Ex. 3:14 And God saith unto Moses, ‘I AM THAT WHICH I AM;’
This is one of several verses in the Bible that can be translated into English in different ways. The common translation (above) is very convienent for our language - especially when Jesus then uses the *very* common words "I am" - words that seem to magically take on special meaning only when said by Jesus.
The most 'honest' translation of Ex. 3:14 I've seen is "I will be what I will be". Why don't we see this more? Because then Jesus' words "I am" loose their significance.
Oh boy! I see I'm going to have to untangle a bit of a knot (which will take some time).
The reason we don't see it more is because that translation wouldn't make any sense in its context. It has nothing to do with
theological convenience as I'll show shortly. You are echoing watchtower arguments, but are as unaware of the Hebrew language as they are. Hebrew verbs are interesting in that their tenses are often implied through context rather than grammar. IOW, hebrew tenses are often understood through
exegesis. Ironic, I know.
Hebrew is not as precise a language as greek, but this passage is very easy to translate. All you need to do is look at the context. Your rendering would not coherently answer the question the Israelites were going to ask Moses: “What IS the name for this God?” Do you really think “I will be” answers this?
I'm not sure of your sources, but it really doesn't matter. You might find it interesting that the Septuagint Jews who lived much closer to the time this passage was written (about 200 years before Christ) did not translate this as a future tense. They understood the hebrew language better than any source you could possible cite and they used the same exact tense John used. It is also important to note that their translation of the O.T. was the one that was used by Jesus, John and the Jews who were listening. The connection here is undeniable and
theological bias could hardly be charged to these pre-christian Jews.
That doesn't really answer my question, though. I really don't want to get into a debate on the differences why we can read the same verses and draw different conclusions.
Believe me I can understand your desire to divert from this passage, as this one explicitly addresses my answer. For that reason I'll have to keep you here at least until you understand its significance.
This statement by Jesus is very revealing, even in and of itself without the Exodus 3:14 context. He uses two different verbs to contrast two different kinds of
existence—His and Abraham's. To describe Abraham's he uses the verb
genesthai which carries the idea of beginning or coming into existence. He was conveying the fact that Abraham came into existence at a particular point in time—that he actually had a beginning. But then of Himself He used the verb
eimi the present tense form of
to be (I AM). This merely conveys the idea of existence or being. Had Jesus merely wanted to convey that He was
brought into existence sometime before Abraham (as you and JW's believe), He would have used the same verb. “Before Abraham came into existence,
I came into existence.” But instead He used a contrasting verb expressing His particular type of existence. “Before Abraham came into existence,
I am!”
In light of this, it’s very clear why the Jews were picking up stones. It was obvious to them Jesus was committing the blasphemy of claiming to be the eternal uncreated being, which could only be God. He was claiming to be the I AM of the Septuagint Old Testament.
So why does Jesus HAVE to be God?
Again my answer: Because scripture says He was, and also says that you must believe it in order to be saved.
John 8:24 I said, therefore, to you, that ye shall die in your sins, for if ye may not believe that I am [he], ye shall die in your sins.’ (note: the “he” is not in the original greek)
You see, God is not only the author of mankind, but He is also the author of our redemption. To attribute our redemption to a created being attributes the authorship of our redemption to a creature. But this would go against the testimony of scripture.
Is. 43:11 I, even I, am the LORD, And besides Me there is no savior.
Jesus made it clear this was not the case and conveyed the consequences of failing to acknowledge Him for who He is.
I really hope you take this to heart.
