“I had believed for many years the same as you that only the Father is
the great I am.â€
Exodus 3:14 shows Moses asking about YHWHs name. It is clear from earlier scriptures that he already knew what the name WAS (
mi in Hebrew). Instead he was asking what the name MEANT (
mah in Hebrew). And the answer was ‘ehyeh.’ If one examines EVERY other use of the word ‘ehyeh’ in all the writings of Moses, you will find them rendered as “I WILL BE†(this includes the nearby verse Ex. 3:12)!! Yes the honest rendering of ex. 3:14 tells that God gave the meaning of his name as “I Will Be†NOT “I Am.†All this is examined in detail in a link given earlier on this same discussion (which does put the ’I Am’ argument ‘to a final rest’).
Since the Father’s name is considered to be in the third person, YHWH (‘Yahweh, Yehowah,’ etc.) should be understood as meaning “
HE Will Be.†And YHWH is how it is given as his personal name nearly 7000 times in scripture (versus the SINGLE time ‘ehyeh’ is connected with his name at Ex. 3:14).
Although Jesus may have said ‘ego eimi’ (‘I am’) in the NT Greek of John 8:58, it is often understood to be intended in a past sense: “I was,†“I existed,†“I have existed,†etc. If the writer of John 8:58 had actually intended to parallel Exodus 3:14, however, he would have written in the NT Greek: “ego esomai†(‘I will be’).
So the Father (YHWH) and the Son are not connected by any “I am†statement.
…………………..
“However, I had a hard time when I kept reading that Jesus created all, because
I thought it was the Father.â€
It WAS the Father (YHWH) who CREATED (‘ktizo’ in NT Greek; ‘bara’ in OT Hebrew) all. - e.g., Is. 45:18; Rev. 4:11.
Yes He created all things THROUGH ( ‘dia’ and, rarely, ‘en’ in NT Greek) his FIRSTborn. But this does not make the firstborn of creation (Col. 1:15) the CREATOR. It makes him (as in all other things) the intermediate, the one carrying out his Father’s will.
To illustrate: Suppose the one all-powerful ruler of a country decided to build a nice little palace out in the wilderness. He sends for his servant, the Master Worker, and commands him to build that palace. The King provides whatever materials are necessary for the Master Worker and tells him in great detail exactly how he wants it built.
The Master Worker sends for the chief stone mason, the chief carpenter, the chief artist, etc., tells them what their assignments are, and oversees their work.
We can see that, in the ultimate sense of “source†or “originator,†there is
only one person whose will, command, design, and supply of building materials allow him to be called “the only one who
created the palace.â€
Notice how “through†solves any possible confusion in the following scriptures.
Even though the Law was spoken of as “the Law of
Jehovah†- 1 Chron. 16:40, and “the law of the God of heaven†- Ezra 7:12, and we are specifically told “there is
only one Lawgiver ...†- James 4:12,
NASB, we still see another person “giving the lawâ€! Is that person, then, also equally God?
Yes, the inspired scriptures also tell us, “Did not
Moses give you the law?†- John 7:19
NASB. And the same “Law of
Jehovah†is also called “the Law of
Moses†- Malachi 4:4. Must we conclude then, trinitarian-style, that Moses IS Jehovah the God of heaven? Of course not!!
Even if we were unable to figure it out on our own, scriptures such as John 1:17 (“The law was given [from God]
THROUGH [dia] Mosesâ€) clearly explain it.
So it is that the Father (YHWH) CREATED all other things THROUGH his ‘only-begotten’ son.
…………………………….
Finally only just several days ago I finally broke down and asked the Holy
Spirit...'who created all?" In my spirit I got "BOTH" . I said 'both?'
And then was reminded to look at Genesis 1:26 ... where He said.... let us
make....
Yes, we all (or certainly MOST of us who truly want to know the truth) pray for Holy Spirit to help us in our understanding. And nothing can be more persuasive to an individual than what he believes has been revealed to him.
However, we can find numerous individuals from numerous religions and sects who have so prayed and who are equally convinced they have received the truth (ask a devout Catholic, Mormon, Baptist, etc. who has had such a spiritual revelation). But, in spite of the great faith in their ‘revelations,’ we find that there are so many contradictions among them that there is no way that an honest person can consider such present-day ‘proofs’ as worthy of discussion.
Scholarly discussions of Gen 1:26 by trinitarians themselves (see the ‘Elohim’ study, f.n. #5) show that the very rare use of the plural “us†and “we†by God is easily explained: God is speaking to his angels and/or to his only-begotten son who were in heaven with Him at this time. Furthermore, God so often uses “I†or “me†as to make the extremely few uses of “us†to be nearly invisible.
