The Greek and Latin that is translated as “resurrection” in English is translated in Chicahuaxtla Triqui and Pohnpeian as “live-up” (i.e. return to life) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Iloko as panagungar: a term that stems “from the word ‘agungar,’ an agricultural term used to describe the coming back to life of a plant which was wilting but which has been watered by the farmer, or of a bulb which was apparently dead but grows again.” (Source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
Likewise, in Matumbiyu’ya carries the meaning of “raise from the dead, resuscitate, come back from near death” and is used for dry plants that come back to life when you water them or sick children who revive after being healed. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Estado de México Otomi, it is translated as “people will be raised from the dead,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “the dead having to come to life again,” in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “arose from the grave” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Kriol as gidap laibala brom dedbala or “get up alive from the dead” (source: Sam Freney in this article .)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the writer of the letter and the readers).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 6:5:
Uma: “So, if we have indeed been connected with Yesus and with his death, certainly we will also be brought back to life the same as he.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “For it is as if we (dual) figuratively have died together with him at his death, likewise it is as if we (dual) also were alive again together with him when he was made alive.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As if we died along with Christ, since He is our substitute, it is absolutely true that we will be given new life just like He also was given new life when He was raised from the dead.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because if it is true that we were joined to him in his death, it is also true that we will-be-joined in his living again.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because when we make the judgment that we have died like Christ died, also we make the judgment that now anew we live like anew he lived.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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 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. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related 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. ).
Although the grammatical construction of this verse is difficult, its purpose is clearly to validate what Paul has said in the previous verse. The first part is literally “for if we have grown together in the likeness of his death.” Modern English translations supply with him, to be taken with the verb “have grown together.” And most modern English translations (with the exception of An American Translation* and Moffatt) understand “have grown together” as a means of indicating unity with him. So the Good News Translation translates for if we became one with him; the New English Bible “for if we have become incorporate with him”; and the Jerusalem Bible “if in union with Christ.” The Good News Translation transforms Paul’s noun phrase “in the likeness of his death” into a verbal expression in dying as he did (see Jerusalem Bible “we have imitated his death”). The contrast in the verb tenses (see also v. 8) is significant. Death is viewed as a past experience and the resurrection as a future experience; this is the same contrast between the past and future that was constantly maintained throughout chapter 5.
Became one with him is not easy to translate in some languages. There may be some such expression as “identify ourselves with him,” but more frequently one must employ a more metaphorical expression: “to join up with him,” “to share together with him,” “to become close companions with him,” or “to become just as though we were one person with him.”
In dying as he did is an expression of means—for example, “by dying as he did.” Similarly, by being raised to life as he was is also an expression of means, but in this instance God is the agent—for example, “by God causing us to live again even as he caused Christ to live again.”
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 .
if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection: Here, the word if introduces a situation that is true. If this first part is true, that supports the second part (we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection).
Here the word if does not indicate that we have been united with Him like this in His death might not be true. In some languages a literal translation would indicate this incorrect meaning. If that is true in your language, translate the correct meaning without using if. For example:
consider this : we have been united with him like this in his death, therefore we will also certainly be united with him in his resurrection
-or-
it is true that we have been united with him like this in his death, therefore we will also certainly be united with him in his resurrection
-or-
we have been united with him like this in his death, therefore we will also certainly be united with him in his resurrection
6:5a
For: This word introduces support for what Paul said in 6:4 and also an explanation of it. Some languages can omit this word and the connection is still clear.
we have been united with Him: This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause here. For example:
⌊God⌋ has united us with him
united with Him: Here this phrase refers to symbolically/mystically sharing with Jesus in his experience of death. We are joined to Jesus in some way. We have not yet died physically like he did. But something about his death is true for us now as well. Here are other ways to translate this word:
joined (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
become one (Good News Translation)
-or-
connected
like this in His death: Here the word in indicates that His death was the situation in which God united us with Jesus. We share some of the characteristics of his death.
like this: Here the words like this indicate that the death that believers share is in many ways like the death of Jesus, but is not the same in all ways.
6:5b
we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection: The Berean Standard Bible adds the words united with Him. They are clearly implied from 6:5a. This clause is what Paul said is also true based on what he said in 6:5a. For example:
⌊then⌋ we will also certainly be united with him in his resurrection
-or-
in the same way we… (Good News Translation)
-or-
so we… (New Jerusalem Bible)
in His resurrection: The word resurrection refers to God making Jesus alive again after he was dead. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
in being raised from death like he was
-or-
when ⌊God⌋ raises us from the dead like ⌊he⌋ raised him/Jesus/Christ
-or-
when ⌊God⌋ causes us to live again after we die, like ⌊he⌋ did with him/Jesus
See how you translated the word resurrection in 1:4 or 4:24 (“raised from the dead”).
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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