question about I AM...?

Question

so here's another thing i don't get about the bible. forgive me if i'm mistaken on this, but as i've been told, biblical scholars have claimed that although jesus never said he is god he used a form of saying I AM that is only used by a person professing to be god. for such a form of the combination of those two words to exist such that it's recognized on such a large scale, doesn't that mean that it was used a lot? for linguists to have determined that there was a special circumstance when to use this form of I AM tells me that a lot more people than just jesus were using it. we don't have that large of a number of people claiming to be god today, hence no use for a special I AM. your thoughts?

Answer 1

The word in Hebrew is YHWH, where we get our Yahweh today. It was also forbidden to say God's name.

The closest intrepretation the scholars could get to was "I AM". When Jesus told the Pharisees that he was "YHWH", it would have been the equivalent of blasphemy - both saying God's name and telling them that He WAS God. That is why they were so horrified. Except that Jesus Christ was actually God, and was therefore not blaspheming. *grin*

EDIT: I would like the poke the answerer just above me and ask him if he thinks this is a half-thought-out answer. XD

Answer 2

I did some research and found that the word used both by God and Jesus is most litteraly translated as "I will be" not am. So, what's going on is that God is saying he is continual, everlasting, and in the same way Jesus is saying he is everlasting. That he was God before, now, and after. As in he is in the process of being, if that makes sense. Right now, you are, you are in the process of "being." Just so, only God can be "being" continually.

If I understood my research correctly, what Jesus was saying was an emphatic form. Just as if you wanted to empasise that YOU won a race. The way most other languages work is that they don't always express the subject, it is contanied in the verb, this is called conjugating. Kinda like using "I, us, you, you all, he/she/it, they) Where as Jesus was expressing it. And in the context of the usage, it was much more him professing to be God than how other people would use it (like I, MYSELF, won the race, as opposed to I won the race.) Take a look at where he's using the "I AM" statements:
I am… bread of life, I am… light of the world, I am… from above, I am… the door, I am… good shepherd, I am… resurrection and the life, I am… way, the truth and the life, I am… true vine, I am… Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty, I am… first and the last, I am… he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, I am… he which searcheth the reins and hearts, I am… root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

He wasn't emphasising himself in something trivial. He was, is, and always will be these things. Hope I helped!

Answer 3

You would have to examine the context in which the phrase is being used in the Gospel of John. It is not being used in the same sense as when someone might say "I am an Englishman" or I am right about that." For example, there is an astounding claim in the Gospel of John that claims that Christ said "Before Abraham was I am." The author of this text is presuming that the reader will be drawn into the potential implications of that kind of statement-- and that because of all the implications, one will understand that Christ is claiming to be God, and using the phrase "I am" to make his point. Further since this kind of reference appears over and over again in the dialogues of the Gospel of John, it becomes fairly clear that the author is using this phrase, not only to advance the drama of the plot, (as if the hearers are saying: "Did he just say what I think he said.") but to make a point about his own theological convictions concerning Christ-- that he believes that he (Christ) is God.

Of course you don't have to believe these claims about Jesus to see how the phrase is being utilized in the Gospel of John as a literary and theological device. One of the drawbacks to all the simplistic biblical literalism that is swimming around in our culture is that the Bible becomes harder and harder to appreciate for one of the things that it is: a highly nunaced theological narrative.

Answer 4

This is taken in this context because when Moses asked God on the mount who shall he say sent him and what shall God becalled God replied "I AM".

The great I AM is God this is God's way of answering who he is. I hits a very cultural historical message to the Jews Jesus was speaking to. He identified himself as the I AM that freed the people and led them to the promised land. In the Jewish culture this is saying " G-D"

Jews to not write his name.

And obviously only applies as this recognition in a cultural context, which every Jew knew who I AM was through their cultural anthropology. Sometimes the most recognized phrases are the ones least used, they have more meaning and draw more attention.

In the end your statement fails to stand up as the significance of I AM is not based on linguistics but on cultural anthropolgy.

Answer 5

It's commonly recognizable because every time they told the story of their deliverance and read their scriptures, that's what they would use to describe God. I AM is how they were to distinguish God from the gods of Egypt.

That is the special use for it. A lot of people used it in that form when referring to God, not in claiming to be God.

Answer 6

God told moses tell the peopl'' I am'' has sent you so that begame the jewish name for God but they did not right it only YHWH which has been translated in several ways yahwah or Jaohva. but I am sure when Jesus used those words he used them in a way that made it clear he was saying he was Good. '' I am the was the truth and the life or God is the way the truth and the life?? but therte are so many places he uses the term I am to make clear he is God.

Answer 7

the Jews responded to Jesus word's by wanting to kill Him. What was it that Jesus said in both cases that brought such a violent reaction? Here they are....

John 8:58-59, "Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." 59Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him;
John 10:30-31, "I and the Father are one." 31The Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
The first time the Jews wanted to kill Jesus was when He said, "Before Abraham was, I am." The second time wasn't until John 10:31 when they again wanted to kill Him after Jesus said, "I and the Father are one."

The Jews knew excactly what Jesus was saying.

....30"I and the Father are one." 31The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" 33The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."

Answer 8

The reason that the Jews picked up stones to kill Jesus was that he invoked the name of I AM and applied it to Himself. They knew exactly what He was saying and considered it to be the ultimate in Blasphemy...It was not in common useage.....it was well know,because this is the name that God ascribed to Himself in the O.T. when speaking with Moses. Jesus shocked and offended the Jews when He declared to them that He was himself the eternal God,living in human flesh.

Answer 9

It is claimed that the term is ego eimi.

Peter used this term in Acts 10:21.

Peter was NOT claiming to be God.

Answer 10

many claimed then and still claim today to be the true God...non have done anything near he greatness Jesus has....