Jesus the poached egg?
by Donald E. Hester
on Jan 04
in Apologetics
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Donald E. Hester
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I was talking with a friend of mine concerning Jehovah's Witness and Muslim view on the divinity of Jesus. Having discussed this with Jehovah's Witness (JW) friends of mine in the past, this one area is the central division between JW doctrine and that of other Christians (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant). You see you really can't say that Jesus of Nazareth was just a prophet or a great moral teacher if he claimed to be God. He either is or is not God. If He is not God and He claims to be, He is a lair and not to be trusted as a prophet or great moral teacher. In fact a prophet who lies should be put to death (Deu 18: 20-22).
My JW and Muslim friends say that Jesus of Nazareth never claimed to be God. I believe that He did. In the Torah (Hebrew scriptures or Old Testament) God said his name was 'I am who I am', and 'I am has sent you' (Ex 3:14)[other examples in Duet 32:39, Ezekiel 33:29]. Jesus claims to be God in John 8:58 when Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” In addition, when being questioned by the high priest at His trial in Mark 14:62; when asked if he was the Messiah (Christos), Jesus answered, ego eimi or "I am". The ego eimi 'I am' phrase was understood by those around him as a claim of divinity. In John 8:59 they picked up stones to kill him for blasphemy and Caiaphas the high priest in Mark 14 tore off his clothes (a sign of indignation and outrage) and his statements indicates that he considered Jesus statement to clearly be blasphemy and asked for His execution (Lev 24:15-16).
Eipen autois ho Iesous Amen amen lego humin prin Abraam genesthai ego eimiGreek test for John 8:58
Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."John 8:58 (NASB)
One interesting note is that in Jewish custom there is no expectation that the Messiah be God. Had Jesus said 'yes' instead of 'I am' it would not have been blasphemy. Not only did Jesus say 'I am' but then he goes further to say He will be seated on the right hand of the God. By going further, with the right-hand stuff, made it crystal clear what He was saying.
Jewish (Septuagint) and Christian writers of the time used eimi, especially in the participial form 'on', as an attribute of God. Outside of the Bible, this term is used by Philo and Josephus for God. In context of the culture at the time, His statements were a clear claim to divinity.
I understand why my Muslim friends come to this conclusion as they rely on the later Koran as their inspired book. I didn't understand why my JW friends, who use the same Bible, come to a different conclusion. This is a level of cognitive dissonance that I don't understand. In the New World Translation of the Bible (JW translation) John 8:58 is translated "Most truly I say to you, before Abraham came into existence, I have been." When you talk to a JW they will point out that it is not 'I am' and that everyone else mistranslates it. Stop the bus! No matter which translation you use Jesus claims to have existed be for Abraham! I am not going to argue this point, it seems fairly obvious, but it also leaves the meaning open to interpretation. What I want to do is look at their own books. In 'The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures' put out by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1969 the Greek for John 8:58 is "Eipen autois ho Iesous Amen amen lego humin prin Abraam genesthai ego eimi" and under 'ego eimi' is written 'I am' not 'I have been'. Why did the New World Bible Translation Committee have 'I am' under the Greek words ego eimi and in the English only column 'I have been'?
In conclusion, we know that these few cited examples Jesus is claiming divinity. Because 1). The phrase he used was used in the Septuagint for God calling Himself 'I am' 2.) Those who heard Him say the words understood the context and wanted to kill Him for it 3.) Ancillary statements along with the 'I am' statements claim He existed before Abraham and would sit on the right-hand of God, further clarify the meaning.
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." C. S. Lewis
The picture is of the The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures on John 8:58.
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