Skip Moen, Ph.D.

And Elohim said to Moses, I am the one being. And he said, Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, The one being had sent me to you. Exodus 3:14 LXX

I am the one being – Hinneni. “Here I am” is the common Hebrew expression for humbly identifying oneself in conversation. There is a Greek equivalent. Ego eimi is the Greek expression for self-identification. We find it in the mouth of Judas (Matthew 26:25), Paul (1 Timothy 1:15) and John the Baptist (John 1:27). Notice that the translation of this Exodus passage in Greek (the LXX) employs ego eimi. But ego eimi is not the divine name. That’s why the translators of the Hebrew text in the LXX added the Greek words ho on, rendering the expression “I am the one” or “I am the one being.” The addition of ho on was necessary in order to distinguish the common identifier from the special case associated with Yehovah.

Here’s the point. Ego eimi is no grounds at all for the claim that when Yeshua uses it he is declaring himself to be Elohim. Consistent exegesis of the phrase would require that John, Paul and Judas were also making the claim and that is obviously not true. And the Greek text of the New Testament does not add ho on. So why do some theologians suggest that in this instance Yeshua is employing the divine name? Because they read the text according to a theological commitment. What’s even more important is that the Greek rendition of the divine name is not ego eimi. Furthermore, “I am that I am” is not the proper translation of the Exodus passage from Hebrew. The Hebrew is a future tense, so that the statement from Yehovah “was not intended as a name, but as a declaration of the certain fulfillment of all the promises of Elohim.”[1] We can think of this in the context of Moses’ request for Elohim to provide him with proof that he is actually being commissioned. Yehovah replies, in effect, “After you have done what I ask you will know that I sent you because you will end up right here again.” The “name” is an announcement of fulfillment. As we have noted in the past, the Paleo-Hebrew combination doesn’t yield Yehovah. The Hebrew is ehyeh asher ehyeh, literally Aleph-Hey-Vav-Hey). It’s difficult if not impossible to conflate the Hebrew announcement with the Greek identifier.

What did Yeshua mean when he used ego eimi? How about this: “I am the one you are speaking to (about).” That’s precisely the use of the term in John 4 when he addressed the woman at the well. He claims to be the Messiah, not to be Elohim. Isn’t it likely that the same logic should be used when we read the other so-called “I AM” statements? Would any Greek reader in the first century (let alone any Hebrew speaker) think that ego eimi was a divine appellation? Obviously, not. So we must ask, “Why do some Christian apologists use this argument for the divinity of the Messiah?” The idea started somewhere. Do you know where?

[1] John Pye Smith, Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, p. 161.