The Greek that is often translated as “flesh” in English (when referring to the lower human nature) can, according to Nida (1947, p. 153) “very rarely be literally translated into another language. ‘My meat’ or ‘my muscle’ does not make sense in most languages.” He then gives a catalog of almost 30 questions to determine a correct translation for that term.
The Toraja-Sa’dan translation uses a variety of terms for the translation of the same Greek term (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
A form of kale tolinona or “corporeal” is for instance used in Romans 9:5 or Colossians 1:22 (and also in Genesis 6:3 and Exodus 30:32)
A form of mentolinona or “the human” is for instance used in Matthew 16:17 or John 1:14
Phrases that include pa’kalean or “bodiliness” (also: “human shape”) are for instance used in Romans 6:6 or 1 Peter 2:11 (as well as in Isa 52:14, Isa 53:2, and Lamentations 4:7
The Greek that is translated in English as “brother” or “brother and sister” (in the sense of fellow believers), is translated with a specifically coined word in Kachin: “There are two terms for brother in Kachin. One is used to refer to a Christian brother. This term combines ‘older and younger brother.’ The other term is used specifically for addressing siblings. When one uses this term, one must specify if the older or younger person is involved. A parallel system exists for ‘sister’ as well. In [these verses], the term for ‘a Christian brother’ is used.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae)
In Matumbi is is translated as alongo aumini or “relative-believer.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Martu Wangka it is translated as “relative” (this is also the term that is used for “follower.”) (Source: Carl Gross)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is often translated as Mitchristen or “fellow Christians.”
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 3:1:
Uma: “Relatives, while I was with you, I could not speak to you like I speak to people who have received the Holy Spirit. I spoke to you like [I speak to] people who still follow the evil desires of their hearts. For at that time your faith in Kristus was not-yet clear, you were like babies in your faith.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “My brothers, when I was there with you formerly, I could not teach to you deep teaching as I teach to people who have the Spirit of God. I taught/preached to you like to people who follow their own desires. Your trust in Isa Almasi was not yet strong; you were like children recently born.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Brethren, when I was still with you, I could not teach you the deep teachings like I teach people who are guided by the Holy Spirit, because it’s as if you were still children in your believing in Christ and you are people who are controlled by your desires.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “My brothers, while I was staying with you, I was not able to teach you like I teach those whose faith is mature whom the Holy Spirit is leading, but rather I counted you as babies in faith because your minds/thoughts are still human (connotes sinful/limited humanity).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “My siblings in believing, when I was still there with you, in my teaching it was not possible for me to regard you as people who follow/obey the leading of the Espiritu Santo, but rather as people who just indulge the desires of their own bodies. Even though you are united/tied-together with Cristo, as for your nature/ways, they are just like the ways of a child, not the ways of mature believing/obeying.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Listen my brothers, when I was where you live, I did not tell you the words which I tell the believers who already walk with the Holy Spirit. Rather, I told you the words which are not hard for you to know. Because you live like children who for only a short time have known about the word of Christ.” (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 a 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.”
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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-tama (御霊) or “Spirit (of God)” in the referenced verses.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
The function of the first Greek word (literally “And I”), which Revised Standard Version translates But I, has just been discussed. Good News Bible adds “As a matter of fact,” to emphasize Paul’s change of theme as well as the shift from “we” language to “I/you” language. Another way of rendering this is “As for me … I.” However, translators in some languages will put the equivalent of brethren at the beginning of the verse and say “My brothers (and sisters [New Revised Standard Version] or, fellow Christians), I….” This also gives emphasis to Paul’s change of theme.
Brethren: here Paul is addressing himself to all the Christians in Corinth, both male and female. In some languages one must say, for example, “my fellow Christians,” or even idiomatically “all my elders and youngers.” There is no “my” in the Greek; the word is added for reasons of English style, and this will be helpful in many other languages too.
Address (Good News Bible‘s “talk”) is the common Greek word translated “impart” or “proclaim” in 2.6 (see the comments). In both places Paul is speaking about his personal way of transmitting the Christian message.
It is often very difficult to translate comparisons, and the one in this verse, not address you as … but as …, presents difficulties. The text literally translated is “I could not talk to you as spiritual but as fleshly, as to children in Christ.” The main problem here is that of making the positive side of the comparison real. Good News Bible‘s “as though you belonged…” does not do this adequately. The meaning is more probably “I could not talk to you as I would talk to people who have the Spirit. Rather, I had to talk to you as people who really do belong to this world, as people who are like children in the Christian faith.”
Spiritual men (Good News Bible “people who have the Spirit”): see 2.13, 15. Another way to express this is “people who have God’s Spirit living in you.”
But indicates a strong contrast: “but rather” (New Revised Standard Version) or “instead.”
Translators are often tempted to see distinctions where none are intended in the text, and to define words more strictly than New Testament usage would allow. The single Greek word that Revised Standard Version translates men of the flesh illustrates these dangers. The Greek word in this verse is sarkinos; in verse 3 the corresponding word is sarkikos. In some contexts these are distinguished, sarkinos meaning “made of flesh,” as in 2 Cor 3.3, and sarkikos meaning “having the character of flesh,” as in 1 Cor 9.11. (See the comment on “flesh” in 1.26.) Sarkikos, therefore, more often has a bad meaning, referring to human beings in rebellion against God. However, in 1 Cor 3.1-4, most commentators and translators agree that there is no difference in meaning between these two words.
Paul’s language is flexible. On the one hand there are people described as “unspiritual” (2.14), as having “the spirit of the world” (2.12), as being “of the flesh” (3.1, 3), and as “behaving like ordinary people” (3.3) or like “children” (3.1). On the other hand there are those who are spiritual men (3.1; compare 2.11-14) and are therefore “spiritually mature” (2.6). The only important distinctions within each of these sets of terms is that some include a time element and others do not. In the present passage, especially verses 2 and 3, expressions of time are important.
In some languages it will be helpful to render the clause “you belonged to this world” (Good News Bible) as “you were people who were controlled by this world” or “you were people who were under the control of this world.”
Even in chapter 2 Paul does not rigidly separate different categories of people. Now in chapter 3 he is more directly concerned with the process of growth that leads to Christian maturity and a life that is entirely under the control of the Holy Spirit. This theme of Christian progress is implied in the reference to babes here, and in two different expressions that are translated “not ready” in verse 2. The last phrase in verse 1, therefore, modifies what Paul has said earlier, so that one might well translate it “as people who belong to this world, or at least are like children in the Christian faith.”
In Christ means “in the Christian faith” (Good News Bible), or one may say “like children in your understanding of the Christian faith,” or “… in your understanding of Christian teachings.” Drawing together our comments on other ways to translate the various parts of this verse, we may suggest the following as an alternative translation model:
• My fellow Christians (or, elders and youngers), I could not talk to you as I would talk to people who have God’s Spirit living in them. Rather, I had to talk to you as people who really do belong to this world, as people who are like children in your understanding of Christian teachings.
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 .
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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