Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the addressee).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Colossians 1:8:
Uma: “He is the one who told us (excl.) that you love all the followers of the Lord Yesus because of the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “He hep is the one who told us (excl.) that you love each other. This love was put in your livers by God’s Spirit.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He has told us that your kindness to your fellow believers is great because you are inspired by the Holy Spirit.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “He also is the one who told us (excl.) concerning your love to us (excl.) and to your fellows which the Ispirito Santo (Holy Spirit) gives.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “He is the one from whom we came to know about the big-size of your valuing of one another through the help of the Espiritu Santo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “This Epaphras is the one who told me how it is that the Holy Spirit is causing that you love one another.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-tama (御霊) or “Spirit (of God)” in the referenced verses.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Told represents a verb used infrequently in the NT (7 times), and has the sense of “make plain, clear.”
The love that the Spirit has given you represents the literal “your love in (the) spirit.” There is much uncertainty about the meaning of this phrase. Commentators point out that Paul does not refer to the Holy Spirit in Colossians, unless this phrase is such a reference (see also Good News Bible in 1.9; the other occurrence of pneuma is 2.5, where it refers to Paul’s own spirit). As Moule says, it may be simply “your more than merely human love.” New English Bible has “your God-given love,” Phillips “Christian love,” Translator’s New Testament “the love which the Spirit has inspired in you” (similarly Barclay), Goodspeed “love which the Spirit has awakened in you” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible similarly); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is more explicit, “… God’s Spirit…”; Dutch common language translation (Bijbel in Gewone Taal) has “your love whose source is the Spirit.”
Love here may be the love for all fellow Christians (as in verse 4), or it could be the Colossians’ love for Paul and his companions.
It is rare that one can speak of “love” without designating the object of love. The relationship of the Spirit to this love is probably best understood as causative, and therefore, if love must be expressed as a verb, perhaps one can render verse 8 as “he has told us how the Spirit has caused you to love fellow Christians” or “… love us.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
your love: In many languages it will be necessary to state whom the Colossian Christians loved. There are three possibilities:
(1) They loved other believers (as in 1:4).
(2) More specifically, they loved one another.
(3) They loved Paul and Timothy.
If you need to include the object of their love in your language, it is recommended that you follow the first option (1). This verse probably refers back to 1:4 where Paul wrote that the Colossians loved all God’s people. The first option includes the second option, because if they loved all believers they also loved one another.
in the Spirit: This refers to the Holy Spirit. If the word Spirit by itself might have an unclear or negative meaning in your language, you could say “God’s Spirit” or use your term for “Holy Spirit.” Paul was saying that the Colossians loved others “by means of” the Holy Spirit, that is, it was the Holy Spirit who enabled/caused them to love others. Here is another way to express this:
the love that the Holy Spirit has given you (Good News Translation)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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