5:21a
For: The conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible and many English translations translate literally as For introduces an example of an amazing thing that the Son will do. Others do not translate this word. Translate this word in a way that is natural in your language when you introduce an example.
just as: This conjunction marks a comparison. In this case it is comparing God the Father raising people to life and Jesus doing it also.
the Father: The noun Father is referring to God. In some languages it is more natural to say “my Father.”
raises the dead and gives them life: The Greek expressions that the Berean Standard Bible translates as raises the dead and gives them life indicate that God will cause dead people to live again.
Here are other ways to translate these expressions:
the Father brings back the dead and gives them life (God’s Word)
-or-
the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead (New Living Translation (2004))
the dead: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the dead could be translated as a phrase like “people who have died.” For example:
the Father causes people who have died to live again
5:21b
the Son gives life to whom He wishes: This clause indicates that the Son has authority like the Father’s authority. He can give life to those who have died, to any that he chooses.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it (New International Version)
the Son: See the note at 5:19b. Also see how you translated this phrase there. In some languages it may again be necessary to use a first-person pronoun. For example:
I, the Son, give life to anyone I choose
© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.