formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

See also formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese).

Christ the grapevine (icon)

Following is a contemporary Ukrainian Orthodox icon of Christ as the grapevine by Ulyana Tomkevych.

 

Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

complete verse (John 15:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 15:3:

  • Uma: “You, you are cleaned–meaning, you are holy/smooth made-holy-by the words that I have said to you.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You are figuratively already cleansed because of my teaching to you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You are all clean by means of your taking hold what I have taught you.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You are the branches that are already cleaned on-account-of what I have been teaching that you have stored-away in your minds.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Now you are cleaned-up, because my word which is my teaching of you is what has cleaned-up.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “And you are like the branches which bear fruit because you respect what I teach you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

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

Translation commentary on John 15:3

The adverb already is in the emphatic position in the Greek sentence structure of this verse.

You have been made clean … by the teaching is literally “you (emphatic) are clean through the word.” New English Bible rendered “you have already been cleaned by the word.” Both Good News Translation and New English Bible express the agency of the Greek sentence (“through the word”) by the use of causative verbs (Good News Translation have been made clean; New English Bible “have … been cleansed”).

The passive expression in verse 3 may be transformed into an active one by rendering “What I have said to you has caused you to become clean already” or “My message to you has already caused you to become clean.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on John 15:3

15:3

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as You are already clean means that Jesus’ word had caused the disciples to become spiritually clean as they heard and believed it. In some languages it may be more natural to use a passive verb phrase. For example:

You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. (New Revised Standard Version)

The word translated clean is also used in 13:10. See the note there. This Greek word is related to the verb translated as “prunes” in 15:2b. Try to use a similar word or phrase to show the connection. For example:

prunes clean (15:2b)….are already clean (15:3)

You: This pronoun is plural and refers to the disciples. See also 13:10, where Jesus explains that it did not include Judas Iscariot.

already: The Greek text emphasizes this word. Emphasize it if you can in your language. For example:

already you are clean

because of: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as because of can mean either “by means of” or “because of.” The two meanings are very close and about half of the English translations follow each meaning. Here are some other ways to translate this word in context:

by means of the word that I have spoken to you (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
because of what I have said to you (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
by the message I have given you (New Living Translation (2004))

the word I have spoken to you: This phrase refers to all that Jesus had taught, his message. By listening to, believing, and obeying this message, the disciples were made clean. See examples of other ways to translate this clause just above.

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