inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1Cor. 10:17)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the addressee).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (1 Corinthians 10:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 10:17:

  • Uma: “For just one bread is distributed/divided-up, and we all each eat a portion of that bread. That custom means: we who are many, we are just like one-body in our connection with Kristus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Because there is only one bread even though we (incl.) are many, we (incl.) are just like one because we (incl.) share that one bread.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Since there is only one bread which is Christ, even though we are many, we become one just the same because we all eat of that one bread.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Although we are many, it’s as if we are one due to our eating from one bread.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For the reason that the bread is just-a-single-unit, even though we are many, we are like only a single-body-entity because we are-eating-together this single-unit of bread.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “There are many of us now. But our hearts are as though we were all together because the bread we break to distribute that we eat, is one loaf.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:17

Here Paul moves from rhetorical questions to a direct statement, perhaps indicating that he is moving from teaching that the Corinthians already know to newer teaching.

The present tense is suggests that Paul is thinking here, as in chapter 11, not of the last supper of Jesus himself with his disciples, but of the Lord’s Supper as people practiced it in the church of Paul’s time.

Bread: Good News Bible adds “loaf” to indicate that a single loaf is broken in the communion service, not just that those taking part eat the same type of food (ao also New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible).

We who are many may be expressed as “all of us, though many” (Good News Bible) or “all of us, no matter how many we are.”

For one body, see introduction to 12.12-31a. Here Paul is saying that as Christians share the Lord’s Supper, they become in every way one with each other and with Christ.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Corinthians 10:17

10:17a Because there is one loaf,

Because there is one loaf ⌊of bread⌋,
-or-
There is only one loaf/lump/piece ⌊of bread⌋,

10:17b we who are many are one body;

⌊although⌋ there are many of us, we (incl.) are one body,
-or-
and we show that we are all united

10:17c for we all partake of the one loaf.

for we (incl.) all eat from the same loaf.
-or-
by eating together from that one loaf/lump/piece ⌊of bread⌋.

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