eternal life

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The Greek that is translated in English as “eternal life” is translated in various ways:

Lloyd Peckham explains the Mairasi translation: “In secret stories, not knowable to women nor children, there was a magical fruit of life. If referred to vaguely, without specifying the specific ‘fruit,’ it can be an expression for eternity.”

See also eternity / forever and salvation.

complete verse (Matthew 19:16)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 19:16:

  • Uma: “One time a man came to Yesus and asked him: ‘Teacher, what good deed/behavior must I do in order to receive good life until forever?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then a certain man came to Isa and he said, ‘Sir, what good deed shall I do so that I have everlasting life?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there was a young person who came to Jesus and asked, ‘Oh, Teacher, what is good that I should do so that I might be given life forever?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “On one-occasion also, there was a man who went to Jesus. ‘Sir teacher,’ he said, ‘what good-thing must I do so that I will have life that has no end?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Next, there was a young man who went to Jesus, questioning, who said, ‘Teacher, what is it that I have to do so that life can be mine which has no ending?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “A man approached Jesus and said to him: ‘Listen, good teacher, which good is more important that I do in order that God give me the new life forever?’ he said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 19:16

And behold translates a Semitism which may be used either to indicate emphasis or to mark a transition. Here it seems to function solely as a transitional, and so Good News Translation renders it as “Once.” Some translations have had something like “It happened one time that.” Other translations do not even represent it in the text (Moffatt, An American Translation, Barclay).

One is a masculine form in Greek, and so several translations utilize “man” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible). Mark describes the individual in the same way, though Luke (18.18, TEV) speaks of him as “a Jewish leader” (Revised Standard Version “a ruler”).

As elsewhere, came up to may more naturally be “went up to” or “approached.”

Good News Translation identifies him as Jesus, because this sentence begins a new section and paragraph.

Teacher is the wording of most translations. In some Greek manuscripts the adjective “good” is also found (King James Version “Good master”), but TC-GNT concludes that this modifier was brought in by later copyists from the parallel accounts in Mark (10.17) and Luke (18.18). For comments on Teacher, see 8.19.

What good deed (so also Moffatt, An American Translation, New Jerusalem Bible) is translated “what good thing” by Good News Translation, New International Version. In Greek the neuter adjective good appears alone, without specific mention of the noun which it modifies. Therefore New English Bible and New American Bible render “what good.” However, for many languages it will be impossible to leave the modifier good without specific mention of the noun it modifies. Since the reference is obviously to some meritorious deed or action, the proposals represented by Revised Standard Version and Moffatt are perhaps the best solutions. Barclay restructures to say “what must I do to make myself good enough…?”

Eternal life is mentioned three times in the Gospel, twice in this chapter (verses 16, 29) and once in 25.46. Originally it was primarily a qualitative term, descriptive of life in the “age” in which God would rule (eternal derives from the noun “age”). But it later developed the meaning eternal or “everlasting,” since it was believed that the coming age of God’s rule would be endless. Elsewhere Matthew uses the adjective in the combination of “eternal fire” (18.8) and “eternal punishment” (25.46). So it is quite likely that the meaning is best expressed as “everlasting” or eternal.

Have eternal life has sometimes been translated as “receive eternal life.” In either case there is an implied giver of this life, God, and some languages require that this be made explicit, as in “for God to give me life that doesn’t end.”

Sometimes it is necessary to restructure the sentence, as for example, “Teacher, if I am to have eternal life, what good deed must I do?” or “For God to give me eternal life, what good thing do I have to do?”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .