SIL Translator’s Notes on Romans 12:4

12:4a

Just as: Here these words introduce an explanation of the individual measures of faith (12:3e). Together with the word “so” in 12:5a, they indicate that 12:5 is being compared to 12:4. Another way to show a comparison in English is to just use a single phrase between the two verses. For example:

4 Each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function. 5 In the same way, we who are many are one body and each member belongs to another in Christ. (Good News Translation)

each of us has one body with many members: Paul used the phrase each of us to refer to believers in general. We all have the same kind of body. In some languages a literal translation would indicate or imply that we all share a single body in some way. If that is true in your language, indicate that Paul spoke in general of the human body. For example:

in our bodies we each have many members/parts

members: Here this word refers to the various parts of the body, like the head and arms and so forth.

12:4b

not all members have the same function: Here the word function refers to what each part of the body does. Each part does something different. The eyes see, the hand holds, and the legs walk and kick. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

the members/parts do not all have the same work
-or-
each part has a different duty/purpose

© 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.

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