Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
BibleBeliever said it best: " A text without a context is a pretext."
Never is this so true as with the Greek word " eimi" translated literally as " I am" in John chapters 8 and 9. John 8.57-58 "The Jews then said to Jesus, you are not yet 50 yo, and you have seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."
John 9.8-9 "The neighbors therefore, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, said, is this not the one who used to sit and beg? Some said, It is he: others said, No, but he is like him. He said, I am."
The actual text within the contexts here tells us everything. In both situations here, the responders were asked very different questions.
The blind man said " eimi" to the question whether he was the blind beggar at the pool of Siloam. He said " I am."
Jesus, however, did not answer the question, "have you seen Abraham?" with, "yes, of course, I visited Abraham to announce the birth of Isaac," (Gen 18) rather He replied simply " I am." This absolutely shocked the Jews. They knew exactly what He meant. Jesus identified Himself with Moses at the burning bush in the wilderness. The Jews then immediately tried to stone Jesus for saying this.
" A text without a context is a pretext." Therefore, the same text in a different context yields a totally unique meaning and significance.
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I think you are saying "they knew exactly what He meant" to mean "they thought He claimed to be God", am I correct in understanding you? If I'm not reading accurately, please correct me.
That was their thought, as shown in John 10. But that was their wrong thought. They told Him they were stoning Him because He claimed to be God, and He responded that He stated He is the Son of God.
I do understand the link to Abraham and I AM, but Jesus stated explicitly two chapters later that His claim was to the Son of God, not to God.
Jesus isn't saying here that He was the God who told Abraham that His name is "I AM". Jesus is saying that before Abraham even existed, Jesus existed. And that's supported by other Scripture - God created everything through Jesus, so Jesus existed before creation.....which includes before Abraham.