Following are a number of back-translations of Galatians 6:2:
Uma: “We must help each other, whoever of us is in difficulties/sorrows, so that with those deeds of ours we follow the law of Kristus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Help each other for if you do this, you follow the command of Isa Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Each one of you always help each other, because if you do this you will fulfill Christ’s commandment to us.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Help-one-another if you undergo-hardship or are burdened, because if you do that, you will fulfill what Cristo commanded.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And what’s good is, be-helping-one-another with one another’s hardships, for in doing like this, that’s how you will obey what Cristo commanded.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Each one of you, whenever you see that someone is suffering, help him. If you do this, then you will be doing what Christ commanded.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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 GermanGute 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:
Dobel: “The important one that God had appointed to come” (source: Jock Hughes)
Noongar: Keny Mammarap or “The One Man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “King of not dying for life all mashed out infinitely” (for “mashed out,” see salvation; source: Lloyd Peckham)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “One chosen by God to rule mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Bacama: Ma Pwa a Ngɨltən: “The one God has chosen” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Binumarien: Anutuna: originally a term that was used for a man that was blessed by elders for a task by the laying on of hands (source: Desmond Oatridges, Holzhausen 1991, p. 49f.)
Noongar: Keny Boolanga-Yira Waangki-Koorliny: “One God is Sending” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uab Meto: Neno Anan: “Son of heaven” P. Middelkoop explains: “The idea of heavenly power bestowed on a Timorese king is rendered in the title Neno Anan. It is based on the historical fact that chiefs in general came from overseas and they who come thence are believed to have come down from heaven, from the land beyond the sea, that means the sphere of God and the ghosts of the dead. The symbolical act of anointing has been made subservient to the revelation of an eternal truth and when the term Neno Anan is used as a translation thereof, it also is made subservient to a new revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The very fact that Jesus came from heaven makes this translation hit the mark.” (Source: P. Middelkoop in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 183ff. )
In Finnish Sign Language both “Christ” and “Messiah” are translated with sign signifying “king.” (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
“Christ / Messiah” in Finnish Sign Language (source )
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew mashiah was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments (click or tap here to read more):
“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.”
The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
When Paul exhorts his readers to help carry one another’s burdens, he may have in mind what he has referred to in the previous verse, namely, the act of setting right a wrongdoer in the fellowship. The root of the word translated burdens, however, refers metaphorically to anything borne, either good (2 Cor 4.17) or bad (Acts 15.28; Rev 2.24; Gal 5.10). It is possible, therefore, to interpret burdens as a general term, referring to any problems that might befall a Christian.
The position of one another in the Greek is emphatic, meaning that Paul wants to stress it, but what he intends is not completely clear. Two interpretations are possible: (1) he may be harking back to 5.10 and therefore exhorting his readers to put emphasis, not on the burdens of following the Law, but on the burdens of helping each other; or (2) he may be emphasizing the nature of the Christian fellowship, where concern for one another is the basic rule, as he has already expounded it (5.13-14).
Though the figurative language involved in help carry one another’s burdens is very meaningful in many languages, it can be relatively meaningless in others. In some instances it may be possible to change the metaphor into a simile, for example, “help carry one another’s burdens, as it were,” but in other instances it may be better to shift the metaphor into a nonfigurative expression, for example, “help one another in difficulty,” or “if anyone is in difficulty, you should help him.”
In this way is literally “thus,” which has the connotation of “in doing this” (Knox “then”). In other words, it is in helping each other that they obey the law of Christ. The word translated obey is literally “to fulfill,” a verb which denotes the idea of completeness (Phillips “live out”).
The expression the law of Christ means either the law of God as shown by Christ in his life or the law which Christ taught. In either case, Paul is asserting, that if the whole law is fulfilled in the concept of love (as he has already expressed in 5.14), then to share in each other’s burdens is to be obedient to that law. In this context you will obey the law of Christ may be rendered as “you will obey the commandment that Christ gave,” “… the law that Christ taught,” or “… what Christ commanded.”
As the footnote in TEV indicates, there is an alternative to the reading translated you will obey. This reading has another imperative, rather than a future indicative. The meanings of both readings, however, are essentially the same, especially in light of the word “thus,” for this word makes it clear that it is by bearing the burdens of others that a person obeys the law of Christ—it is not as if there were two separate commands, one about bearing and one about obeying. This is really just what the future tense is also saying.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Carry one another’s burdens: This clause is a command that means “help to carry each other’s loads.”
This clause is a metaphor. In this metaphor, Paul encouraged believers to help one another. He compared the difficulties of temptations and sin in 6:1 to a burden. The word burdens also probably represents other types of difficulties such as suffering, pain, and other problems. These things are similar to burdens in that they all are difficult to experience. Paul commanded the believers to help each other in these situations.
Some ways to translate this clause are:
• Keep the metaphor. For example:
Help carry one another’s burdens (Good News Translation)
• Make parts of the metaphor explicit. For example:
Help each other with your heavy burdens ?of temptations and difficulties?
• Change the metaphor to a simile. For example:
?Problems and troubles are like burdens/loads.? Help one another carry these loads.
• Translate the meaning directly without using a figure of speech. For example:
Help each other with your difficulties and sufferings -or-
If you see that someone is suffering, help him.
6:2b
and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ: There is a textual variant here with the tense/aspect of the verb fulfill :
(1) Some Greek manuscripts have the future tense of the verb fulfill. For example:
and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version)
(2) Some Greek manuscripts have the imperative (command) form of the verb fulfill. For example:
and so fulfil the law of Christ (Revised Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow option (1). This is the choice of the UBS Handbook Greek New Testament.
you will fulfill the law of Christ: The phrase the law of Christ refers to the law that Christ taught. He taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves. When we help someone, we are fulfilling/obeying the law to love one another.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
By helping each other, you will truly fulfill/obey the law that Christ taught/commanded. -or-
and in this way you will obey the law of Christ (Good News Translation) -or-
In this way you will follow Christ’s teachings. (God’s Word)
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