I AM HE or I AM?

[MissKate13]

Ego Eimi = I AM
There is no HE. It simply means.I AM.

There are several instances in John where Jesus applies to Himself the same expression that God used at the burning bush: “I AM.” (Exodus 3:14)

(John 8:24). The word “He” is in italics indicating the translators’ insertion. However, in keeping with the theme of John, as well as the immediate context, its insertion is unwarranted and obscures the power of Jesus’ statement. He was, in fact, forthrightly declaring His deity to the hard-hearted Jews by identifying Himself with the same Deity that Moses encountered at the burning bush.

This fact is evident in the context. Three verses later, in John 8:28, Jesus again states I AM. Translators place the “He” in italics.

For a third time, in John 8:58 , Jesus pointedly presses the fact to bring closure to His confrontation: Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

The Jews correctly understood that Jesus was making a direct claim to Deity, evidenced by the fact that they prepared to execute Him for the capital crime of blasphemy.

In John 4:19, Jesus stresses the same point to the Samaritan woman. The translators again add “He” following “I AM” Jesus was connecting Himself the the “I AM” of the burning bush.

The apostles were gripped by fear for their lives, seeing Jesus walking on the water toward their boat. “But He said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid’” (John 6:20). The English reader would likely never know that the words “It is I” are a translation of the Greek ego eimi, “I am.” Undoubtedly, Jesus was again calling attention to His divinity—as indicated by “I AM. Be not afraid.

”On the occasion when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples in John 13:19, He said to them, “Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He” (John 13:19). The word He was added. Once again, Jesus was deliberately spotlighting His divinity to His disciples by identifying Himself with the burning bush episode. He intended to emphasize to them that they would realize that He is the great “I AM.”

My personal favorite is John 18:4-5. When the mob came to arrest Jesus, He asks, “Whom are you seeking?’ They answered Him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am He’” (John 18:4-5). Once again, “He” is in italics.

Notice the reaction. They drew back and fell to the ground. Remember, that these soldiers were not Romans. They were Jewish soldiers sent by the chief priests and Pharisees. They were well aware of the import of the expression “I AM.”

Jesus enlisted the use of “I am” in seven additional instances when He offered descriptions of His divine nature, each prefaced by EGO EIM.
1. “I am the Bread of Life” (6:35).
2. “I am the Light of the world” (8:12).
3. “I am the Door” (10:9).
4. “I am the Good Shepherd” (10:4).
5. “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (11:25).
6. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (14:6).
7. “I am the Vine” (15:5).
In each of these cases, a feature of Jesus’ Person is spotlighted that can only describe deity. No mere human being can rightfully be said to be the Bread of Life, the Light of the world, etc. These glorious affirmations pertain solely to Christ in His divine state.

Insering the word “He” was not only unnecessary, its insertion obscures and softens the force of Jesus’ claim explicitly linking Himself directly to the statement spoken by God to Moses at the burning bush. Indeed, the very heart and core of Christianity is Christ as the divine Son of God. One cannot even be a Christian unless that divinity is orally confessed prior to conversion (Romans 10:9-10).

Unless you believe Jesus when He says EGO EIMI, translated I AM, you will die in your sins.

[onewithhim]

Peace again to you all,

On another thread someone posted a link to an explanation from 'gotquestions.org'. I was reading through it and came across another example of man adding something that is not in the original text:

Believers today have the very same mission given to us! We are obligated to share the gospel message, the way to heaven, to others in the world, and we go about that mission with the Holy Spirit living inside us, guiding us as we share His truth. We are obligated to tell people the only way to be forgiven is through faith. Jesus said in John 8:24, “If you do not believe that I am (God), you will indeed die in your sins.” This is the very core of the gospel message and the very heart of what we are to explain to the world. It was Jesus’ last command to His followers before He physically left the earth—carry forward the message of hope and save as many as will believe in Him.

https://www.gotquestions.org/John-20-23.html

Please note the bold and underlined script. (God) in brackets is not a part of that verse. Christ did not say "I am God". That is just what some men claim He meant.


I don't know why I was surprised. For some reason I thought it might have been some new fringe thing that people were going around telling other people that unless they believe Christ is God (YHWH), they are going to die in their sins. Yet there on that site it is being taught as if it's commonplace. I don't know who is influencing whom, but either way, this teaching is a lie. There is no point in me repeating the many questions that have gone unanswered in this thread. Those questions are there for anyone to see (or not to see) as they choose. But I personally cannot see the wisdom in going around telling people that they are going to "die in their sins" unless they believe something that even Christ did not teach.

Excellent post! I wonder why, though, you say that questions have gone unanswered. I have posted answers to every question or comment. Some choose not to bother to read them, I would surmise.

[tam]

Peace to you, owh,

Peace again to you all,

On another thread someone posted a link to an explanation from 'gotquestions.org'. I was reading through it and came across another example of man adding something that is not in the original text:

Believers today have the very same mission given to us! We are obligated to share the gospel message, the way to heaven, to others in the world, and we go about that mission with the Holy Spirit living inside us, guiding us as we share His truth. We are obligated to tell people the only way to be forgiven is through faith. Jesus said in John 8:24, “If you do not believe that I am (God), you will indeed die in your sins.” This is the very core of the gospel message and the very heart of what we are to explain to the world. It was Jesus’ last command to His followers before He physically left the earth—carry forward the message of hope and save as many as will believe in Him.

https://www.gotquestions.org/John-20-23.html

Please note the bold and underlined script. (God) in brackets is not a part of that verse. Christ did not say "I am God". That is just what some men claim He meant.


I don't know why I was surprised. For some reason I thought it might have been some new fringe thing that people were going around telling other people that unless they believe Christ is God (YHWH), they are going to die in their sins. Yet there on that site it is being taught as if it's commonplace. I don't know who is influencing whom, but either way, this teaching is a lie. There is no point in me repeating the many questions that have gone unanswered in this thread. Those questions are there for anyone to see (or not to see) as they choose. But I personally cannot see the wisdom in going around telling people that they are going to "die in their sins" unless they believe something that even Christ did not teach.

Excellent post! I wonder why, though, you say that questions have gone unanswered. I have posted answers to every question or comment. Some choose not to bother to read them, I would surmise.

I was referring to questions directed toward the posters who claim that Christ IS God/the I AM/[YHWH]. Those are the questions that have gone unanswered.


Peace again.

[onewithhim]

Peace to you, owh,

Peace again to you all,

On another thread someone posted a link to an explanation from 'gotquestions.org'. I was reading through it and came across another example of man adding something that is not in the original text:

Believers today have the very same mission given to us! We are obligated to share the gospel message, the way to heaven, to others in the world, and we go about that mission with the Holy Spirit living inside us, guiding us as we share His truth. We are obligated to tell people the only way to be forgiven is through faith. Jesus said in John 8:24, “If you do not believe that I am (God), you will indeed die in your sins.” This is the very core of the gospel message and the very heart of what we are to explain to the world. It was Jesus’ last command to His followers before He physically left the earth—carry forward the message of hope and save as many as will believe in Him.

https://www.gotquestions.org/John-20-23.html

Please note the bold and underlined script. (God) in brackets is not a part of that verse. Christ did not say "I am God". That is just what some men claim He meant.


I don't know why I was surprised. For some reason I thought it might have been some new fringe thing that people were going around telling other people that unless they believe Christ is God (YHWH), they are going to die in their sins. Yet there on that site it is being taught as if it's commonplace. I don't know who is influencing whom, but either way, this teaching is a lie. There is no point in me repeating the many questions that have gone unanswered in this thread. Those questions are there for anyone to see (or not to see) as they choose. But I personally cannot see the wisdom in going around telling people that they are going to "die in their sins" unless they believe something that even Christ did not teach.

Excellent post! I wonder why, though, you say that questions have gone unanswered. I have posted answers to every question or comment. Some choose not to bother to read them, I would surmise.

I was referring to questions directed toward the posters who claim that Christ IS God/the I AM/[YHWH]. Those are the questions that have gone unanswered.


Peace again.

Oh yes, I see what you mean. It is true, questions to the posters that claim that Jesus is God have not answered most direct questions.

[MissKate13]

John 8:28
So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and I do nothing on My own, but I say these things as the Father instructed Me. (NASB)

The word “He” has been added to John 8:28 in many translations. This occurs with many other verses (See OP).

Some translators put the word “He” in italics, which shows the reader that the word is not in the original text. Other translators didn’t bother with the italics, making “He” part of the text.

John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham [s]was born, I am.”

The title “I am” is a claim to deity. Jesus is openly saying He is God. His hearers understood. That’s why they tried to kill Him.

Jesus was speaking truth in John 8:24 - anyone who goes down to their grave denying the divinity of Christ, dies in their sin.

[onewithhim]

John 8:28
So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and I do nothing on My own, but I say these things as the Father instructed Me. (NASB)

The word “He” has been added to John 8:28 in many translations. This occurs with many other verses (See OP).

Some translators put the word “He” in italics, which shows the reader that the word is not in the original text. Other translators didn’t bother with the italics, making “He” part of the text.

John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham [s]was born, I am.”

The title “I am” is a claim to deity. Jesus is openly saying He is God. His hearers understood. That’s why they tried to kill Him.

Jesus was speaking truth in John 8:24 - anyone who goes down to their grave denying the divinity of Christ, dies in their sin.

The words in italics round out the meaning of the sentence, as I have posted previously. Just because some people don't bother to read them or perhaps disagree, doesn't make what they say the truth.

Jesus didn't say that he was "I am." He was saying that unless you believe that he is the one sent from God, you will die in your sins. We must read the sentence just ahead of John 8:24. That shows us what he was concentrating on.

"And he was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.'" (John 8:23, NASB) Then he says, to go along with the fact that he is from above: "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." Absolutely making the point that he was from above, and as he said many times, sent from the Father, not that he was the Father, God.

He used "I am" hundreds of times, as did other people in the Scriptures. It is one of the most common expressions in the Bible. As mentioned before, but was ignored, at John 9:9, a few verses after John 8:58, the man who was blind made the same statement that Jesus made, in the exact same words: "I am." He said, "...The man would say: I am [he]." The word "he" is italicized just as it is in John 8:24. If what Jesus said makes him God, then the blind man is also God.

[MissKate13]

[Replying to onewithhim in post #105]

You’re beating a dead horse and wasting your time and mine.

Try as you may, you CANNOT deny the fact that the words recorded by John in 8:24, 28 and many other places in Scripture do not contain the word “He.” It was added by translators.

You can give a million explanations. You can twist and rewrite the Scriptures as much as you want, but you CANNOT change the words that Jesus spoke.

I rest my case. I have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that the word HE is not found in a single extant Greek manuscript in the verses I posted in my OP.

Prove me wrong!

[tam]

Peace to you,

[Replying to MissKate13 in post #104]

John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham [s]was born, I am.”

The title “I am” is a claim to deity. Jesus is openly saying He is God. His hearers understood. That’s why they tried to kill Him.

Then why didn't they try to kill him back in verse 24? Or any other time He said "I am" (with or without another word following that phrase)?

Instead, immediately after He said "ego eimi" at John 8:24, the people asked him "who are you?"

But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am [he], you will indeed die in your sins.”

25 “Who are you?” they asked.

If saying 'ego eimi' was a claim to be God [YHWH], why did they then ask, "who are you?" Why did they not try to stone Him?


Peace again to you,
your servant and a slave of Christ,
tammy

[onewithhim]

[Replying to onewithhim in post #105]

You’re beating a dead horse and wasting your time and mine.

Try as you may, you CANNOT deny the fact that the words recorded by John in 8:24, 28 and many other places in Scripture do not contain the word “He.” It was added by translators.

You can give a million explanations. You can twist and rewrite the Scriptures as much as you want, but you CANNOT change the words that Jesus spoke.

I rest my case. I have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that the word HE is not found in a single extant Greek manuscript in the verses I posted in my OP.

Prove me wrong!

The dead horse is you not willing to think about what I posted. You ignore all of my reasoning. I have proved you wrong more than once. You just don't want to even think about what i"ve said.