The Bible use of several important words needs to be understood if we are to properly read many verses related to this subject.
Angels called “God” and “LORD”
In Exodus 3:2, we read:
“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him [Moses] in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush.” But in verse 4 we read: “And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush…” In Acts 7:30,35, Stephen confirms that it was an angel that appeared unto Moses from the bush.
Genesis 32:24 reads: “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” Jacob said that he had seen God face to face in Genesis 32:30, and Hosea states that “he had power over the angel, and prevailed” (Hos. 12:4).
Angels bear the names “LORD” and “God” in scripture because they do the work of the Heavenly Father. As we read in Exodus 23:20-21 concerning God’s dealings with Israel in the wilderness:
“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.”
Israel’s judges called elohim
The mortal rulers of Israel are called “gods” (Heb. elohim) in Psalm 82:6, a passage quoted by Jesus in John 10:34.
“I have said, Ye are gods (elohim); and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes” (Psa. 82:6-7). “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came…” (John 10:34,35).
These rulers were called elohim because they were supposed to implement God’s laws on God’s behalf. In fact, in reference to these judges, elohim is the word used in Exodus 21:6, 22:8 & 9 even though it is translated “judges” in the King James Version.
Moses is referred to as elohim to Pharaoh: “And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god (elohim) to Pharaoh” (Ex. 7:1). Moses was to be the one through whom God’s word came to Pharaoh.
The Messiah called elohim
If angels, Israel’s rulers and Moses were called “elohim” because God worked through them, and angels were called “LORD” because they acted on God’s behalf, we would expect the great Messiah to be called “God.” And he is:
“Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Psa. 45:6,7).
We know this is talking about Jesus because we are told so in Hebrews 1:8-9. Before Hebrews was written, however, you could still tell it was about the Messiah and not about God himself. The first “God” has a “God” who exalts him because he is obedient. The subject of the Psalm thus stands in a similar relationship to the Heavenly Father as other human beings: blessing is dependent upon obedience. And the first elohim is “exalted above his fellows” which also speaks of the Messiah as a human being and not a co-equal part of a trinitarian godhead.
Once we understand how “God” and “Lord” are sometimes used in the Bible, we are not surprised when Thomas refers to the risen Lord Jesus as “My Lord and my God.” He is expressing his firm conviction that Jesus truly is the Messiah, the one in whom God’s name is vested above any other human and above even the angels (see I Peter 3:22).
“I am”
In John 18:3-6, we read:
“Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, Lam [he]. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am [he], they went backward, and fell to the ground.”
You told me that the word [he] was added by the translators and was not in the original text, which I quite agree with. You also told me that “I am” is a special word and that Jesus only said “I am” because he was referring to himself as God as written in Exodus 3:14. That is why they fell backward as soon as they heard the name. But when I looked up “I am” in the concordance, I found the “I am” used by Christ was not special at all. In fact, the phrase “I am” is made up of two words in the Greek unlike the “I AM” of the Hebrew in Exodus 3:14 which consists of one word. The word “I” in the Greek is ego and the word “am” is eimie. There are other people in the New Testament that refer to themselves as “I am,” such as the blind man whom Jesus cured in John 9:8,9.
“The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am [he].”
These are the same words in the Greek that Jesus used so they cannot be special words. As the healed man was identifying himself as the one who was formerly blind, Jesus was identifying himself as the one whom the soldiers were seeking.
“I am” in Exodus
“And God said unto Moses, I am that I am: thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you” (Ex. 3:14).
If you look in Strong’s Concordance you will find that the Hebrew word for “I AM” is hawyah which means “to be or to become.” And we note that in the RSV translation, the verse is translated “I AM WHO I AM” with the comment in the margin: Or “I AM WHAT LAM” or “I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE.”
The RSV footnote also comments on the word “LORD” in verse 15 to show that LORD has its root in “I AM” or “I WILL BE:” “The word LORD when spelled with capital letters, stands for the divine name, YHWH, which is here connected with the verb `hayah,’ to be.”
In the New International Version Bible (NIV), it is also translated “I AM WHAT I AM” with the comment in the margin: “Or I will be what I will be.”
As with the RSV, the NIV comments on the word “LORD” in verse 15: “The Hebrew for LORD sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for I AM in verse 14.”
We can see from Strong’s definition and footnotes in the RSV and NIV that hawyah is not “I AM” in the strict sense. It can also be translated as “I WILL BE.” We also read that “LORD” or YHWH has its root in hawyah or hayah which means “to be or to become.” With these points in mind, I think, when Jesus uses “I am,” he is identifying himself as Jesus, like the healed man identified himself as the man born blind. I do not think Jesus was identifying himself as the second person of the trinity.
Being one with God
In John 10:30, Jesus makes the statement:
“I and my Father are one.”
The Jews immediately took up stones to stone Jesus because they thought he was saying that he was God. If Jesus is part of a triune godhead, why didn’t he agree with them and admit that he was God?
In fact, Jesus was not saying he was God but that he was in unity with his Father’s character and purpose. He uses the same language about his followers when praying to his Father on their behalf:
“Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me [believers], that they may be one, as we are…That they all may be one: as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” (in. 17:11,21).
Jesus was not saying the believers were part of the trinity any more than he was telling the Jews that he was God the Son, the second person of the trinity. He was simply praying that they (believers) may be of one purpose and character as he was with his Father.
How Abraham saw Christ
“Yet ye have not known him; but I know (Greek eido) him: and if I should say, I know (eido) him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know (eido) him, and keep his sayings. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see (eido) my day: and he saw (eido) it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen (horao) Abraham?” (in. 8:55-57).
Why did Christ use the word eido and the Jews use the word horao? If you check the word horao, you will see that it means literally “to see.” But the word eido means “to perceive” or “to know” as shown in verse 55. The word eido is used regarding Abraham in Hebrews 11:13:
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen (eido) them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
Did Abraham and the other faithful physically see the promises afar off? No, they perceived them with their minds.
Why did Abraham rejoice to see Christ’s day? Because the promise which he had received centered in Christ: “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession” (Gen. 17:8).
The apostle Paul reveals to us the identity of this seed: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ” (Gal. 3:16).
Christ was in the plan of God right from the beginning. He was thus perceived by all the faithful even before Abraham, therefore he could say, “Before Abraham was, I am” (In. 8:58). All the faithful, including Abraham, saw the day of Christ through the eye of faith and rejoiced because they knew that eternal life would be a reality because of the obedient life and sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One