3rd person pronoun with high register (Japanese)

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 third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also third person pronoun with exalted register.

Translation commentary on 1 John 5:6

This is he who came…, Jesus Christ: the demonstrative pronoun this, taking up “Jesus” in the last clause of verse 5, points forward to Jesus Christ at the end of verse 6a. This name has strong emphasis. To bring this out the word order may have to be changed; for example, “it was he, Jesus Christ himself, who came…” (Goodspeed).

Who came by water and blood. The verb is in the aorist, showing that the reference is to a specific event in history. That event had to do with water, standing for Jesus’ baptism, and blood, standing for his death. These two are mentioned as the two most characteristic events of his life on earth.

The Greek preposition translated by (literally “through”) has locative sense but also denotes attendant circumstances. Accordingly the phrase can be taken quite literally as a reference to Jesus’ passing through water at his baptism, and through blood at his death. But a secondary meaning may also be relevant: Jesus comes with the water and the blood by which his followers are to be cleansed and redeemed.

By water and blood: most versions investigated give a literal rendering. Some add a reference to baptism and death; for example, ‘he was baptized with water … he spilled out his blood, he died.’ To add such references is acceptable, but to substitute them for “water and blood” is not advisable.

Not with the water only but with the water and the blood: these words are added to stress that Jesus’ death is as important as his baptism. They seem to be meant as a refutation of opinions held by the false teachers. For those opinions compare the Introduction, pages 3 and following.

With: the preposition used in the Greek (literally “in”) again refers to attendant circumstances. The use of the article serves to show that water and blood refer back to what has been said in the first part of verse 6.

Some commentators take this last phrase of verse 6 as a reference to the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This seems less probable for two reasons: (1) Verse 6b clearly serves to emphasize and clarify verse 6a. Consequently in both parts of the verse the two nouns should be taken in the same sense, namely, as references to events in Jesus’ life. (2) A sacramental interpretation of the present passage assumes that the false teachers had dissenting opinions on the Lord’s Supper, but nothing in the Letter supports this assumption.

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 5:6

Paragraph 5:6–9

Read 5:6–9 in both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation. Compare the two versions.

Paragraph Theme: In 5:5 John has talked about believing that Jesus is the Son of God. In 5:6–9 he explains why we should believe in Jesus as the son of God.

5:6a

This: (Pronoun Reference) The word This refers to “Jesus Christ.” In translation it may be clearer to put the name at the beginning of the sentence (see Good News Translation), or to indicate in some other way that the name “Jesus Christ” is in focus here.

the One who came: (Meaning) John is not contrasting Jesus with someone else. He is emphasizing two important points about Jesus’ ministry on earth which those who believe in him (see 5:5) must accept.

by water and blood: (Alternative Interpretations) There are different views about what events in Jesus’ ministry John is referring to by these figures of speech:

(1) He is probably emphasizing that Jesus Christ, who came from heaven, was baptized in water to identify himself with us human beings and shed his blood when he died to save us. In your translation, you will probably need to make clear that water is a figure of speech for Jesus’ baptism, and blood is a figure of speech for his death. See Good News Translation.

(2) Some think John is referring to the fact that Jesus gave us the sacraments of baptism (water) and communion (blood) to remind us of what he has done for us.

(3) Some think this is a reference to the water and blood which came out of Jesus’ body on the cross (John 19:34), proving that he had really died.

5:6b–c

not by water alone, but by water and blood: (Meaning) Here John is denying the teaching of various false teachers who claimed that Jesus was just a man who became Son of God when he was baptized and ceased to be Son of God before he was crucified. That is why John emphasizes here that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, not only was baptized but also died.

5:6d

testifies to this: (Lexical Problem) John does not specify here what the Holy Spirit testifies about. However the following verses make it clear that he is referring to the truth about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Good News Translation makes this reference more explicit. The Holy Spirit testifies to this fact in the hearts or minds of believers.

5:6e

is the truth: (Meaning) For the basic meaning of “truth” see the note on 3:19b “we belong to the truth.” Here John means that the Holy Spirit is the one who shows us the whole of God’s nature and his deeds.

© 2000 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Sung version of 1 John 5

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®).

For more information, see here .