Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 1:29:
Uma: “So, that is why mankind has no right [seat] to be proud [lit., make their hearts high]. There is no-one who can say: ‘It was because of my cleverness that God chose me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “This means there is no person who can boast about himself in God’s sight.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because of this, there’s no one who can boast about His power and his wisdom before God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “He did that so that not even any person would be able to boast-about himself (lit. his body) in-front-of-him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “That is why there is nothing that anyone can boast about in the presence of God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Therefore before the face the eye of God now no person can say that he can be proud.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-mae (御前) or “before (God)” in the referenced verses. In some cases in can also be used in reference to being before a king, such as in 1 Samuel 16:16.
This verse describes the result of the process described in verses 27-28.
No human being: as in verse 26, the Greek word for “flesh” is used to mean human being (Good News Bible “no one”). This verse says literally “so that all flesh should not boast before God.” But the negative “not” really contradicts “all,” so that the sentence means “so that no flesh (that is, no one) should boast before God.” The thought is similar to that of verse 23, since the phrase “Jews and Gentiles” was often used to mean the same as “all flesh,” that is, the whole human race.
The word for boast is difficult to translate in this passage, because Paul gives it a bad meaning, and then in verse 31 he quotes an Old Testament text in which it has a good meaning. The essential ideas are (1) being happy, (2) showing happiness openly, and (3) speaking about the reasons for one’s happiness. However, in some contexts boast may also include the idea of someone saying that he is somehow better than someone else. In verse 29 Paul means that in God’s presence it is foolish and wrong to compare one human being with another. So this verse may be translated “This means that no one can say in God’s presence that he is superior to anyone else.”
In the presence of God may be translated “knowing that God is there,” or “… present,” or “before God’s face,” or even “while God is looking on.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Therefore nobody can boast about himself to God
-or-
⌊His purpose is/was⌋ that nobody can brag/boast in his presence ⌊that God chose them because of something they did⌋. ⌊For they did nothing to deserve it⌋.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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