Originally posted on April 17, 2009:


In chapter 3 0f The Doctrine of God, author John Frame begins to discuss the divine attribute of control. In opening this discussion he considers the name that God ascribes to himself in Exodus 3:14; I am who I am. Frame offers some other possible renderings of this phrase:

• I am what I am
• I am who I am
• I will be what I will be
• I am because I am
• I will be because I will be
• I cause to be what I cause to be
• I am present is what I am
• I am the one who is

These renderings offer a plethora of interpretations and meanings. For instance, the phrase I am because I am speaks loudly of God's self-sufficiency. God is the only being in the universe whose existence depends on nobody else. There are hours and days and weeks that one could spend contemplating that aspect of his revealed name. Frame goes on to write about this list of possible rendering: "They indicate that Yahweh is very different from us, determining his own nature, or his choices, or even his own being, without any dependence on us." (44) And he finishes off the chapter with the declaration that "Yahweh, then, is the sovereign, the Lord over all his creatures." (46) He is the Lord.