slave

The Greek that is translated in English as “slave” (or “servant”) is translated in Balanta-Kentohe as “a bought person.”

brother (fellow believer)

The Greek that is translated in English as “brother” (in the sense of a fellow believer), is translated with a specifically coined word in Kachin: “There are two terms for brother in Kachin. One is used to refer to a Christian brother. This term combines ‘older and younger brother.’ The other term is used specifically for addressing siblings. When one uses this term, one must specify if the older or younger person is involved. A parallel system exists for ‘sister’ as well. In [these verses], the term for ‘a Christian brother’ is used.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae)

In Martu Wangka it is translated as “relative” (this is also the term that is used for “follower.”) (Source: Carl Gross)

See also brothers.

complete verse (Philemon 1:16)

Following are a number of back-translations of Philemon 1:16:

  • Uma: “So, you no longer consider him as just your slave [a statement, but with the force of a suggestion]. More than that, he is your relative of one-faith whom you love. Me, I love him, how much more so will you. You will love him because he is your fellow man, and you will love him because he is your relative in the Lord.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Formerly he was only your slave/servant but now he is more/higher than a slave because/for he is already our (incl.) beloved brother because we (incl.) equally trust in Isa Almasi. I, I really love him but you, your love for him is greater because he is your slave and your brother also because he now trusts in Isa the Leader.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And now he is not just your slave, rather he is much more dear than a slave for he is also your brother because of his faith in Christ. He is very dear to my breath, and he is also dear to you. Not just because he is your slave, but rather because he is also your brother because of the Lord.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But starting-from now, your (sing.) view of him should not be as a mere slave but rather as more-valuable than a slave. For now, he is one of our much-loved brothers. Large is my love for him, but you-greatly-love (him) even-more, not just because of the kind-of-person he is (lit. his personhood) but since he is your (sing.) brother because of your (incl.) being-united-with the Lord Jesus.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And now, he is not just your slave but rather your dear sibling in believing. He really is extremely dear to me, but this holding-dear of mine (for him), of course your holding-dear is even greater because he is your slave and your sibling now in believing/obeying the Lord.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “This worker of yours, nevermore regard him like people regard their workers. Rather consider that he has become as though he were your brother. I very much love this Onesimus, but even more you must love him. Because he is not now merely your worker, rather he is your brother in that you both believe in the same Lord now.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Lord

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The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.

In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.

In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:

  • referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
  • meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
  • as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
  • or, most often, referring to Jesus

In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.

Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”

When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).

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Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):

  • Navajo: “the one who has charge”
  • Mossi: “the one who has the head” (the leader)
  • Uduk: “chief”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “the one who commands”
  • Kpelle: “person-owner” (a term which may be applied to a chief)
  • Central Pame: “the one who owns us” (or “commands us”)
  • Piro: “the big one” (used commonly of one in authority)
  • San Blas Kuna: “the great one over all” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Guhu-Samane: Soopara (“our Supervisor”) (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
  • Balinese: “Venerated-one” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Yanesha’: “the one who carries us” (source: Nida 1952, p. 159)
  • Northern Emberá: Dadjirã Boro (“our Head”)
  • Rarotongan: Atu (“master or owner of a property”)
  • Gilbertese: Uea (“a person of high status invested with authority to rule the people”)
  • Rotuman: Gagaja (“village chief”)
  • Samoan: Ali’i (“an important word in the native culture, it derives from the Samoan understanding of lordship based on the local traditions”)
  • Tahitian: Fatu (“owner,” “master”)
  • Tuvalu: Te Aliki (“chief”)
  • Fijian: Liuliu (“leader”) (source for this and six above: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 329ff. )
  • Bacama: Həmə miye: “owner of people” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
  • Hopi: “Controller” (source: Walls 2000, p. 139)
  • Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
  • Ghomala’: Cyəpɔ (“he who is above everyone,” consisting of the verb cyə — to surpass or go beyond — and pɔ — referring to people. No human can claim this attribute, no matter what his or her social status or prestige.” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn )
  • Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
  • Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)

    We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.

    New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.

    Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )

  • Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
  • Angami Naga: Niepu (“master,” “owner”)
  • Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
  • Ao Naga: Kibuba (“human master,” “teacher,” “owner of property,” etc.) (source for this and two above: Nitoy Achumi in The Bible Translator 1992 p. 438ff. )
  • Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
  • Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
  • Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
  • Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
  • Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
  • Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
  • Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)

Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”

See also Father / Lord.

Translation commentary on Philemon 1:16

This verse continues from verse 15 as the completion of the sentence, “so that you might have him back for ever, (16) no longer as a slave but…” (as Revised Standard Version has done). It should be noticed that if the Revised Standard Version translation is taken literally, it means that Paul is telling Philemon that Onesimus is to be in deed and in fact a free man. But this does not seem to be what Paul means, and Lohse quotes with approval the comment of H. von Soden that the particle as “expresses the subjective evaluation of the relationship without calling its objective form into question … and therefore the line of thought found in 1 Cor 7.20-24 is not exceeded.” Good News Translation has tried to indicate this by and now he is not just a slave (compare Phillips “not merely as a slave”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “So now he is for you much more than a slave, that is, a beloved brother”).

The negative-positive contrast in the Good News Translation and now he is not just a slave, but much more than a slave may require an inversion in some languages, for example, “and now he is much more than a slave, he is not just a slave” or “… not a slave only.” By placing the positive statement before the negative, the meaning of the entire expression may often be more readily understood.

In some languages a slave is described as “one who must work without pay,” but more often a term for slave refers to “an owned person” or “a person who belongs to someone else.” The first part of verse 16 may, therefore, be rendered as “and now he is much more than just a person whom you own.”

A dear brother in Christ: Onesimus is now Philemon’s Christian brother, and it is this fact which must determine their relationship from now on. A dear brother in Christ may be equivalent to “a dear fellow believer in Christ,” or “a fellow believer in Christ who is dear to you,” or “a Christian fellow believer dear to you.”

The second part of the verse could be translated, “he means so much to me, but he will mean much more to you…”; compare New International Version “He is very dear to me but even dearer to you…” In a number of languages, it is far more meaningful to use an intensive expression together with a comparative rather than to employ an exclamation, for example, “he means very much to me, and he will mean even more to you.” To express the concept involved in the verb mean, it may be useful to speak of “value,” for example, “he is so valuable to me, but he will be even more valuable to you.”

Both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord translates what is literally “both in the flesh and in the Lord” (so Revised Standard Version). The Greek “in the flesh” means Onesimus’ natural status as a slave; he is still a slave (compare Lohse), but now he is also a dear Christian brother, which is something altogether new for Philemon. The translation should reflect the fact that nowhere in this letter does Paul tell Philemon, in so many words, to set Onesimus free, nor does he take it for granted that Philemon will do so. Rather he seems to take it for granted that Onesimus will continue to be Philemon’s slave, even though their relationship is now transformed by the fact that Onesimus is a Christian. (in verse 21, however, Paul may be hinting that he hopes that Philemon will set Onesimus free.) Lightfoot quotes Meyer on this double relationship “in the flesh and in the latter, he had the slave for a brother.” Their relation as Christian brothers transcendent and transformed but did not replace their relationship as master and slave.

Both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord may be rendered as “he is your slave and he is also your fellow believer in the Lord.” This expression both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord should be combined with the concept of the value which Onesimus will now constitute for Philemon. The meaning may be expressed in some instances as “very much appreciated both as your slave as well as your fellow believer in the Lord.”

“Your fellow believer in the Lord” may also be rendered as “one who believes in the Lord even as you do.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to Philemon. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .