complete verse (John 15:14)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 15:14:

  • Uma: “You are all my companions, if you follow my orders.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You, you are my friends, if you do what I commanded to you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You are my friends if you carry out my commands to you.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And you indeed are my friends if you obey my commands.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “You are the ones who are my good friends if/when you are following/obeying what I am commanding.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “You are my friend if you do what I order you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff.), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

Translation commentary on John 15:14

The immediate implication of this verse is that if the disciples obey Jesus’ commands, they prove that they are his friends, and so he will give his life for them. In this respect, the verse is very close in meaning to verse 10. Throughout the Gospel, no distinction is made between remaining in Christ’s love and being his friend. John uses two verbs for love (agapaō and phileō) and he uses them synonymously. It is significant that the noun friends (Greek philos) is made from the stem of one of these verbs. According to John’s Gospel, Jesus’ “friends” are those “whom he loves.” Note that Lazarus is the “friend” of Jesus (11.11), and he is so because Jesus “loves” him (11.3,5). In the same way that Christ remains in the Father’s love by obeying his commands, so the disciples must obey Jesus’ commands in order to remain in his love.

In some languages the order of clauses in a conditional sentence must be inverted, for example, “If you do what I tell you to do, then you are my friends.”

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 .