sanctification, sanctify

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The Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “sanctify” or “sanctification” is translated in Balanta-Kentohe “separated to God.” (Source: Rob Koops)

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “giving a man a good heart”
  • Panao Huánuco Quechua: “God perfects us”
  • Laka: “God calls us outside to Himself” (“This phrase is derived from the practice of a medicine man, who during the initiation rites of apprentices calls upon the young man who is to follow him eventually and to receive all of his secrets and power. From the day that this young man is called out during the height of the ecstatic ceremony, he is identified with his teacher as the heir to his position, authority, and knowledge.”) (Source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 147)
  • Mezquital Otomi: “live a pure life”
  • Hopi: “unspotted”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “clean-hearted”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “be servants of God”
  • Central Tarahumara: “only live doing good as God desires” (source for this and four above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Mairasi: “one’s life/behavior will be very straight” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Enlhet: “new / clean innermost” (“Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind [for other examples see here].) (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
  • Tibetan: dam par ‘gyur (དམ་​པར་​འགྱུར།), lit. “holy + become” (used for instance in 1 Cor. 1:2, 1 Cor. 6:11, 1 Cor. 7:14, or 1 Thess. 4:3) or gtsang bar byed (གཙང་​བར་​བྱེད།), lit. “make clean” (used for instance in Heb. 9:13) (source: gSungrab website )
The choices for translation of “sanctification” in the Indonesian Common Language Bible (Alkitab dalam Bahasa Indonesia Masa Kini, publ. 1985) differed according to context. (Click or tap here to see details)

“In Romans, hagiasmos [“sanctification”] occurs twice in chapter 6, in verses 19 and 22. It is used in relation to believers who are called to be saints (1:7), who are under grace (6:15), who have been set free from sin to become slaves of righteousness (6:18). Therefore here hagiasmos not only refers to God’s act of consecration, but also to the believer’s moral activity arising out of this state. It is this aspect that the translators have stressed in verse 19: ‘… so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification’ has been translated untuk maksud-maksud Allah yang khusus: ‘for God’s specific purposes.’ So also in verse 22 ‘… the return you get is sanctification’ has been translated hidup khusus untuk Allah: ‘living for God alone.’

“!In 1 Corinthians 1:30: ‘… in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption,’ hagiasmos is put in a parallel position to wisdom, righteousness and redemption, and is rooted in Christ. In view of the parallel concepts, it is clear a result is indicated here. The believers are holy because they are ‘in Christ’ who is intrinsically holy. Hagiasmos here has been rendered as: umatnya yang khusus: ‘his own people.’

“In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7, hagiasmos involves abstaining from unchastity (verse 3) and is contrasted with uncleanness (verse 7), while in verse 4 it is used as a parallel with ‘honor’ to modify the verb. Hagiasmos is here rooted in the will of God, and calls for moral conduct. The translators translate hagiasmos in verse 3 as hidup khusus untuk dia: ‘live for him alone,’ and in verses 4 and 5 menyenangkan hati Allah: ‘pleasing God’s heart.’

“The expression in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 ‘sanctification by the spirit’ (en hagiasmo pneumatos), is generally understood as sanctification or consecration effected by the Holy Spirit. This consecration was effected at the moment of conversion. The translation here is umat Allah yang suci: ‘God’s holy people.’

“The noun also appears in the Pastorals once (1 Timothy 2:15), where, in view of the context, it clearly denotes ethical behavior. The translators translate as hidup khusus untuk Allah: ‘living for God alone,’ but perhaps it would be better here to translate it with hidup tanpa vela: ‘lead a blameless life,’ which would suit the context better.

“In conclusion then, to translate hagiasmos in a way that is meaningful to the average modern reader, it may often be necessary to render it by a phrase which brings out the primary meaning of the term. If it refers to the act of consecration, this phrase should include the notion of belonging to God, and if it refers to the conduct of the believer, the phrase should stress the idea of pleasing God and refraining from evil.” (Source: Pericles Katoppo in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 429ff. )

truth

Nida (1947, p. 230) says this about the translation of the concept of “truth”: “The words for ‘truth’ and ‘true’ are not always the most readily discovered in aboriginal languages. In some instances the only expression which corresponds to ‘true’ is something like ‘it happened.’ A falsehood is something that ‘did not happen.’ In a good many languages the meaning of ‘truth’ is expressed by the words signifying ‘straight’ and ‘direct.’ Untruth is accordingly ‘crookedness.’ An abstract noun such as English “truth” is quite difficult to find in some instances. Only an expression such as ‘true statement’ or ‘true word’ will be found to correspond to English ‘truth.’”

The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “truth” is translated in Luchazi with vusunga: “the quality of being straight” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. ), in Obolo as atikọ or “good/correct talk” (source: Enene Enene), and in Ekari as maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (esp. in John 14:6 and 17; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).

Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) tells of the translation into Kui which usually is “true-thing.” In some instances however, such as in the second part of John 17:17 (“your word is truth” in English), the use of “true-thing” indicated that there might be other occasions when it’s not true, so here the translation was a a form of “pure, holy.”

The translation committee of the Malay “Good News Bible” (Alkitab Berita Baik, see here ) wrestled with the translation of “truth” in the Gospel of John:

“Our Malay Committee also concluded that ‘truth’ as used in the Gospel of John was used either of God himself, or of God’s revelation of himself, or in an extended sense as a reference to those who had responded to God’s self-disclosure. In John 8:32 the New Malay translation reads ‘You will know the truth about God, and the truth about God will make you free.’ In John 8:44 this meaning is brought out by translating, ‘He has never been on the side of God, because there is no truth in him.’ Accordingly Jesus ‘tells the truth about God’ in 8:45, 46 (see also 16:7 and 8:37a). Then, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6) becomes ‘I am the one who leads men to God, the one who reveals who and what God is, and the one who gives men life.” At 3:21 the translation reads ” … whoever obeys the truth, that is God himself, comes to the light …’; 16:13a appears as ‘he will lead you into the full truth about God’; and in 18:37 Jesus affirms ‘I came into the world to reveal the truth about God, and whoever obeys God listens to me.’ On this basis also 1:14 was translated ‘we saw his glory, the glory which he had as the Father’s only Son. Through him God has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace)’; and 1:17 appears as ‘God gave the law through Moses; but through Jesus Christ he has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace).'” (Source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 432ff. )

The German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) has followed a somewhat similar path to the Malay committee 50 years earlier in the gospel of John. In John 1 it translates “truth as “God’s nature,” in John 3 as “God’s will,” in John 8 as “God’s reality,” in John 14 as “encountering God,” and in John 16 as “God’s truth.”

complete verse (John 17:19)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 17:19:

  • Uma: “Father, I offer my life to you (sing.) becoming your (sing.) portion, so that my disciples receive goodness, and so that they become your (sing.) portion in their following the true teaching.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And for their good I submit/surrender my life to you, so that they really will be people belonging to you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because of them I cause you to be in charge of my breath so that they also will thoroughly cause you to be in charge of their breath.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And I will offer myself/my body to die for them in order that they will be truly distanced from evil to serve you (sing.).'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And because of them, I will ensure/dedicate myself that I will really follow/obey all your will, so that they also may be ensured as being truly yours now, far now from sin.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “I set my heart on them so that also they will set their hearts on living good lives by means of the true word.” (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”.

Translation commentary on John 17:19

I dedicate … to you is the same verb translated dedicate … to yourself in verse 17. Jesus dedicates himself to the Father so that his disciples might also be dedicated to the Father. I dedicate myself to you may be expressed in some languages as “I give myself to you.” However, in others it may be appropriate to use an expanded phrase, for example, “I give myself to serve you.” The purpose clause may then be expressed as “in order that they also may give themselves to serve you.”

The Greek phrase rendered truly here is literally “in truth,” while by means of the truth in verse 17 is literally “in the truth.” If the phrase “in truth” appeared in isolation, it would be natural to translate it as an adverb (truly). However, in the present context it seems best to understand this phrase as equivalent to the former phrase and so to translate it “by means of the truth.” Modern translations differ here, but some of them do render these two phrases exactly as suggested above. If truly is to be understood adverbially, it may be rendered in some languages “as they ought to,” for example, “that they may give themselves to you as they ought to.” It may also be possible to understand truly in the sense of “completely,” for example, “so that they also may give themselves to you completely.” But if one assumes that the appropriate meaning of truly is “by means of the truth,” the closest equivalent may be “in order that they also may give themselves to you by means of your words, which are true” or “… by means of your true message.”

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 17:19

17:19a

For them: This phrase means “And for the benefit of my disciples.” Jesus was dedicating himself to God to serve and save his disciples.

I sanctify Myself: This clause means “I dedicate myself to God.” Jesus was saying that he dedicated himself to God for his disciples. In this context, that means that he dedicated himself as a sacrifice (see Deut. 15:19), ready to die. It can also mean that he dedicates himself as a prophet or priest (see Ex. 28:41). That is more the idea in 17:19b where the disciples would be sanctified. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

I have given myself completely for their sake (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
For their sake, I am making myself ready to serve (New Century Version)

17:19b

so that they too may be sanctified by the truth: The connector so that introduces the purpose of Jesus sanctifying himself. He dedicated himself to God so that the disciples might also be dedicated to God. The way you translate sanctified here should be similar to how you translated “sanctify” in 17:19a. For example:

so that they may be given completely ⌊to God⌋ by the truth
-or-
so that they can be made ready for their service by the truth

sanctified by the truth: There are two ways to understand the phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as sanctified by the truth

(1) It means “sanctified by means of the truth,” as in 17:17a. For example:

made holy by your truth (New Living Translation (2004))

(Berean Standard Bible, King James Version, Revised English Bible, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004))

(2) It means “truly dedicated to God.” Without Jesus’ atoning work on the cross, the disciples would not be suitable to be dedicated to God. For example:

truly sanctified (New International Version)

(New International Version, NET Bible, Good News Translation)

Several translations translate this phrase literally as “sanctified/dedicated in truth” and can be understood either way: New American Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and English Standard Version.

It is recommended that if possible you translate this phrase literally in a way that can be understood either way. If that is not possible, you may want to follow option (1) or your national or major-language translation.

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