Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
Following are a number of back-translations of John 15:3:
Uma: “You, you are cleaned–meaning, you are holy/smooth made-holy-by the words that I have said to you.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “You are figuratively already cleansed because of my teaching to you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You are all clean by means of your taking hold what I have taught you.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “You are the branches that are already cleaned on-account-of what I have been teaching that you have stored-away in your minds.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Now you are cleaned-up, because my word which is my teaching of you is what has cleaned-up.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “And you are like the branches which bear fruit because you respect what I teach you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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.
The adverb already is in the emphatic position in the Greek sentence structure of this verse.
You have been made clean … by the teaching is literally “you (emphatic) are clean through the word.” New English Bible rendered “you have already been cleaned by the word.” Both Good News Translation and New English Bible express the agency of the Greek sentence (“through the word”) by the use of causative verbs (Good News Translationhave been made clean; New English Bible “have … been cleansed”).
The passive expression in verse 3 may be transformed into an active one by rendering “What I have said to you has caused you to become clean already” or “My message to you has already caused you to become clean.”
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 .
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