Mar 13:6 Because many shall come in my name, saying, I am
Mar 13:6 Because many shall come in my name, saying, I am [Christ]; and shall deceive many.
Alternative: Because many will make their way on my reputation speaking that "I exist" and they shall lead many astray.
Wordplay: The repeat of "many" at the beginning and end of the verse, which is captured in English, is interesting since it means that the crowd will lead the crowd astray, a common idea in Christ's teaching. More interesting is the use of the words "lego" and "ego" together. Christ seldom uses the first person pronoun (ego) without the word for "to say" (lego) nearby, something we discuss more extensively in this previous post about the two words.
Hidden meaning: First, you might want to read my examination of the parallel version in Matthew for a little context, because it goes into issues I am not going to cover here.
Next, what is translated as "in my name" is misleading. Christ uses a different preposition here, than in verses where Christ describe people coming together in his name or his acting in the name of God (Mat 18:20, Mat 23:39). In those verses, the preposition used is either eis, which means "for" in the sense of representation, or en, which has our meaning of "in." Here, Christ uses the preposition epi, we means "on" or "against." This word indicates distance, trading on a name rather than representing it or sharing it.
The most provocative words here as Christ's use of "I am." The phrase echoes the Hebrew name of God ("I am existence"). Christ seldom uses the personal pronoun except when discussing God and Christ's authority from God (see here and here) and both are used in conjunction with what is said or left unsaid.
While the translators insert "the Christ" there is no way to get that from the context. Christ doesn't talk about being the Christ here.
The translators also leave out the causal connection, the Greek is writing "saying that I am." The warning is that these people will make a living off of Christ's existence but even, more interestingly, that they do this by saying that he is God, leading people astray.
Thematically and Linguistically Related Verse(s): Mat 24:5 is the parallel verse in Matthew.
Vocabulary:
"For" comes from gar (gar) which is the introduction of a clause explaining a reason or explanation: "for," "since," and "as." In an abrupt question it means "why" and "what."
"Many" (both times) is from polus (polys)," "great (in size or power or worth)," and "large (of space)." As an adverb is means "far," "very much," "a great way," and "long."
"Shall come" is from erchomai (erchomai), which means to start," "to set out," "to come," "to go," and any kind of motion. It means both "to go" on a journey and "to arrive" at a place.
"In" is from epi, (epi) which means "on," "upon," "at," "by," "before," "across," and "against."
"Name" is from onoma (onoma) which means "name." It means both the reputation of "fame," and "a name and nothing else," as opposed to a real person. Acting in someone's name means to act on their behalf, as their representative.
"Say" is from legô (lego) means "pick up," "choose for oneself," "pick out," and "count," but it used to mean "recount," "tell over," "say," "speak," "teach," "mean," "boast of," "tell of," "recite," nominate," and "command."
Untranslated is hoti (hoti) which means "that" "because," and "since."
"I" is from ego (ego), is the pronoun of the first person, which means "I," "I at least," "for my part," "indeed," "for myself," and, in various forms, "me," "my,""mine," "we," "our," "ours," and "us."
"Am" is from eimi (eimi), which means "I am," "I exist," "to be the case," and "is possible." The form here is the first person.
"Shall deceive" is from planaô (planao) which means "to cause to wander," "to lead astray," "to mislead," "to wander," "to stray," and "to be misled."
