Carson: He is the eternal subject.

Carson comments on Exodus 3 v13-15

13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘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.’ ”

Exodus 3:13–15

In other words God does give himself a name (“I AM WHO I AM.… I AM has sent me to you”), but it is not a name that puts himself in a box. He is what he is. “I AM WHO I AM.” He then further defines himself, as it were; he further reveals himself, for people like Moses, for people like us, as he progressively discloses himself across the centuries. He is the eternal subject. He is not somebody else’s object that can be categorized and defined. He is what he says he is. He is what he discloses of himself. He is. “[Tell them,] ‘I AM has sent me to you’ ” (3:14).

Carson, D. A. (2010). The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story (p. 58). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

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