ὅπου οὐκ ἔνι Ἕλλην καὶ Ἰουδαῖος, περιτομὴ καὶ ἀκροβυστία, βάρβαρος, Σκύθης, δοῦλος, ἐλεύθερος, ἀλλὰ [τὰ] πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν Χριστός.
11In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all!
The name that is transliterated as “Scythian” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with the sign that combines “fierce fighters on fast horses” (which was their reputation — see the Wikipedia link below) and “throw,” a meaning of the name (or: “archery”). (Source: Missão Kophós )
“Scythian” in Libras (source )
More information about Scythians .
In Nicholas King’s English translation of the New Testament (2004), the translator decided to use bullet point lists in some case in the Ephesians, Colossians, and Titus. “There are elaborate groups of nouns strung together, and the sentences are rather long. I have tried, not entirely successfully, to make these long sentences more manageable by the use of bullet points.” One such list is Colossians 3:1-11:
So, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at God’s right hand;
The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “circumcise” or “circumcision” in English (originally meaning of English term: “to cut around”) are (back-) translated in various ways:
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Circumcision .
Following are a number of back-translations of Colossians 3:11:
The Greek that is transliterated as “barbarian” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that combines a nomads tent and “submission to authority.” “The idea of barbarians that we have today is different from the reality described historically. They were a nomadic people and were submissive to the cultures and languages to which they were subjugated, and were not as violent as the Scythians.” (Source: Aline Martins and Paul Fahnestock)
“Barbarian” in Libras (source )
More information on Barbarian .
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 German Gute 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:
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 )
“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.”
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Christ .
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, o-rare-ru (おられる) or “is/be present” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
As a result translates the Greek adverb “where,” which means “in this new situation,” “in this new humanity (which God creates).” It may also be rendered as “because of this” or “because of what God has done.” The verb that follows (see also 1 Cor 6.5, Gal 3.28, Col 3.11, James 1.17) may be either there is (not) (Good News Translation) or as a stronger assertion “there cannot be” (Revised Standard Version). In the new humanity, all racial, religious, national, and social distinctions are abolished (see also 1 Cor 12.13, Gal 3.28).
It may not be possible to render literally there is no longer any distinction between Gentiles and Jews…. Instead of such an abstract word as distinction, it may be necessary to specifically contrast Gentiles and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, etc., for example, “because of what God has done, Gentiles are no different from Jews; circumcised people are no different from uncircumcised.” Accordingly, the last four classes may be spoken of as “barbarians, savages, slaves, and free men are all the same.”
The word “Greek” (Revised Standard Version) stands for Gentiles as a whole, not just people from Greece; circumcised and uncircumcised is practically the same as Jews and Gentiles. If, as in so many instances, circumcised and uncircumcised can best be rendered as Jews and non-Jews (a phrase which likewise distinguishes “Jews and Gentiles”), it may be best to coalesce these two distinction into one, for example, “Jews and non-Jews” or “those who are Jews and those who are not Jews.”
Barbarians may simply be “foreigners” (Phillips): it is the name that Greeks applied to all other races. Barbarians may often be translated as “those of other tribes” or “those who speak strange languages.”
Savages represents the Greek “Scythian” (Revised Standard Version), who were reputed by the Romans to be the wildest, most uncivilized, people living. Josephus said of them that they were little better than wild beasts. (This list does not include the sexual distinction “male and female,” which appears in Gal 3.28.) Savages may be expressed as “uncivilized people,” or idiomatically as “tribes living far away,” or “people without farms” (an expression used in some languages to designate a relatively primitive type of hunting and gathering society).
Christ is all, Christ is in all is a summary way of stating that in the new humanity Christ is all that matters, since he is in all alike (in all could mean “in all things,” but more probably means “in everyone,” “in all people” who belong to the new humanity). New American Bible “Christ is everything in all of you,” Jerusalem Bible “There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything,” Phillips “Christ is all that matters, for Christ lives in all.” Christ is all may be expressed as “Christ is the one who is important.” Expressed negatively, the same phrase may be rendered as “there is no one else except Christ who is important.”
In rendering Christ is in all, it may be essential to specify who or what is involved in all. If all is to be interpreted as a reference to non-humans, then one could only say “Christ is in all the universe” or “… in all that exists,” but since the more usual interpretation relates all to persons, it may be best to say “in all of you.” If, however, one translates in all as “in all people,” there are certain theological problems which immediately arise, since this would presuppose that in some measure Christ dwells in all human beings irrespective of their religious beliefs or relationship to God. This would seem to be quite contrary to what Paul is speaking of in this context.
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 .
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