Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Timothy 2:6:
Uma: “He gave himself to be killed to redeem all mankind. He did that at the time that God set, so that we clearly see the desire of God that all mankind be lifted from the punishment of their sins.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “He yielded/surrendered his life and substituted himself so that God does not punish human-beings/mankind because of their sins. So then because Isa Almasi died on the day arranged by God therefore we (dual) are really assured that God wants all human-beings/mankind to be saved and go to heaven.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He laid His life crosswise and allowed Himself to be killed so that He might redeem all people. And by means of this, at the proper time, He showed that it was God’s will that all mankind be freed from punishment.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “who gave himself/his body to redeem all people. That was done at the right time that God chose, and that’s when/how-he-showed that he wants all people to be saved.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “As for him, he caused his life/breath to be severed, and thereby he took-the-punishment for the sins of all people. That, that saving which he did, is what testifies at the determined time, that God really wants that people might be saved.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Jesus Christ let himself be killed in order to pay for the sins of all people. When the day arrived for this word to appear, then it was seen very well that God wants that all people be saved.” (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 ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one 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 in the following way: “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 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, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both 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 this chapter in the World Atlas of Language Structures on different approaches to personal pronouns.
The beginning of the sentence (For) signals that there is a logical connection between the previous verse and these two verses. These verses contain three theological statements to support the claim that God indeed wants to save all people. The first statement is that there is one God. This is a basic Old Testament statement that functioned as a check against the worship of so many gods and goddesses among the countries surrounding Israel (see also discussion of “the only God” in 1.17). Unfortunately this theological statement about the oneness of God was also misused by some of the Jews so that they could exclude others. In the present context this statement is used to stress the idea that God is indeed the God of all peoples. This clause may also be rendered as “For only one God exists,” or even “For there is only one God for all people” (see Rom 3.30 for a similar expression).
The second statement is that there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There is one in many languages will be rendered as “There is only one person.” The word mediator can be understood in two ways: (1) one who helps to bring agreement between two or more parties and who guarantees such an agreement; or (2) one who acts as an intermediary in order to reconcile two or more parties. While these two aspects are interrelated, it is the second that is in focus here; it is Jesus Christ who establishes a new relationship between people and God; so Good News Translation “who brings God and human beings together.” Mediator in some languages is expressed idiomatically as “middle person.” For men see 1 Tim. 2.4 above. For Christ Jesus see 1.1. The word for man is the singular form of the generic word for “people”; its use here accents Jesus’ humanity rather than his being a member of the male section of the human race. This stress on Jesus’ humanity is offered as a corrective to those who at that time understood Jesus not as a full human being but either as only divine, or as a being higher than humans but lower than God. This second part of the verse may also be rendered as “and there is only one person who brings God and all people (or, humans) together. This person is Christ Jesus” (compare New Revised Standard Version “Christ Jesus, himself human”).
The third statement is that Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all. The word ransom refers to a means or instrument by which people are set free. In a world where slavery was widely practiced, ransom would be the money paid to a slave owner in order to free a slave. A literal translation may raise the problem of who paid what to whom in order to secure the freedom of people (compare Good News Translation “redeem”). To avoid this problem the focus can be placed on the result of the action of Christ, that is, Christ gave himself to be the means by which people are liberated from the power of sin, evil, and death. Gave himself refers to Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, so Revised English Bible “sacrificed himself,” New Jerusalem Bible “offered himself.” Alternative translation models for this clause are “who offered himself as the means by which all people may be freed from the power of sin and death,” “who offered himself as the means by which God frees all people from the power of sin and death,” or even “who offered himself for God to use to free all people….”
The last part of this verse is literally “the testimony (or, witness) in its (or, his) own times,” and its meaning is difficult to determine. Testimony here perhaps has the extended meaning of “proof” (Good News Translation) or “evidence.” Proper time translates a Greek word that refers to the opportune time or moment, not chronological time, hence the appropriate time. The phrase “in his own times” then refers to the proper time that God chose for this evidence to be offered. If understood this way the phrase means that, by the sacrificial death of Jesus, God gave evidence at the proper time that he (God) indeed wants all people to be saved. A slight variation from this idea is represented by Revised English Bible, where testimony is related to God’s purpose; hence “who sacrificed himself to win freedom for all mankind, revealing God’s purpose at God’s good time.” It is now, however, made clear what God’s purpose is, and if God’s purpose is connected with the salvation of all people, then the resulting translation will be the same as the former of these two possibilities. Proper time may be also expressed as “the right time,” “God’s good time,” or “the time that God had decided upon.” If there is a term in the language that has this distinct meaning separate from chronological time, then such a term should be used.
An alternative translation model for these two verses is:
• For there is only one God for all people, and there is only one person who can reconcile all people (or, humans) with God. This person is Christ Jesus, himself human. He offered (or, sacrificed) himself as the means by which God will free all people from the power of sin and death. By the sacrificial death of Jesus, God gave evidence at the right time that he [God] indeed wants all people to be saved (or, wants to save all people).
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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