1:17a

For the law was given through Moses: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the law refers to the Torah. The Torah was the collected laws, rules, commands, and instructions in the OT. Many hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God communicated his law to the people of Israel. He used the prophet Moses as his messenger to do that. These laws are recorded in the first five books of the Old Testament. They include the Ten Commandments and also many other laws and instructions. See Key Biblical Terms Law 2.

For: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For here is the same word that appeared at the beginning of verse 16. It is often translated as “because” or “for.” Scholars say that it introduces further grounds for verse 14, or grounds for verse 16, or an explanation of verse 16. Some English translations, such as the Good News Translation, do not translate this word explicitly. However, many translations (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Living Translation (2004)) translate it as “for.”

Introduce the next clause in a way that is natural in your language.

was given: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as was given is passive. Here are some ways to translate it:

• as a passive verb. For example:

the Teachings were given through Moses (God’s Word)

• as an active verb. God is the implied actor. For example:

⌊God⌋ gave his law through Moses.
-or-

⌊God⌋ caused Moses to give the laws ⌊to the people⌋ .

Use the verb form that is most natural in your language.

1:17b

In the Greek text, there is no conjunction to connect 1:17a and 1:17b. Many English translations include the word “but” (Contemporary English Version, King James Version, Revised English Bible, NET Bible, God’s Word, Good News Translation, New Living Translation (2004), New Century Version). This is done to indicate the contrast between the law coming through Moses (1:17a) and grace and truth coming through Jesus Christ (1:17b). You may want to indicate this contrast if that is natural in your language. However, your translation should not imply that there was no grace or truth in the law that came through Moses.

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ: The Greek clause grace and truth came through Jesus Christ indicates that Jesus Christ brought grace and truth to the human race. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

Jesus Christ brought us undeserved kindness and truth. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
It is through Jesus Christ that we (incl.) learned about God’s love and faithfulness that do not fail.
-or-
Jesus Christ showed us (incl.) how kind and faithful God is.

grace: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as grace refers to God’s favor and kindness to people that do not deserve them. In some languages it may be natural to translate it as an adjective:

[Jesus Christ showed us that God is] kind/gracious to those who do not deserve it.

truth: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as truth here refers to God’s faithfulness. He is faithful to himself, to his own righteous character, and also to his people. In some languages it may be natural to translate it as an adjective:

true/faithful

Christ: The word Christ is a title. It is not just one of Jesus’ names. This title refers to the person whom God had appointed and promised to send as king and savior. The title Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” which means “the anointed one.” In Old Testament times, kings and priests were anointed with oil (oil was put on their head). That was done to show that God had chosen and appointed them as leaders.

Here are some ways to translate Christ :

• Transliterate the word Christ (or “Messiah”) if the word is known in your area and means “savior.” Indicate in some way that it is a title. For example:

the Krais
-or-
the Kirisita
-or-
the Massie

• Translate the meaning of Christ with a descriptive phrase. For example:

the One God Appointed
-or-
The savior God promised
-or-
God’s chosen one
-or-
the King who rescues his people

• It is better to use both a transliteration of Christ or “Messiah” and include a phrase that explains the meaning. In this way, people will learn the meaning of Christ. (You may choose to include the descriptive phrase only for the first uses of the term. Then later you may use only Christ or Messiah.) For example:

the Krais, the appointed one
-or-
Cristo, the savior God promised
-or-
the Messias, the King-who-rescues

If you do not indicate the meaning of Christ in the text, you may want to include a footnote to explain it. Or you may want to explain the meaning in a glossary. For example:

“Christ” and “Messiah” both mean the same thing. “Christ” is based on a Greek word, and “Messiah” is based on the same word/title in Hebrew. They both refer to the king and savior whom God had promised to send to his people. The word means “anointed,” which means to pour oil on someone to show that God chose him for a special purpose.

It may also help to explain the meaning more completely than that in a glossary.

See also Key Biblical Terms Christ, Messiah, sense 1(a).

© 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.