Father (address for God)

The Greek that is translated with the capitalized “Father” in English when referring to God is translated in Highland Totonac with the regular word for (biological) father to which a suffix is added to indicate respect. The same also is used for “Lord” when referring to Jesus. (Source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )

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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. In the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017, God the Father is addressed with mi-chichi (御父). This form has the “divine” honorific prefix mi– preceding the archaic honorific form chichi for “father.”

If, however, Jesus addresses his Father, he is using chichi-o (父を) which is also highly respectful but does not have the “divine” honorific. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also Lord and my / our Father.

Translation commentary on Ephesians 5:20

This verse, which follows in Greek without a break from verse 19, is like Colossians 3.18. The phrase In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ qualifies the participle “giving thanks”: all prayers of thanksgiving to God are made by people who acknowledge Christ as Lord and themselves as his disciples; it is because of this relationship that they offer their prayers to God.

In a number of languages the statement In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is relatively meaningless. If the term for name is understood as a kind of substitute for the personality, the expression becomes repetitious. In a number of languages this expression is best rendered as “because of our Lord Jesus Christ” or “because of your relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ.”

For everything translates a Greek phrase which could mean “for all people.” Nearly everyone, however, takes it to mean “everything” here. In this context everything is not a reference to things but to events. The admonition is not to thank God for all the things that he has given but for all that happens. Therefore one may translate the second part of verse 20 as “always give thanks to God the Father for everything that happens.”

As in other contexts, the phrase God the Father must often be restructured as “God who is our Father,” since in many languages the appositional relationship is not completely clear. In a number of languages one cannot use a definite article with “father” but must use some kind of possessive pronoun.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .