Following are a number of back-translations of Colossians 1:29:
Uma: “That is why I work hard, I exert-effort to do my work, according to the strength that Kristus gives me, for his power in my life is indeed strong.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “This is my aim, that’s why I continue to work and to strive and I am given strength from Almasi’s power, he is the one helping me.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for us, I continue working, so that this might come about, being strengthened by the strong power of Christ so that I might do this.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “I put-forth all my efforts (lit. ability) so that these-things will be fulfilled using the strong power that Cristo gives me.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore I am diligently-performing this job/responsibility of mine in the strength of the far-from-ordinary ability that Cristo is giving to me.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “It is for this that I earnestly work. Because Christ strengthens me so that I can work preaching this word.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
Now Paul switches to the first person singular, as contrasted with the plural in verse 28 (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, however, understands the plural in verse 28 as epistolary and translates by first singular).
To get this done may be expressed as “in order to accomplish this task” or “in order to cause all this to happen.”
I toil and struggle: the first verb denotes hard work; the second one, in Greek a participle modifying the main verb, indicates trouble or pain or effort (both verbs used together also in 1 Tim 4.10): New English Bible “toiling strenuously,” Jerusalem Bible “I struggle wearily on” (which sounds like a complaint). This verb agōnizomai describes a fight (John 18.36) or, more often, an athletic contest (1 Cor 9.25, 1 Tim 6.12, 2 Tim 4.7; see the cognate noun in Heb 12.1). It is used here generally in the sense of “struggle”.
Since the two verbs toil and struggle primarily reinforce one another, they may be quite satisfactorily rendered by a single verb with an attributive, as in the case of the New English Bible “toiling strenuously.” For example, one may say “I work very hard indeed” or “I work as hard as I can.”
Using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work represents the Greek “according to his energy which is powerfully working.” By the use of the noun energeia (only 8 times in the NT, in Eph, Phil, Col, 2 Thes), the middle participle of the cognate verb (energeō), and the prepositional phrase “in power,” Paul emphasizes the greatness and might of Christ’s power at work in him. Revised Standard Version “inspires” is ambiguous and could be misunderstood.
The phrase mighty strength must not be translated in such a way as to suggest physical strength. It may be more appropriate in some languages to say “using the great power that Christ supplies,” or “… makes possible,” or “… has caused me to have.” Rather than saying “using the mighty strength,” it may be better to say “I can do this because of the great strength.” On the other hand, it may be necessary to restructure this statement rather extensively and to say “I can do all this because Christ makes it possible for me” or “… makes me able to do it.” In this way the expression of power is closely related to the hard work or toil mentioned in the first part of verse 29.
In some languages, it may be quite impossible to talk about “mighty strength … at work in me.” A person may use strength in working but certainly “strength” does not work. Which is at work in me may, therefore, be expressed as “which shows up as I work” or “which is manifest in what I do.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. 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®).
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.