acknowledge, confess

The Greek that is translated as “acknowledge” or “confess” in English is rendered as “say openly … that they have believed” (Tzeltal), “approves” (Chichewa), “declares/mentions (my) name” (Kekchí, Sranan Tongo), “talks (my) good name” (Northern Grebo), “testifies to (me)” (Zarma, Pohnpeian), “takes (my) side” (Shona, translation of 1966), or “speaks for (me)” (Ekari). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)

complete verse (1 John 2:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 2:23:

  • Uma: “People who reject God the Child, they have no connection with God the Father. People who admit-confess that Yesus is the Child of God, they are connected with God the Father.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Whoever says that he does not believe-obey that Isa is God’s Son, he also does not believe-obey in God. Whoever confesses/makes-clear saying that Isa is really God’s Son, he also believes-obey in God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If there is a person who will not receive the Son of God, he will also not receive our Father God. And in the same way also, if there is a person who has already received the Son of God, he has also received our Father God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “For whoever does not acknowledge God’s Child, he of course doesn’t know his Father, but as for the one who does acknowledge the Child of God who doesn’t deny him, God the Father is in him as well.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Because whoever doesn’t testify that Jesus is the Son of God, it’s also not possible that he is accepted by God the Father. But he who testifies that this Jesus really is the Son of God, of course it’s true that God is his Father too.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Whoever says that Jesus is not the Son of God is not walking with God. But whoever says that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that one walks with the Father.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “Whoever shoves the Son of God aside, our father God is not with him. The person who knows and says that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our father God is with him.”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “He who denies in regard to God’s Son, then neither does he know God who is his Father. But he who believes his Son, also knows his Father.”
  • Tzotzil: “If we say ‘Jesus Christ is not God’s Son,’ we have not believed Jesus Christ’s word. Then God is not our Father. If we say ‘Jesus Christ is God’s Son,’ we have believed Jesus Christ’s word and God is our Father.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)

Father (address for God)

The Greek that is translated with the capitalized “Father” in English when referring to God is translated in Highland Totonac with the regular word for (biological) father to which a suffix is added to indicate respect. The same also is used for “Lord” when referring to Jesus. (Source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )

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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. In the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017, God the Father is addressed with mi-chichi (御父). This form has the “divine” honorific prefix mi– preceding the archaic honorific form chichi for “father.”

If, however, Jesus addresses his Father, he is using chichi-o (父を) which is also highly respectful but does not have the “divine” honorific. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also Lord and my / our Father.

Translation commentary on 1 John 2:23

This verse is a further explanation of what John has stated in verse 22.

No one who denies the Son has the Father can be rendered as ‘everyone who denies the Son cannot have the Father,’ ‘if a person denies the Father’s Son, he also cannot have the Father,’ ‘a person cannot have the Father, if he denies his Son.’

“To have the Father” expresses a close and intimate communion with the Father, not the possessing of the Father, of course. Some renderings are ‘to be with the Father,’ ‘to have received the Father,’ ‘to be a child of the Father.’ It is probably an allusion to a favorite expression among the false teachers, who claimed a communion with the Father not polluted by this material world. John counters this by stating who cannot “have the Father” and who can. Only by accepting Jesus Christ, who as man has been part of this material world, can one “have the Father,” that is, have fellowship with God, the Father of Jesus Christ.

He who confesses the Son has the Father also: for the sake of emphasis, again, the thought first expressed in a negative sentence is now repeated in a positive one; see comments on verse 21. The two are parallel but in reverse order. Therefore adjustments or restructurings in the one should have their counterpart in the other.

† “To confess” occurred with “our sins” as goal in 1.9. Here and in 4.3 the goal is personal (“the Son” and “Jesus Christ”), and the verb is used in the sense of declaring openly one’s belief in Christ. In 4.2 and 15 the verb is followed by a clause mentioning a fact about Christ, and has the meaning of declaring openly that one believes that fact. The same Greek verb occurs with the same meaning in 2 John 7, where Revised Standard Version has “acknowledge.”

In the present verse “to confess” is the direct opposite of the preceding “to deny,” and accordingly has to be rendered “to accept” (Good News Translation), ‘not to reject/disown,’ ‘to say “yes” about,’ ‘to say, “I love…,” ’ ‘to declare openly that one believes in.’ In the last mentioned rendering ‘to believe’ (for which see comments on 3.23) should be taken in the sense of believing as true the facts about the Son rather than in the sense of trusting in the Son.

Some versions give different renderings of the two occurrences of “to have the Father”; for example, ‘rejects the Father’ in the preceding, negative clause, and ‘has the Father’ in the present, positive one. In itself ‘to reject’ is an acceptable rendering of “not to have” in this context. Yet such differentiation spoils the reverse parallelism and weakens the allusive character of the expression “to have the Father.” It is therefore unadvisable unless clearly required by receptor language idiom.

Quoted with permission from Haas, C., de Jonge, M. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on The First Letter of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 2:23

2:23 (Emphasis)

In this verse John is making it clear that our relationship to God depends on our believing in Jesus. He emphasizes this by stating it first negatively and then positively.

2:23a

have the Father: (Meaning) This is another way by which John refers to Christians’ close relationship and union with God the Father. See also the note on 2:5c “in Him.”

2:23b

confesses the Son: (Meaning) This is the opposite of “denies the Son.” It means “accepts, says openly that he believes in Jesus as the Son of God.”

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