I am who I am

[Flame4]

What does God mean when he says this?

 

[John7]

What does God mean when he says this?

probably going to be more answers than this but,

if someone asks me (like Moses asks the LORD in Ex 3:13) my name or who I am, I say
“John7 is who I am” that makes sense,
but in second part of Ex 3:14 the LORD says his name is itself “I am”

therefore sort of like “I am *is *who I am” (but without the is)

that’s the way I think of it

 

[richardacombs]

The Catechism discusses this specific use of the holy name in paragraphs 205-213.

The salient interpretation is “I am He Who is.”

Though the Catechism rightfully points out that God’s name expresses more than humans can comprehend–“This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery.” (206)–it does provide a theological basis on which humans can build their limited understanding of God

Philosophically, I believe that the holy name signifies that God is the Absolute. He is the eternal, immutable Being through and by and in Whom all things exist. Such a post as this cannot even begin to describe the divine attributes. If you have a great interest in this subject, I suggest reading the first part of the Summa Theologica by St Thomas Aquinas.

 

[Alexander_Smith]

Well, I’m pretty sure it’s “I am, who am.”

My reasoning is that God is saying that He IS. He wasn’t created, formed, or evolved, God just plain exists, and always did.

 

[Apollos]

God is the only thing whose existence doesn’t depend on anything else, and ultimately, God is existence itself, pure and simple. That fact is the one and only thing that distinguishes him from everything else in the universe. So if God were to have a name, it would have to be a name that sums up what makes him unique. Since existence itself is what makes God unique, it makes sense that his “name” would be something like the verb “to be”. But because there is only one God, and since he speaks in the first person, his name would have to be the first person singular of “to be”, which is the word “am”. Therefore God’s name is “am”.

The reason he draws it out into “I am who am” is that he is answering the question “who are you?”. The answer then is “I am the one who just is”, or “I’m the one who just exists”.

 

[FaithJoy]

I am the unchanging factor,the forever,the only One that matters, Creator of all creation and what matters to all that exists. I think that’s what God means by " I am who I am".

 

[patrick457]

What does God mean when he says this?

I’m gonna talk about translating the Name from the Hebrew, so I might drift off your question a bit (sorry! ).

'Ehyeh-asher-'ehyeh (אהיה אשר אהיה) is not an easy phrase to render. Over the years, some have opted to leave this untranslated, like Aramaic targumim and some modern Jewish translations. The Septuagint renders it as egō eimi ho ōn (ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν), “I am who is”. Meanwhile, the Greek versions of Aquila and Theodotion have rendered it into Greek as esomai hōs esomai (ἔσομαι ὡς ἔσομαι), “I will be who I will be” - something that a few modern translations also follow. St. Jerome stays close to the Septuagint with his ego sum qui sum (“I am who am”), which seems to have influenced the way most English translators rendered the phrase afterwards (“I am that I am”).

Now the question rests on how we are to understand 'ehyeh. The challenge this verse presents is not in its grammar, but in its meaning: does the word as it occurs in this verse refer to God in the sense of His absolute and eternal being, or does it refer to Him in relation to His actions in space and time and so to temporal being?

Translating the imperfect (the imperfect tense in Hebrew was used for uncompleted actions, and thus could imply either the present or future) 'ehyeh as ‘I-be’, ‘I-am’ or ‘I-am-being’ does present us with considerable exegetical difficulty, but so too does translating it as ‘I-will-be’.

The crucial difference between the two is that whereas the words ‘I-am’ in isolation can be meaningfully understood in the context of God’s self-designation, the absolute declaration ‘I-will-be’ cannot, if read as a reference to the Divine nature. The ‘ongoing, continuous being’ idea of the verb would certainly indicate that God is not bound by time: He just ‘is’. The traditional English “I am that I am” and the Septuagint paraphrase “I am who is” understands the Name as referring to God’s unchanging, ever-constant, ever-present nature.

One problem with rendering the Hebrew imperfect in the future tense is that if God were to designate Himself in terms that specifically refer to the future it could be misread as implying that God is not yet God (taking 'ehyeh to refer to His nature), or that He is in a state of becoming somehow different to how He now is, both of which are rather absurd and unacceptable to the monotheist, and even defy coherent articulation.

Thus, when referring to God, future 'ehyeh requires some expansion in order to render it theologically meaningful, one such as the oft-suggested “I will be with you” (cf. Exodus 3:12), which turns it into a reference in relation to His actions within temporal space (this is the interpretation Aquila and Theodotion favored).

In this interpretation, the Name does not just reveal the essence of God (what He is) but also His relationship with His people. They need to know not merely that He ‘is’ but that He will work on their behalf: “I will be understood by my acts and revelation.” Indeed, the rabbis of the Talmud have paraphrased the passage thus: “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: ‘Go and say to Israel: I was with you in this servitude, and I shall be with you in the servitude of the [other] kingdoms.’ He [Moses] said to Him: ‘Lord of the universe, sufficient is the evil in the time thereof!’ Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: ‘Go and tell them: I AM has sent me unto you.’”

'Ehyeh-asher-'ehyeh can also be thus interpreted as a statement of God’s abiding, continual presence with His people, while the 'ehyeh of 3:14b is interpreted as a shortened version of this declaration and as a gesture of God’s compassion towards Israel in response to Moses’ appeal on their behalf.

 

[buffalo]

** The living God **

205 God calls Moses from the midst of a bush that bums without being    consumed: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of    Isaac, and the God of Jacob."[9] God is the God of the fathers, the One who    had called and guided the patriarchs in their wanderings. He is the    faithful and compassionate God who remembers them and his promises; he    comes to free their descendants from slavery. He is the God who, from    beyond space and time, can do this and wills to do it, the God who will    put his almighty power to work for this plan. 
"I Am who I Am"     Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them,    'The God of your fathers has sent me to you', and they ask me, 'What is    his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM."    And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you'.    . . this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all    generations."[10] 
206 In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH ("I AM HE WHO IS", "I AM WHO    AM" or "I AM WHO I AM"), God says who he is and by what name he is to be    called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at    once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence    it better expresses God as what he is - infinitely above everything that    we can understand or say: he is the "hidden God", his name is ineffable,    and he is the God who makes himself close to men.[11] 
207 By revealing his name God at the same time reveals his faithfulness    which is from everlasting to everlasting, valid for the past ("I am the    God of your father"), as for the future ("I will be with you").[12] God, who    reveals his name as "I AM", reveals himself as the God who is always    there, present to his people in order to save them.

 

[trogiah]

There are those who debate the existence of “God” and some who contend that “God” isn’t real. Whatever “God” those people may be talking about, it is not the one Moses heard speak from the burning bush.

Moses was hearing the voice of Reality. The voice of Existence. How else would Reality introduce itself other than “I am who am.”?

To debate the existence of “The Lord God” that spoke to Moses would be like asking “Does existence exist?” or “Is reality real?”

Moses, during his life, formed a friendship with existence and tried to share that relationship with the Hebrews. Jesus knew Reality the way an only and most beloved son knows his father. He shared that view of Reality with any who would listen.

Tranlations of important words between languages can often result in slight, or sometimes signficant, alterations of meaning. The first person pronoun and the verb “to exist” are generally so easily identifiable in any language that, by introducing itself in this way, Reality did all it could to avoid being misunderstood… in any language.