oneself (go-jishin) (Japanese honorifics)

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 or a person or persons to be honored, the honorific prefix go- (御 or ご) can be used, as in go-jishin (ご自身), a combination of “onseself” (jishin) and the honorific prefix go-. This can also be used for other reflexive pronouns (myself, himself, yourself etc.)

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

Translation commentary on Ephesians 2:20

In Greek this verse continues without a break from verse 19; the Greek aorist passive participle “having been built” is dependent on the main verb “you are” in verse 19 and represents the condition or manner of the readers’ new situation as full members of the Kingdom and family of God. The figure is now that of a building, which carries through verse 22 (verse 20 “build upon”; verse 21 “building”; verse 22 “build together with”). The Greek text says simply “(you) having been built upon”; Good News Translation has You, too are built upon (also Bible en français courant) in anticipation of what is explicitly stated in verse 22, “you are built together with,” and in order to make clear that the experience of Gentile Christians is the same as that of Jewish Christians and not different and separate from it. Jerusalem Bible, Translator’s New Testament have “you are part of a building”; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “you have been integrated into the building.”

If a time reference is explicit in the aorist participle it is, as Abbott says, to the time when they became Christians.

The figure of a building is expressed by two features: the foundation and the cornerstone. As to the former, the Greek has simply the genitive construction, “the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” which may mean one of four things:

(1) the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets: Bengel, Salmond; Good News Translation, Twentieth Century New Testament, New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje
(2) the foundation which consists of the apostles and prophets: Abbott, Dodd, Furnish, Robinson, Murray, Beare, Barth; Good News Translation margin, New English Bible margin, Barclay, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Moffatt, Goodspeed, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, Phillips
(3) the foundation upon which the apostles and prophets are built: Alford
(4) the foundation upon which the apostles and prophets have built: Beza

As is to be seen, the majority of commentators and translators prefer number 2, taking “of the apostles and prophets” to be a genitive of apposition (to “the foundation”). Simply to translate “the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (as do Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament, New International Version) is to say in English that the foundation belonged to the apostles and prophets.

Apostles may refer in a restricted sense to the twelve immediate followers and companions of Jesus; more probably it refers to the wider group, which included people like Paul (see 1.1).

Prophets are probably New Testament prophets, people who delivered God’s message in Christian worship, and not Old Testament prophets; but it should be said that the fact that apostles comes before prophets, and that both are governed by one definite article, does not prove that these prophets are not Old Testament prophets. The same phrase occurs in 3.5, where the prophets are, undeniably, Christian prophets.

The bold metaphor which speaks of the believers as being built upon the foundation is something which must often be made a simile in order for the reader to immediately understand that this is a figure of speech, for example, “you, too, have been built, so to speak, upon the foundation.” In some languages the foundation is simply “the stones on which a house is built.”

The phrase laid by the apostles and prophets may be translated as “the apostles and the prophets laid the foundation” or “… made the foundation.” For a treatment of the term apostle see 1.1.

A typical and effective term for prophets is “those who speak on behalf of God” or “those who proclaim God’s word” or “… God’s message.”

If one assumes that the foundation consists of the apostles and prophets, then the figure of speech becomes more complex, because one does not wish to suggest that certain people were simply built literally on top of the apostles and prophets. The foundation, therefore, may be described as “the message (or, truth) which the apostles and prophets proclaimed.”

The cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself: the identification of Christ as the cornerstone makes it more likely that the apostles and prophets are the foundation, but is not conclusive proof that such was the meaning intended by the writer.

It is impossible to determine precisely which stone is meant by the Greek noun translated “cornerstone.” This word occurs also in 1 Peter 2.6, while in Matthew 21.42; Mark 12.10; Luke 20.17; Acts 4.11; 1 Peter 2.7 the phrase “head of the corner” is used. The stone in question could be the large stone used in ancient buildings which extended to the corner of the building, the stones from the wall at right angles to it fitting above and beneath this stone. One such massive stone, 38 feet 9 inches (almost 12 meters) long was discovered in the Temple area in Jerusalem. (Of course it should be noted that in English, at least, the “cornerstone” could refer to the stone at any one of the four corners of an edifice.) Others take the word to mean “keystone,” the stone at the top of an arch. In English this is called the “capstone” or “copestone.” Whatever the precise meaning of the word in Greek, the general meaning is not in doubt: Christ is called the most important stone in the building, the one that provides cohesion and support for the whole structure. So it will be better in most languages to represent the meaning by the phrase “the most important stone.”

In many parts of the world it is not customary to build buildings with foundations or from stones or bricks. As a result the images in this verse pose some difficulties. For these situations foundation can be described as “the solid (or, strong) base put down to build a house on” or “the base people put down before they build a house made of stone.” Cornerstone can then be represented as “the most important stone in the building” or “the stone that gives strength to the building.” When translators use expansions such as these, it becomes much easier to translate with similes, where the comparisons are made clear. One way to do this would be: “You, too, are part of a building. The base they build that building on was put there by the apostles and the prophets, and the stone that gives it strength is Christ Jesus himself.” Another possibility would be: “You, too, are like part of a building for which the apostles and the prophets laid down the base that gives it strength; and Christ Jesus is the important stone that gives strength to the building.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ephesians 2:20

2:20a

foundation of the apostles and prophets: There are different views about the meaning of this phrase. This phrase could mean that:

(1) the foundation is composed of the apostles and prophets. For example:

You are like a building with the apostles and prophets as the foundation (Contemporary English Version)

(Contemporary English Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(2) the foundation has been laid by the apostles and prophets. This means that the work that the apostles and prophets did is the foundation. For example:

You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets (Good News Translation)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Most English versions translate the Greek literally, and it is not possible to tell which interpretation they follow. In some languages, a literal translation would mean that the apostles and prophets owned the foundations, so be careful to avoid such a meaning.

foundation: In New Testament times the houses were built on rocks to make them solid. These rocks were called the foundation. If your language has no word for foundation, you may need to say something like this:

rocks that they build the house on

apostles: The apostles are the twelve disciples plus Paul and perhaps a few other men. See how you translated “apostle” in 1:1b. See apostle in the Glossary if you want more information.

prophets: In this context, prophets were people in the church to whom God gave a spiritual gift. This gift enabled the person to speak a message from God. Most commentators think that the prophets Paul was talking about were New Testament prophets rather than Old Testament prophets. (See Acts 13:1, Ephesians 3:5, Ephesians 4:11.)

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

spokesmen for God
-or-
men who speak God’s words
-or-
God’s message-speakers

See prophet in the Glossary for more information.

2:20b

cornerstone: The Greek word the Berean Standard Bible translates as cornerstone was the largest and most important stone in the building. It was a large stone placed in the corner of the foundation. It made the building solid and helped hold the foundation and walls together.

If your readers will not understand a word like cornerstone, you may need to use a word for the most important part of your buildings. For example:

the most important stone (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
the central post ⌊of the house⌋

© 1999, 2019 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.

Commentaire sur la traduction de la lettre aux Éphésiens 2.20

En grec la phrase commencée à Éph. 2.19 continue sans interruption, mais l’image de « concitoyen » qui illustre la pleine intégration des nouveaux chrétiens au peuple de Dieu est abandonnée en faveur d’une autre image : celle d’un bâtiment ou d’une construction. En effet, la racine derrière le mot construction revient dans chaque verset jusqu’à Éph. 2.22. La racine « maison » ou « demeure » (grec : οικο oikos) s’y retrouve six fois ! Beaucoup du vocabulaire évoqué ici vient du monde de la construction : construire, fondation, pierre maîtresse, etc.

Vous avez été intégrés dans la construction : pour bien communiquer l’idée, la Traduction œcuménique de la Bible et la Bible en français courant introduisent le verbe intégrer, mais en grec il s’agit d’un seul mot, un participe aoriste passif, « ayant été construits ». Il dépend de la proposition verbale « vous êtes » du verset 19. C’est une référence à un moment passé où les lecteurs sont devenus chrétiens. Le même verbe se trouve dans 1 Cor 3.10,12,14. Au sens premier, il signifie « construire sur (une fondation) » ou tout simplement, « construire ». La Nouvelle Bible Segond maintient le verbe « construire » : « Vous avez été construits sur les fondations… » La traduction de la Parole de Vie, « Vous êtes devenus la maison qui a pour fondations… », pourrait servir de modèle, par exemple : « Vous faites partie d’un bâtiment qui a pour fondation… » Comme il s’agit de langage figuré, les traducteurs pourraient insérer une expression comme « pour ainsi dire » si cela aide le lecteur à comprendre de quoi il s’agit.

qui a pour fondation : il s’agit de la partie basse d’une maison, qui se trouve souvent plus bas que le sol. Avant de commencer la construction de la maison, des tranches sont creusées et remplies de terre ferme ou de pierres. La maison sera ensuite construite sur cette fondation. La fondation est donc la partie de la construction qui est posée la première ; elle a pour but de stabiliser et de donner du support aux murs de la maison. Si la langue réceptrice n’a pas de mot pour fondation, les traducteurs peuvent la décrire en parlant des « (grosses) pierres (dans la terre) sur lesquelles la maison est construite » ou « la terre dure sur laquelle la maison se repose ».

les apôtres et les prophètes : le grec dit littéralement « la fondation des apôtres et des prophètes », mais cette expression a plusieurs sens possibles :

• les apôtres et les prophètes ont posé la fondation
• les apôtres et les prophètes s’appuient sur cette fondation
• les apôtres et les prophètes constituent eux-mêmes la fondation

Dans ce contexte, les versions sont d’accord pour comprendre l’expression dans ce dernier sens : ce sont les apôtres et les prophètes eux-mêmes qui constituent la fondation. Leur vie et leur enseignement constituent le fondement de la foi de l’Église. Ainsi la Nouvelle Bible Segond propose « Vous avez été construits sur les fondations constituées par les apôtres et prophètes ». La Bible de Jérusalem est similaire : « Car la construction que vous êtes a pour fondations les apôtres et prophètes ».

apôtres pourrait désigner strictement les douze disciples proches de Jésus durant son ministère (voir Matt 10.2 ; Act 1.26), mais chez Paul, le mot a souvent un sens plus large. Il est fort probable que Paul s’y voit inclus dans ce groupe. Voir Éph. 1.1.

les prophètes sont les porte-parole de Dieu. Dans le langage commun d’aujourd’hui le mot désigne quelqu’un qui prédit l’avenir, mais ceci n’est pas son sens biblique. Le prophète est celui qui délivre le message du Seigneur, concernant le passé, le présent ou le futur. Si un terme existe déjà pour prophète, il peut être retenu, mais s’il n’y en a pas ou si le mot connu n’a pas le sens voulu, les traducteurs ont l’opportunité de façonner un terme ou une expression qui convient mieux, tel que « porte-parole de Dieu », « celui qui parle de la part de Dieu » ou « celui qui annonce le message de Dieu ». Il semble s’agir de prophètes chrétiens, cités dans le même ordre dans 1 Cor 12.28 et plus tard dans Éph 3.5 ; Éph. 4.11.

et Jésus Christ lui-même comme pierre maîtresse : l’auteur compare Jésus Christ à la pierre maîtresse du bâtiment. Il s’agit de la pierre d’angle, une grande pierre, bien taillée ou d’une forme naturelle appropriée, qui sert à stabiliser le bâtiment. Elle est placée là où les murs se rencontrent dans un coin du bâtiment, ou bien en haut, ou bien dans les fondations. C’est donc une pierre qui donne cohésion et soutien à toute la structure. 1 Pi 2.6 décrit cette pierre comme « précieuse », « choisie » parmi d’autres. Des expressions semblables se trouvent en Matt 21.42 ; Marc 12.10 ; Luc 20.17 ; Act 4.11 et 1 Pi 2.7. Il peut être difficile de trouver un équivalent convenable pour pierre maîtresse dans la langue cible. Pour éviter une longue expression descriptive, les traducteurs peuvent opter pour « la pierre principale », « la pierre la plus importante (dans le bâtiment) » ou parler de « la pierre (ou la brique) de l’angle ».

Source: Zogbo, Lynell. La lettre aux Éphésiens – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exégétique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2011.