31. I AM WHO AM

I AM WHO AM 

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 31

Ave Maria Series

31.  Why does God give himself a name?

God gives himself a name so as to make it possible to address him.  [203-213, 230-231]

Moses and the Burning Bush.  …..3

God does not wish to remain incognito.  He does not want to be revered as a “higher being” that is merely sensed or surmised.  God wishes to be known and to be called upon as someone real and active.  In the burning bush God reveals to Moses his name: Yhwh (Exodus: 3:14).  God make it possible for his people to address him, but he still remains a hidden God, the present mystery.  Out of reverence for God, the name of God was not (and is not) spoken in Israel; the title Adonai  (Lord) is substituted.  This same word is used by the New Testament when it glorifies Jesus as true God: “Jesus is Lord!”  (Romans 10:19).

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the sons 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 sons of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”  God also said to Moses, “Say this to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: this is my name forever, and this I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”  Exodus 3:13-15

YHWH/YAHWEH  The most important name of God in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14).  It can be translated “I am who I am.”  For Jews as well as for Christians, it designates the one God of the whole world, their creator, preserver, covenant partner, liberator from slavery in Egypt, judge, and savior.

[203-213, 230-231]

GOD REVEALS HIS NAME

203  God revealed himself to his people Israel by making his name known to them. A name expresses a person's essence and identity and the meaning of this person's life. God has a name; he is not an anonymous force. To disclose one's name is to make oneself known to others; in a way it is to hand oneself over by becoming accessible, capable of being known more intimately and addressed personal. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

204  God revealed himself progressively and under different names to his people, but the revelation that proved to be the fundamental one for both the Old and the New Covenants was the revelation of the divine name to Moses in the theophany of the burning bush, on the threshold of the Exodus and of the covenant on Sinai. –CCC

The living God

205 God calls Moses from the midst of a bush that burns without being consumed: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."(Exodus 3:6.)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. –CCC

"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."(Exodus 3:13-15.)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.(Compare Isaiah 45:15; Judges 13:18)¹¹ –CCC

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").(Exodus 3:6,12.)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.

208 Faced with God's fascinating and mysterious presence, man discovers his own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses takes off his sandals and veils his face in the presence of God's holiness.( Compare Exodus 3:5-6.)¹³   Before the glory of the thrice-holy God, Isaiah cries out: "Woe is me! I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips."( Isaiah 6:5.)¹⁴   Before the divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."( Luke 5:8.)¹⁵   But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes that he is a sinner before him: "I will not execute my fierce anger. . . for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst."( Hosea 11:9.)¹⁶ The apostle John says likewise: "We shall. . . reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."( 1 John 3:19-20.)¹⁷ –CCC

209  Out of respect for the holiness of God, the people of Israel do not pronounce his name. In the reading of Sacred Scripture, the revealed name (YHWH) is replaced by the divine title "LORD" (in Hebrew Adonai, in Greek Kyrios). It is under this title that the divinity of Jesus will be acclaimed: "Jesus is LORD."

"A God merciful and gracious"

210  After Israel's sin, when the people had turned away from God to worship the golden calf, God hears Moses' prayer of intercession and agrees to walk in the midst of an unfaithful people, thus demonstrating his love.( Compare Exodus 32; Ex 33:12-17.)¹⁸ When Moses asks to see his glory, God responds "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name 'the LORD' [YHWH]."( Exodus 33:18-19.)¹⁹ Then the LORD passes before Moses and proclaims, "YHWH, YHWH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness"; Moses then confesses that the LORD is a forgiving God.( Exodus 34:5-6; compare Ex 34:9.)²⁰ –CCC

211  The divine name, "I Am" or "He Is", expresses God's faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men's sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps "steadfast love for thousands".(Exodus 34:7.)²¹ By going so far as to give up his own Son for us, God reveals that he is "rich in mercy".(Ephesians 2:4.)²² By giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus reveals that he himself bears the divine name: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that "I AM"."(John 8:28 (Gk.).)²³ –CCC

God alone IS

212 Over the centuries, Israel's faith was able to manifest and deepen realization of the riches contained in the revelation of the divine name. God is unique; there are no other gods besides him.( Compare Isaiah 44:6.)²⁴ He transcends the world and history. He made heaven and earth: "They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. . . .but you are the same, and your years have no end."( Psalm 102:26-27.)²⁵ In God "there is no variation or shadow due to change."( James 1:17.)²⁶ God is "HE WHO IS", from everlasting to everlasting, and as such remains ever faithful to himself and to his promises. –CCC

213  The revelation of the ineffable name "I AM WHO AM" contains then the truth that God alone IS. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and following it the Church's Tradition, understood the divine name in this sense: God is the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive all that they are and have from him; but he alone is his very being, and he is of himself everything that he is. --CCC

IN BRIEF

230  Even when he reveals himself, God remains a mystery beyond words: "If you understood him, it would not be God" (St. Augustine, Sermo 52, 6, 16: Patrolgia Latina 38, 360 and Sermo 117, 3, 5: PL 38, 663). –CCC

231  The God of our faith has revealed himself as HE WHO IS; and he has made himself known as "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Exodus 34:6). God's very being is Truth and Love. --CCC