Apologetics

Jehovah’s Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse | Exodus 3:14

Exodus 3:14

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.’ ” (rsv)

Christians universally recognize that Jesus Christ was claiming to be the Deity when he referred to himself as the I am: “The Jews then said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’ ” (John 8:57–58, rsv). Even Jesus’ enemies recognized what he was saying. The next verse tells us that, when they heard this, “they took up stones to throw at him … ” (v. 59). The unbelieving Jews viewed Jesus’ claim to be the I am as blasphemy, a crime for which they wanted to stone him to death.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, however, teach that Jesus Christ is really just Michael the archangel and that Christ never claimed to be God. So, to make Scripture agree with their doctrine, they change the reading of both verses in their Bible. The Watchtower Society’s translation says, “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘I shall prove to be has sent me to you’ ” (Exod. 3:14, nwt), and “Most truly I say to you, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been” (John 8:58, nwt). So, in the JW Bible, Jesus’ words appear to have no connection with Exodus 3:14.

But you do not have to be a Greek and Hebrew scholar to prove that the Watchtower Society has twisted these verses. Jehovah’s Witnesses’ own study Bibles prove that Jesus was claiming to be the I am. Their 1984 large-print New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures with References has a footnote on Exodus 3:14, admitting that the Hebrew would be rendered into Greek a Ego eimi”—“I am.” And their 1985 Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures reveals that Jesus’ words at John 8:58 are the same: ego eimi (footnotes), “I am” (interlinear text).

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[1]Reed, D. A. (1997, c1986). Jehovah’s Witnesses : Answered verse by verse. Includes indexes. (electronic ed.) (26). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.