Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 12:12:
Martu Wangka: “And just like one body, we who are Jesus’ relatives are one group of relatives, one family. There are many bones that hold our bodies together and just like those many bones there are many of us who are Jesus’ relatives.” (Source: Ken Hansen in Notes on Translation 1998/2, p. 11ff.
Uma: “We who believe in Kristus can be compared to a human body. It’s just one body, but it has many parts. Even though there are many parts, all those parts make/are just one body.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Even if our (incl.) expertise are not the same, but we (incl.) are just one. Like our (incl.) body. A person’s body is just one but there are many different things in his body like his hands, his feet, his mouth, and the others yet. Even though there are many different things but there is only one body. Likewise also all who trust in Isa Almasi are figuratively his body and each one of them is figuratively like the different things in his body.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And even though the skills which are given to each one of us are not the same, we are all one just the same, because we are like the single body of Christ which has many parts.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The body of us people, it has many parts, but it is nevertheless only-one body. It is the same with Cristo and those who believe in him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well, if we think about the body of a person, is it not so that even though there are many parts, it’s just one body? And these parts, they are a single body-entity. Well, just like that is Cristo and all those believing/obeying him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Concerning the body of a person, even though there are many parts to it, yet the person is just one person. It is like that for us, in that because of Christ, we are many who believe in him, but it is like we become only one person together.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek Christos (Χρηστός) is typically transliterated when it appears together with Iésous (Ἰησοῦς) (Jesus). In English the transliteration is the Anglicized “Christ,” whereas in many other languages it is based on the Greek or Latin as “Kristus,” “Cristo,” or similar.
When used as a descriptive term in the New Testament — as it’s typically done in the gospels (with the possible exceptions of for instance John 1:17 and 17:3) — Christos is seen as the Greek translation of the Hebrew mashiaḥ (המשיח) (“anointed”). Accordingly, a transliteration of mashiaḥ is used, either as “Messiah” or based on the Greek or Latin as a form of “Messias.”
This transliteration is also used in the two instances where the Greek term Μεσσίας (Messias) is used in John 1:41 and 4:25.
In some languages and some translations, the term “Messiah” is supplemented with an explanation. Such as in the GermanGute Nachricht with “the Messiah, the promised savior” (Wir haben den Messias gefunden, den versprochenen Retter) or in Muna with “Messiah, the Saving King” (Mesias, Omputo Fosalamatino) (source: René van den Berg).
In predominantly Muslim areas or for Bible translations for a Muslim target group, Christos is usually transliterated from the Arabic al-Masih (ٱلْمَسِيحِ) — “Messiah.” In most cases, this practice corresponds with languages that also use a form of the Arabic Isa (عيسى) for Jesus (see Jesus). There are some exceptions, though, including modern translations in Arabic which use Yasua (يَسُوعَ) (coming from the Aramaic Yēšūa’) alongside a transliteration of al-Masih, Hausa which uses Yesu but Almahisu, and some Fula languages (Adamawa Fulfulde, Nigerian Fulfulde, and Central-Eastern Niger Fulfulde) which also use a form of Iésous (Yeesu) but Almasiihu (or Almasiifu) for Christos.
In Indonesian, while most Bible translations had already used Yesus Kristus rather than Isa al Masih, three public holidays used to be described using the term Isa Al Masih. From 2024 on, the government is using Yesus Kristus in those holiday names instead (see this article in Christianity Today ).
Other solutions that are used by a number of languages include these:
Dobel: “The important one that God had appointed to come” (source: Jock Hughes)
Noongar: Keny Mammarap or “The One Man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “King of not dying for life all mashed out infinitely” (for “mashed out,” see salvation; source: Lloyd Peckham)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “One chosen by God to rule mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Bacama: Ma Pwa a Ngɨltən: “The one God has chosen” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Binumarien: Anutuna: originally a term that was used for a man that was blessed by elders for a task by the laying on of hands (source: Desmond Oatridges, Holzhausen 1991, p. 49f.)
Noongar: Keny Boolanga-Yira Waangki-Koorliny: “One God is Sending” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uab Meto: Neno Anan: “Son of heaven” P. Middelkoop explains: “The idea of heavenly power bestowed on a Timorese king is rendered in the title Neno Anan. It is based on the historical fact that chiefs in general came from overseas and they who come thence are believed to have come down from heaven, from the land beyond the sea, that means the sphere of God and the ghosts of the dead. The symbolical act of anointing has been made subservient to the revelation of an eternal truth and when the term Neno Anan is used as a translation thereof, it also is made subservient to a new revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The very fact that Jesus came from heaven makes this translation hit the mark.” (Source: P. Middelkoop in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 183ff. )
In Finnish Sign Language both “Christ” and “Messiah” are translated with sign signifying “king.” (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
“Christ / Messiah” in Finnish Sign Language (source )
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew mashiah was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments (click or tap here to read more):
“Another important word in the New Testament that comes from the Septuagint is christos, ‘Christ.’ Christ is not part of the name of the man from Nazareth, as if ‘the Christs’ were written above the door of his family home. Rather, ‘Christ’ is an explicitly messianic title used by the writers of the New Testament who have learned this word from the Septuagint’s translation of the Hebrew mashiach, ‘anointed,’ which itself is often rendered in English as ‘Messiah.’ To be sure, one detects a messianic intent on the part of the Septuagint translator in some places. Amos 4:13 may have been one of these. In the Hebrew Bible, God ‘reveals his thoughts to mortals,’ but the Septuagint has ‘announcing his anointed to humans.’ A fine distinction must be made, however, between theology that was intended by the Septuagint translators and that developed by later Christian writers. In Amos 4:13 it is merely possible we have a messianic reading, but it is unquestionably the case that the New Testament writers exploit the Septuagint’s use of christos, in Amos and elsewhere, to messianic ends.”
The language of verse 12 does not indicate any sharp break with what precedes it, but the conjunction For is rather weak in Greek, so it would be better omitted in translation, as Good News Bible has done.
In this verse Paul’s thought is quite condensed and he “takes two steps in one” (Barrett) (1) Christians in the church are like various parts of the body, and (2) the church is the body of Christ. For this reason Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch goes to the other extreme from Good News Bible by, so to speak, forcing Paul to take one step at a time: “One can compare the church of Christ with a body that has many members.” Other English translations, including New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Translator’s New Testament, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, agree essentially with Revised Standard Version‘s middle path: so it is with Christ. This solution is probably the better one.
The use of the words body and members in this section is fairly consistent. In most occurrences body has its literal meaning of a living physical body, including the head (verse 21). The context shows that the word translated members (Good News Bible‘s “parts”) is quite general, including not only arms and legs, but also other parts of the body. It is important for translators to choose terms that are live metaphors, that is, terms that are still capable of having a literal meaning. In that sense members is unsuitable in modern English, since it has almost lost its literal meaning of “limbs.” Good News Bible‘s translation “parts” is more suitable.
Many members: Paul’s point here is not the large numbers of parts in the body, but their diversity. So “different parts” (Good News Bible) is a better translation.
The position of Christ in the verse is different in Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible. In Greek its position at the end of the verse is emphatic, whereas it is more emphatic at the beginning of the sentence in English. common language translations and also Revised English Bible generally agree with Good News Bible‘s restructuring, which also makes the logic clearer.
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 .