to be expressed as the past. Let's look at this fragment:
NIV John 1:15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was (Greek en - imperfectum - past tense) before me.'" In this verse, as we see, past tense is used although Jesus existed when John said those words. So we have here the same situation as in verse Jn 8,58, but other grammatical construction. John said that before he was Jesus was, but Jesus said that He is before Abraham was.
3. Non-trinitarians quote a verse which has the same grmmatical constriction as the verse in Jn 8,58:
NIV Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you But in LXX we have "know" not "knew".
pro tou me plasai se en koilia epistamai se the verb plasai is in past tense, but the verb epistamai is in present tense. But non-trinitarians showing us this verse trap themselves. Why? Because they show us next similarity between Jesus and JHVH. Such constrution was used in reference to both Jesus and JHVH only. It was used to show that their existence didn't have the begining.
4. Non-trinitarians quote two parallel verses, to show that ego eimi means "I am Christ":
NIV Mark 13:6 Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,(ego eimi)' and will deceive many.
NIV Luke 21:8 He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,(ego eimi)' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them.
NIV Matthew 24:5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ (ego eimi ho christos),' and will deceive many. But it isn't good idea to identify one thing with something else quoting parallel verses. If we look at some parallel fragment we will see something suprising:
Mt 8,5-13
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.
6 "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."
7 Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."
8 The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour. And:
Luke 7,2-6
2 There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die.
3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.
4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this,
5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue."
6 So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. We can see that centurion isn't the same as elders of the Jews. If we looked at verses such as Mt 20:20-21 and Mk 10:35-37 we would say that mother of Zebedee's sons is the same as Zebedee's sons. If we looked at verses such as J 12,3 and Mt 26:7 we would say that "head" and "legs" are the same. Those verses say that the false prophets who will come in the name of Jesus will use His titles such us "I am he" and "I am the Christ".
Translated on 06-June-2004 form my Polish article:
http://www.trynitarysci.republika.pl/artykuly/gz/egoeimigz.html
This article is also here:
http://www.trinitarians.republika.pl/articles/gz/egoeimigz.html
Greg Zebrowski (Poland)