eternal life

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The Greek and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “eternal life” is translated in various ways:

Lloyd Peckham explains the Mairasi translation: “In secret stories, not knowable to women nor children, there was a magical fruit of life. If referred to vaguely, without specifying the specific ‘fruit,’ it can be an expression for eternity.”

See also eternity / forever and salvation.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Eternal Life in John .

endurance

The Greek that is translated in English as “endurance” (or “patience” or “perseverance” or “steadfastness”) is translated in Tzotzil as “(good) strength of heart(s)” (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.), in Isthmus Zapotec as “learning not to lose patience” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Tabasco Chontal as “they shouldn’t get upset over things” (source: John Beekman & Harwood Hess in Notes on Translation, March 1963, p. 1ff.).

In Mairasi it is translated idiomatically as “having well-split bones” (source: Enggavoter 2004).

complete verse (Romans 2:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 2:7:

  • Uma: “There are some people who keep behaving good, because they want to get praise, honor and life that has no end from God. To people like that God gives good life forever.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There are people who persevere in doing good because their aim is (that) God praises them and he honors them. They also aim/aspire that God give them life without end. These people God really will give life in heaven without end.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But there are some people who hold fast to good behavior because what they’re always thinking about is God’s praising them in the future and making them immortal and His honoring them. And life forever is what He will give to them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The people who have persisted in doing good so that God will praise them and they will live where God is forever, God will give them life that has no end.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “God will give the new life to whoever does only what is good, looking for how God will look well upon him and earnestly seeking how to enter where God rules forever.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “God will give us eternal life if we continually do good, because we so very much want to find out how to arrive where he is, and how to cause him to give us honor, and cause us to live forever.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

pronoun for "God"

God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).

Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.

In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.

While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”

In Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of system of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):

In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.

Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”

In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)

Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”

In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )

In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)

The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.

Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).

See also first person pronoun referring to God.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .

Translation: Chinese

在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。

到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。

然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）

《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”

Translator: Simon Wong

Translation commentary on Romans 2:7

In Greek there is a formal contrast between this and the following verse, which the Good News Translation expresses by some men … other men. The Greek phrase (“the endurance of doing good”) is taken by many commentators as the sum total of a man’s actions, and for this reason the Good News Translation renders the phrase keep on doing good (see Jerusalem Bible “always doing good” and An American Translation* “by persistently doing right”).

It is difficult in some languages to speak merely of doing good. One must have some kind of indication of persons or objects who are benefited by such “doing good”—for example, “some men keep on doing good to other people.” More specifically, this may be rendered in some languages as “keep on being kind to people,” since this may be the most general way of characterizing proper behavior toward other people.

Glory and honor are concepts which are united both in Jewish and in Christian thought (see 1 Peter 1.7; Revelation 4.9). Glory is always a difficult term to express, though in the present context it must be taken along with honor and immortal life as qualifying various aspects of the eternal life which God will give at the end of time. To render glory by “renown” (Jerusalem Bible “who sought renown”) would seem to suggest a wrong emphasis, since “renown” is the praise which men give, whereas “glory” is the gift of God.

The Greek word translated immortal life is relatively rare in the New Testament; elsewhere it is also used as a quality of the eternal life that God gives (see 1 Corinthians 15.42, 50, 53, 54; 2 Timothy 1.10).

In order to avoid wrong implications in “seeking” glory, honor, and immortal life, it is necessary in many languages to specify that these are direct gifts from God—for example, “seek for God to give them glory, honor, and immortal life.” In a number of languages one cannot easily distinguish between glory and honor in this type of context, since both would be included in some such expression as “seek to have God give them honor” or even “seek to have God speak well of them.” This is often the most general form of granting honor to a person. Frequently a phrase such as immortal life must be expressed as a verb—for example, “seek to have God … cause them to live forever” or … cause them to have life which never ends.

God will give eternal life may also be rendered as a causative expression: “God will cause them to live endlessly” or “God will cause them never to cease to live.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Romans 2:7

2:7a–8b

Paul wrote about two groups here. He talked about the first group in 2:7a–c and the second group in 2:8a–b. The first group are those who persist in doing good deeds. The second group are those who do evil deeds.

2:7a–c

To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life: This clause follows the Greek order. Normally in English, the phrase To those… would come after the phrase eternal life. Having this phrase first indicates that this group is who Paul wanted to talk about now.

Some languages cannot move this phrase like that. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Leave it in front and make it the topic in a natural way in your language. Then refer to this group with the pronoun “them.” For example:

About those who by perseverance in doing good seek, glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life to them

• Put it in its normal place. For example:

he will give eternal life to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality

If possible, indicate that it is the topic.

2:7a

by perseverance: Here the word perseverance refers to consistently persevering. These people continue to do good deeds for their whole lives. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

by persistence (New International Version)
-or-
always continuing (New Century Version)
-or-
have persisted

doing good: The Greek phrase is literally “of good works.” It refers to deeds that honor God, help others and such. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

well-doing (English Standard Version)
-or-
behaving well

2:7b

seek glory, honor, and immortality: The Greek grammar indicates that this group of people sought these things at the same time that they were doing good (2:7a). The word seek indicates that glory, honor, and immortality are goals for doing good deeds. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

seeking after the glory and honor and immortality (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
with the goal of attaining glory, honor, and immortality
-or-
having the goal/desire of God giving them glory, honor, and immortality

glory: Here this word refers to the great and perfect life that these people will live. In some languages a literal translation would not have the correct meaning. If that is true in your language, indicate the correct meaning. For example:

⌊very⌋ great situation/position/life

Also see glory, sense A3(b) in Key Biblical Terms.

honor: Here this word refers to respect. God will respect this group of people.

immortality: The Greek word means “not able to become bad or ruined or dead.” A person whose life is not able to become bad would live forever. But the focus of this word is that this life will never become bad in any way. Here are other ways to translate this word:

incorruptible life
-or-
life that is not able to become bad

2:7c

eternal life: This phrase refers to life that never ends. It implies life that will never become bad.

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Commentaire sur la traduction de la lettre aux Romains 2.7

2.7-8

Il y a une opposition entre ces deux versets exprimée par des expressions jumelées en grec (τοῖς μὲν… τοῖς δέ tois men… tois de, « quant à eux… mais quant à eux qui… »). Le Rom 2.7 introduit le côté positif, décrivant le comportant d’un croyant qui recevra sa récompense, et le Rom 2.8 le comportement de l’incrédule qui recevra sa punition. Les traducteurs devraient traduire les deux versets ensemble pour bien faire sortir cette opposition importante. On pourrait dire, « d’un côté… de l’autre côté », ou parler des « uns » et des « autres ». Il faudra identifier dans la langue cible les expressions qui conviendront.

En grec, l’ordre des mots est très différent de celui de la Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, litt. « pour les uns, d’un côté, selon la patience de (faire) une bonne œuvre, gloire et honneur et immortalité, ceux qui cherchent (ces choses) vie éternelle ». Ainsi dans le texte, le bon comportement de ces personnes est évoqué avant leur récompense. Les traducteurs devront déterminer la meilleure façon d’exprimer cette idée.

vie éternelle pour ceux qui… recherchent : il s’agit de l’expression clé qu’on retrouve souvent dans le NT, dans cette lettre ( Rom 5.21 ; Rom 6.22, Rom 6.23), dans les Évangiles (Matt 19.16 ; Jean 3.15) et dans les autres épîtres (Gal 6.8). En rendant ces mots, litt. « vie des âges », certains mettent l’emphase sur l’immortalité en parlant de « la vie qui n’a pas de fin », tandis que d’autres mettent en relief la qualité de la vie offerte par Dieu et disent « la vraie vie ». Une fois que les traducteurs auront choisi comment traduire cette expression, il faudra traduire partout de la même façon.

pour ceux qui recherchent rend un participe actif au pluriel en grec. Le premier sens du verbe est de chercher un objet, comme un objet perdu (Luc 15.8), mais il s’applique aussi à la recherche de biens spirituels (Matt 6.33 ; 7.7) comme ici. Les traducteurs devront trouver une expression qui convient pour la recherche des choses abstraites comme la gloire et l’honneur. La Parole de Vie parle de « Ceux qui cherchent toujours à faire le bien » et la Bible en français courant de « ceux qui s’appliquent à faire le bien ».

par leur persévérance à bien faire est litt. « …par leur persévérance dans l’œuvre bonne ». Le mot persévérance parle de la patience, de l’engagement à poursuivre un but sans relâche. La Bible de Jérusalem propose « par la constance », tandis que la Parole de Vie combine pour dire « cherchent toujours ».

bien faire : en grec, c’est litt. « bonne œuvre », ἔργον ἀγαθός ergon agathos. Le sens est plus large que bien faire, car l’expression englobe tout ce que le croyant peut faire en faveur des autres et pour l’œuvre de Dieu. La La Bible du Semeur communique bien le sens en disant « …en pratiquant le bien avec persévérance ».

gloire, honneur et incorruptibilité : pour de nombreux commentateurs, ces mots englobent l’ensemble de l’activité des croyants et donnent les contours de cette « œuvre bonne » dont il est question ici. Ces personnes cherchent le côté spirituel de la vie caractérisé par ces trois mots : gloire, honneur et incorruptibilité.

gloire : ce mot, qui se trouve déjà en Rom 1.23, est fréquent dans ce livre (16 fois). Lorsqu’il s’applique aux choses divines, le mot a souvent le sens de « splendeur » ou de « brillance », mais quand il s’agit des humains, il parle de la « renommée », qui suggère l’opinion que les hommes ont de quelqu’un. Mais dans ce verset, il ne s’agit pas de la renommée, mais des dons de Dieu. Les chrétiens vont, en effet, partager la gloire du Christ un jour. La Parole de Vie parle de « Ceux qui cherchent toujours à faire le bien pour obtenir la gloire… » La La Bible du Semeur va dans un autre sens, parlant de « l’approbation de Dieu », mais il vaut mieux garder le terme clé ici, si possible.

honneur : les notions de gloire et d’honneur sont souvent associées dans la tradition juive comme dans la tradition chrétienne. Voir 1 Tim 1.17 ; Hébr 2.9 ; 1 Pi 1.7 ; Apoc 4.9. C’est la première fois que ce terme clé du NT apparaît dans cette lettre. Il est moins fort que gloire, mais parle aussi de la renommée accordée à une personne pour un comportement louable. Il est très probable que le sens soit « cherchent à ce que Dieu leur accorde l’honneur », « …à ce que Dieu parle bien d’eux », mais si possible, les traducteurs devront suivre le texte et parler de quelqu’un qui cherche les choses nobles : la gloire et l’honneur.

incorruptibilité (ἀφθαρσία aphtharsia) parle de l’immortalité d’un être, le fait que celui-ci ne meurt pas et ne se dégrade pas. Ce mot est relativement rare dans le NT. En 1 Cor 15.42, Paul l’utilise pour mettre en opposition ce qui mortel à ce qui est immortel : « Il en est ainsi pour la résurrection des morts : semé corruptible (mortel), on ressuscite incorruptible (immortel) ». Voir aussi 1 Cor 15.50,53,54 ; 2 Tim 1.10. Ce terme grec définit l’une des caractéristiques de la vie éternelle.

Dans certaines traductions, il sera plus facile d’introduire Dieu comme agent, par exemple, « Il donnera la vie éternelle à ceux qui s’appliquent à faire le bien et recherchent… » (Bible en français courant). Dans certaines langues il va falloir introduire un verbe comme « obtenir » ou « recevoir ». Ceci semble nécessaire surtout dans le contexte de la vie éternelle. La La Bible du Semeur propose « Ceux qui… recevront de lui la vie éternelle », et la Parole de Vie dit « à ceux-là, Dieu donnera de vivre avec lui pour toujours ».

Source: Margot, Jean-Claude & Zogbo, Lynell. La lettre aux Romains – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exégétique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2021.