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r endered John viii . 58 , thus : Before A braham was , I am / ( Eya > tipi . ) From tills verbal parallelism , occasioned by the inaccurate translation of these two texts , many a p lausible argument has been constructed in favour of the eternity and immutability of Christ Jesus our Lord . That the mere English reader should
draw such a conclusion , is not to be wondered at : but that grave and learned divines should have fought , viet unguibus , in defence of an argument , which rests entirely on a mistranslation , is indeed a stonishing . To a reader of the Septuagint , as well as of Luther ' s version , the supposed allusion of our Lord to the words in Exodus , must appear groundless . ( The LXX . translate Exodus iii . 14 , thus
sya eifju o Civ : " I am He that existsthe Being . ) That John viii . 58 ought to be rendered , Before Abraham was [ born ] I am He , ' or ' I was He , ' is , I think , evident . For the expression tyco sifju , is the same that is thus rendered in this very chapter twice : ver . 24 : * If ye believe not that I am He , ye shall die in
your sins : ' ver . 28 : ' Then shall ye know that 1 am He ; * i . e . the Messiah : He who was to come . ( Compare also John iv . 26 , ix . 9 , xviii . 5 ; Luke xxi . 8 ; Matt . xxiv . 5 ; Mark xiii . 6 ; Matt . xiv . 27 ; Mark vi . 50 ; John vi . 20 . )
" To prove the utter impropriety of tyw ellu being rendered ( in the 50 th verse ) c / am , ' let us translate those very words , as they stand in the 24 th verse , in the same manner : ' When ye have lifted up the Son of man , then shall ye know ( oTi Eyco ft / xx ) that I am , and that I do NOTniNo of myself / What ! He
who is the self-existent Jehovah , —doth He , verily , do nothing of Himself ? Hut Christ Jesus does incontestably assert this of Himself , ( and not of his human nature , as is erroneously affirmed ); and in the very same breath too with which he utters those words ( tyu > etui ) 1 am , ' which are supposed to assert his rtvnrity and immutability . This
expression must , therefore , refer to his JYles-^ iahship , not to his supposed eternity and Godhead . As God ' s Christ , * lie did noting of himself / nothing without the I'MIht : as God Almighty , he could not hut do all things of himself , else he were |< - ss than God . But he himself ( ver . 40 ) ^ sincd the Jews that he was < a man
vv 'i <> told them the truth which lie had »< -ard of ( Jod / And is he not the < true ; i » d faithful witness , ' who was born * that " ^ wight bear witness unto the truth * ? As the great appointed , promised and expected Messiah , he doubtless pre-^ is ted befo re Abraham was born : and j > rahain sum him with the eye of faith , w hich realizes « thiugs to come / and sees
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* Him that is invisible / He pre-existed , as « the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world : ' ' fore-ordained then , though manifest in these last times for us . ' " The implacable enemies of our Lord flew into a paroxysm of rage at his declaration , and , armed with malice and religious hatred , strove to overwhelm
their meek and lowly Mbsslah m a whirlwind of stones . This was just what might be expected from cold-hearted , proud bigots of their stamp . Had they not already stigmatized him as 3 Sabbath-breaker , a Samaritan , ( or heretic , ) a daeinoniac , because Christ had performed a miracle of mercy on the
Sabbathday ? And could these stanch defenders of the dignity of Abraham , brook any expression of the lowly Prophet of Nazareth , which implied that * a greater than Abraham is here '? No , surely . The Messiah did not answer their proud , exclusive , earthly expectations : hence their blind animosity and their vehement
accusations of blasphemy . But , is it at all probable that they understood Christ ' s declaration aright ? Was there no wilful misunderstanding on their part ? Did the turbulent passions with which their malignant hearts were boiling , send up no intoxicating fumes * to mantle their cooler reason' ? Shall we say that Christ ,
who was so cautious in declaring his Messiahship , even to his most intimate friends and disciples , and who , nevertheless , assured them that he spoke to them plainly , though to others in parables , that he revealed to these miscreants , ( it is an
orthodo . v expression , and the Bishop of St . David ' s tracts will supply the proper meaning , ) the great , astonishing , amazing secret , that He , Jesus of Nazareth , was , under the guise of a man , no less than the ineffable Jehovah—the great Eternal , who filleth heaven and earth with his
immensity—to whom an ' atom is a world , and a world an atom' ? Unbelieving Jews may so pro / ess to understand Christ ' s words , and look about for stones wherewithal to crush their Messiah ;—for my part , I am content to be able to say , with honest Nathaniel , < Kabbi !
I hou art the Son of God , thou art the King of Israel ! ' " —Pp . 7 H—76 . The pamphlet concludes with a judicioiis * ' summary view of the evidence for the truth of Unitarianism , from Scripture and Ecclesiastical
History , " which we have seen with much pleasure extracted into a provincial newspaper , and which , with some additions and perhaps a few slight corrections , would form a valuable tract for our Unitarian Book Societies . May we recommend to Mr . Fripp
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Review . —Fripp * s Unitarian Christian's Apolvgy . 239
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1822, page 239, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2511/page/47/
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