inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1Thess. 5:5)

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 addressee).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (1 Thessalonians 5:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Thessalonians 5:5:

  • Uma: “Your hearts are all light [enlightened], you behave like people who walk in the day. We(incl.) are not like people who do evil deeds in the darkness.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Because you all, you live in the light, in the day (time), that means, you belong to God. We (incl.) are not people living in darkness, in the night (time).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “for you are under the jurisdiction of the light and of the day, which is to say, you are under God’s jurisdiction. For as for us (incl.), we have no relationship to darkness or to night.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because God has illuminated the minds of all of us who believe, therefore our location is not the darkness or night but rather the light or daytime.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For as for all of you who are now united/tied-together with Cristo, you really are now in the light/enlightenment. Everything is clear/light to you like it’s daytime. We are really not still in darkness. Yes indeed, all of this is no longer still dark/unclear to us like it’s night-time.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Because all of you now walk in the light that there is in the day, now you have separated from the evil that there is in the night.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Thessalonians 5:5

All is emphatic. The Greek has the conjunction “for” (omitted in Good News Translation), which explains the relation of 4a to the preceding verse. People who belong to the light, who belong to the day translates a Greek text which is literally “sons of light you are, and sons of day.” The expression “sons” goes back to a Hebrew idiom used to identify personal characteristics (cf. Acts 4.36, where the name Barnabas is translated literally “son of encouragement,” Good News Translation “One who Encourages”). The literal translation, followed by most traditional and many modern versions, has little meaning or impact in non-Semitic languages.

We do not belong to the night or to the darkness emphasized verse 5a by putting the same idea in negative form. It also marks the inclusion of Paul and his companions by the change from you to we, which is maintained until verse 11. Bijbel in Gewone Taal attractively translates “we have nothing to do with the darkness of night.” We, or course, includes both senders and readers of the letter.

This verse seems quite simple in an English translation such as Good News Translation, but the concepts are extremely difficult to communicate effectively in some languages. It may not make sense to say people who belong to the light or we do not belong to the night. It is possible to speak of an object as belonging to a person, but how can a person belong to light? Nevertheless, in order to introduce the contrasts occurring in verse 6-8, at least reference to “light” and “darkness” and “day” and “night” is required in verse 5. In some cases one may translate “all of you are people who live just as though everything were done in the light of day,” or “… do everything as though it were done in the light, that is in the daytime.” The second part of verse 5 is simply a negative reflection of the first part, and can be translated in some languages as “we do not live like people who always carry on at night or in the darkness,” “… who do what they do at night or in the darkness,” or “… when no one can see.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .