The

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

term '' Ego eimi'' (Greek Ἐγώ εἰμί, ), literally I am or It is I, is an emphatic form of the copulative verb εἰμι that is recorded in the

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

to have been spoken by

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

on several occasions to refer to himself not with the role of a verb but playing the role of a name, in the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

occurring seven times with specific titles. These usages have been the subject of significant

Christological In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Di ...

analysis.''Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi'' by Karl Rahner 2004 page 1082Hurtado, Larry W. (June 2003). ''Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity''. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans. pages 370–371

New Testament

In the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

, the personal pronoun ἐγώ in conjunction with the present first-person singular copulative εἰμι is recorded to have been used mainly by Jesus, especially in the

. It is used in the Gospel of John both with and without a predicate nominative. The seven occurrences with a predicate nominative that have resulted in some of the titles for Jesus are: :* I am the Bread of Life (John 6:35) :* I am the Light of the World (John 8:12) :* I am the Door (John 10:9) :* I am the

Good Shepherd The Good Shepherd ( el, ποιμὴν ὁ καλός, ''poimḗn ho kalós'') is an image used in the pericope of , in which Jesus Christ is depicted as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Similar imagery is used in Psalm 23 ...

(John 10:11,14) :* I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25) :* I am the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) :* I am

the Vine The True Vine ( ''hē ampelos hē alēthinē'') is an allegory or parable given by Jesus in the New Testament. Found in John , it describes Jesus' disciples as branches of himself, who is described as the "true vine", and God the Father the ...

(John 15:1,5)

Without predicate nominative

"I am" is also used without a predicate nominative, which is not very common in

, thus it is generally interpreted as a self-declaration by Jesus, identifying Himself as God. In John 8:24 Jesus states: "For unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins", and later the crowd attempts to

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

Jesus in response to his statement in John 8:58: "Before Abraham was, I am". Many other translations, including the

American Standard Version The American Standard Version (ASV), officially Revised Version, Standard American Edition, is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901 with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament. The revised New Testament had ...

, have rendered John 8:24 as something like "... For unless you believe that I am e you will die in your sins". Some consider the phrase in John 8:58 to be grammatically different from that in John 8:24, as the copulative verb can be used with any predicative expression and not only a predicate nominative, such as in "ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἦτε" ("where I am, you also may be") in John 14:3. "πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι" ("before Abraham was") can be taken as a predicative prepositional phrase, thus "ἐγώ εἰμὶ" ("I am") in John 8:58 does not grammatically require a predicate nominative, however it is rather unusual for a present tense verb to be used with a temporal adverb like ''πρὶν'' in a declarative statement, though there are rare exceptions outside the New Testament. Thus explanations of John 8:58 generally depend on

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

and not Greek grammar.

With predicate nominative

There are other times the phrase is used in the New Testament, but with a predicate nominative and/or adjectives in between ἐγώ and εἰμι : a

centurion A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...

in Matt 8:9 and Luke 7:8,

Zechariah Zechariah most often refers to: * Zechariah (Hebrew prophet), author of the Book of Zechariah * Zechariah (New Testament figure), father of John the Baptist Zechariah or its many variant forms and spellings may also refer to: People *Zechariah ...

in Luke 1:18,

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ� ...

in Luke 1:19, a man blind from birth in John 9:9 who is healed by Jesus and told to go wash in the

Pool of Siloam The term Pool of Siloam ( ar, بركه سلوان, he, בריכת השילוח, ''Breikhat HaShiloah'') ( gr, Σιλωάμ) refers to a number of Rock-cut architecture, rock-cut pools on the southern slope of the City of David (Silwan), Wadi Hilw ...

, Peter in Acts 10:21 and Acts 10:26,

Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

in Acts 22:3, Acts 23:6, Acts 26:29, Rom 7:14, Rom 11:1, Rom 11:13, 1 Cor 15:9 and 1 Tim 1:15, some Corinthian believer in 1 Cor 1:12 and 1 Cor 3:4,

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

in the negative (''οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐγὼ'' / I am not) in John 3:28 and Acts 13:25 (compare with Jesus in John 8:23, 17:14,16), and

Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...

in a question (''Μήτι ἐγὼ Ἰουδαῖός εἰμι;'' / Am I Jew?) in John 18:35.

Old Testament

ἐγώ εἰμι also occurs without an explicit or implicit predicate nominative in the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

, but instead either with a prepositional phrase such as in "μὴ ἀντὶ θεοῦ ἐγώ εἰμι ..." ("Am I in place of God ...") Gen 30:2, or with a predicative clause such as in "πάροικος καὶ παρεπίδημος ἐγώ εἰμι μεθ' ὑμῶν" ("As a foreigner and a sojourner I am with you") in Gen 23:4, or with the idiomatic meaning It is I such as in "καὶ εἶπεν Ἰωαβ ἀκούω ἐγώ εἰμι" ("And Joab said: I hear; it is I.") in 2 Sam 20:17. It has been suggested that the unique expression of the

Tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', and ...

יהוה (yhwh) is a verbal cognate noun derived from היה (hayah), the Hebrew copulative otherwise known as the verb "to be". Translations often render this word in compliance with the tradition of the Septuagint, "Lord". Later it has been pointed with the vowels of the word ''

Elohim ''Elohim'' (: ), the plural of (), is a Hebrew word meaning "gods". Although the word is plural, in the Hebrew Bible it usually takes a singular verb and refers to a single deity, particularly (but not always) the God of Israel. At other times ...

'' and transcribed as "Jehovah". Finally the Tetragrammaton was vocalized as ''Yahweh''. But often found in apposition, if not in

construct state In Afro-Asiatic languages, the first noun in a genitive phrase of a possessed noun followed by a possessor noun often takes on a special morphological form, which is termed the construct state (Latin ''status constructus''). For example, in Arabi ...

(there is no way of telling) with ''elohim'', it suggests "the being" or the "I AM" of God.

References

{{Gospel of John Christian terminology Gospel of John Language and mysticism

New Testament

Without predicate nominative

With predicate nominative

Old Testament

See also

Further reading

References