The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”
Following are a number of back-translations of James 2:14:
Uma: “All my relatives! What is the use if we say we believe in the Lord, and our behavior doesn’t follow his desire/will. Will we be freed from the punishment of our sins if our faith is like that? No indeed!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “My brothers, if there is a person who says that he trusts in Isa Almasi, but his doings are not right, there is no use in that trust of his. That trust of his will not be able to take him to heaven.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There is no value in the faith of anybody toward God if his faith cannot be perceived by means of good works. Faith like this is not true and cannot save from punishment.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Brothers, if someone says that he believes in Jesu Cristo but he is doing nothing to show that it is true, of what use is it do-you-suppose? Is it possible do-you-suppose for him to be saved by-means-of that kind of faith?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “My siblings in believing, really nothing will be gained by a person, even though he says, ‘As for me, I am now a believer,’ if there is nothing he is doing which testifies that he now belongs to the Lord. The truth is, with that kind of believing, he won’t be sure of being saved.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Listen, my dear brethren, the person who says that he is a believer and does not do anything good, says that he is a believer in vain. Can the person be saved who only says that he has faith?” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Translations of the Greek pistis and its various forms that are typically translated as “faith” in English (itself deriving from Latin “fides,” meaning “trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence”) and “believe” (from Old English belyfan: “to have faith or confidence in a person”) cover a wide range of approaches.
Bratcher and Nida say this (1961, p. 38) (click or tap here to read more):
“Since belief or faith is so essentially an intimate psychological experience, it is not strange that so many terms denoting faith should be highly figurative and represent an almost unlimited range of emotional ‘centers’ and descriptions of relationships, e.g. ‘steadfast his heart’ (Chol), ‘to arrive on the inside’ (Chicahuaxtla Triqui), ‘to conform with the heart’ (Uab Meto), ‘to join the word to the body’ (Uduk), ‘to hear in the insides’ (or ‘to hear within one’s self and not let go’ — Nida 1952) (Laka), ‘to make the mind big for something’ (Sapo), ‘to make the heart straight about’ (Mitla Zapotec), ‘to cause a word to enter the insides’ (Lacandon), ‘to leave one’s heart with’ (Baniwa), ‘to catch in the mind’ (Ngäbere), ‘that which one leans on’ (Vai), ‘to be strong on’ (Shipibo-Conibo), ‘to have no doubts’ (San Blas Kuna), ‘to hear and take into the insides’ (Kare), ‘to accept’ (Pamona).”
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap here to read more):
Limos Kalinga: manuttuwa. Wiens (2013) explains: “It goes back to the word for ‘truth’ which is ‘tuttuwa.’ When used as a verb this term is commonly used to mean ‘believe’ as well as ‘obey.'”
Ngiemboon: “turn one’s back on someone” (and trusting one won’t be taken advantage of) (source: Stephen Anderson in Holzhausen 1991, p. 42)
Mwera uses the same word for “hope” and “faith”: ngulupai (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Yala: ɔtū che or “place heart” (in John 5:24; 5:45; 6:35; 6:47; 12:36; 14:1); other translations include chɛ̄ or “to agree/accept” and chɛ̄ku or “to agree with/accept with/take side with” (source: Linus Otronyi)
Matumbi: niu’bi’lyali or “believe / trust / rely (on)” and imani or “religious faith” (from Arabic īmān [إيما]) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Ebira: “place one’s liver on something” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 60)
Barí: a word related to standing in a hammock. Bruce Olson (1972, p. 159f.) tells this story — click or tap here to read more)
One evening, though, Bobby began to ask questions. We were sitting around a fire. The light flickered over him. His face was serious.
‘How can I walk on Jesus’ trail?’ he asked. ‘No Motilone [speakers of Barí] has ever done it. It’s a new thing. There is no other Motilone to tell how to do it.’
I remembered the problems I had had as a boy, how it sometimes appeared impossible to keep on believing in Jesus when my family and friends were so opposed to my commitment. That was what Bobby was going through.
‘Bobby,’ I said, ‘do you remember my first Festival of the Arrows, the first time I had seen all the Motilones gathered to sing their song?’ The festival was the most important ceremony in the Motilone culture.
He nodded. The fire flared up momentarily and I could see his eyes, staring intently at me.
‘Do you remember that I was afraid to climb in the high hammocks to sing, for fear that the rope would break? And I told you that I would sing only if I could have one foot in the hammock and one foot on the ground?’
‘Yes, Bruchko.’
‘And what did you say to me?’
He laughed. ‘I told you you had to have both feet in the hammock. ‘You have to be suspended,’ I said.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘You have to be suspended. That is how it is when you follow Jesus, Bobby. No man can tell you how to walk His trail. Only Jesus can. But to find out you have to tie your hammock strings into Him, and be suspended in God.’
Bobby said nothing. The fire danced in his eyes. Then he stood up and walked off into the darkness.
The next day he came to me. ‘Bruchko,’ he said, ‘I want to tie my hammock strings into Jesus Christ. But how can I? I can’t see Him or touch Him.’
‘You have talked to spirits, haven’t you?’
‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I see now.’
The next day he had a big grin on his face. ‘Bruchko, I’ve tied my hammock strings into Jesus. Now I speak a new language.’
I didn’t understand what he meant. ‘Have you learned some of the Spanish I speak?’
He laughed, a clean, sweet laugh. ‘No, Bruchko, I speak a new language.’
Then I understood. To a Motilone, language is life. If Bobby had a new life, he had a new way of speaking. His speech would be Christ-oriented.
Awabakal: ngurruliko: “to know, to perceive by the ear” (as distinct from knowing by sight or by touch — source: Lake, p. 70) (click or tap here to read more)
“[The missionary translator] Lancelot Threlkeld learned that Awabakal, like many Australian languages, made no distinction between knowing and believing. Of course the distinction only needs to be made where there are rival systems of knowing. The Awabakal language expressed a seamless world. But as the stress on ‘belief’ itself suggests, Christianity has always existed in pluralist settings. Conversion involves deep conviction, not just intellectual assent or understanding. (…) Translating such texts posed a great challenge in Australia. Threlkeld and [his indigenous colleague] Biraban debated the possibilities at length. In the end they opted not to introduce a new term for belief, but to use the Awabakal ngurruliko, meaning ‘to know, to perceive by the ear,’ as distinct from knowing by sight or by touch.”
Language in southern Nigeria: a word based on the idiom “lose feathers.” Randy Groff in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 65 explains (click or tap here to read more):
What does losing feathers have to do with faith? [The translator] explained that there is a species of bird in his area that, upon hatching its eggs, loses its feathers. During this molting phase, the mother bird is no longer able to fly away from the nest and look for food for her hungry hatchlings. She has to remain in the nest where she and her babies are completely dependent upon the male bird to bring them food. Without the diligent, dependable work of the male bird, the mother and babies would all die. This scenario was the basis for the word for faith in his language.
Teribe: mär: “pick one thing and one thing only” (source: Andy Keener)
Tiv: na jighjigh: “give trust” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Luba-Katanga: Twi tabilo: “echo” (click or tap here to read more)
“Luba-Katanga word for ‘Faith’ in its New Testament connotation is Twi tabilo. This word means ‘echo,’ and the way in which it came to be adapted to the New Testament meaning gives a very good idea of the way in which the translator goes to work. One day a missionary was on a journey through wild and mountainous country. At midday he called his African porters to halt, and as they lay resting in the shade from the merciless heat of the sun. an African picked up a stone and sent it ricocheting down the mountain-side into the ravine below. After some seconds the hollow silence was broken by a plunging, splashing sound from the depths of the dark river-bed. As the echo died away the African said in a wondering whisper ‘Twi tabilo, listen to it.’ So was a precious word captured for the service of the Gospel in its Luba Christian form. Twi tabilo — ‘faith which is the echo of God’s voice in the depths of human sinful hearts, awakened by God Himself, the answer to his own importunate call.’ The faith that is called into being by the divine initiative, God’s own gift to the responsive heart! (Source: Wilfred Bradnock in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 49ff. )
J.A. van Roy (in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. ) discusses how a translation of “faith” in a an earlier translation into Venda created difficult perceptions of the concept of faith (click or tap here):
The Venda term u tenda, lutendo. This term corresponds to the terms ho dumela (Southern Sotho), and ku pfumela (Tsonga) that have been used in these translations of the Bible, and means “to assent,” “to agree to a suggestion.” It is important to understand this term in the context of the character of the people who use it.
The way in which the Venda use this term reveals much about the priority of interpersonal relationships among them. They place a much higher priority on responding in the way they think they are expected to respond than on telling the truth. Smooth interpersonal relationships, especially with a dominant individual or group, take precedence over everything else.
It is therefore regarded as bad form to refuse directly when asked for something one does not in fact intend to give. The correct way is to agree, u tenda, and then forget about it or find some excuse for not keeping to the agreement. Thus u tenda does not necessarily convey the information that one means what one says. One can tenda verbally while heartily disagreeing with the statement made or having no intention whatsoever to carry out what one has just promised to do. This is not regarded as dishonesty, but is a matter of politeness.
The term u sokou tenda, “to consent reluctantly,” is often used for expressing the fatalistic attitude of the Venda in the face of misfortune or force which he is unable to resist.
The form lutendo was introduced by missionaries to express “faith.”
According to the rules of derivations and their meanings in the lu-class, it should mean “the habit of readily consenting to everything.” But since it is a coined word which does not have a clearly defined set of meanings in everyday speech, it has acquired in church language a meaning of “steadfastness in the Christian life.” Una lutendo means something like “he is steadfast in the face of persecution.” It is quite clear that the term u tenda has no element of “trust” in it. (…)
In “The Christian Minister” of July 1969 we find the following statement about faith by Albert N. Martin: “We must never forget that one of the great issues which the Reformers brought into focus was that faith was something more than an ‘assensus,’ a mere nodding of the head to the body of truth presented by the church as ‘the faith.’ The Reformers set forth the biblical concept that faith was ‘fiducia.’ They made plain that saving faith involved trust, commitment, a trust and commitment involving the whole man with the truth which was believed and with the Christ who was the focus of that truth. The time has come when we need to spell this out clearly in categorical statements so that people will realize that a mere nodding of assent to the doctrines that they are exposed to is not the essence of saving faith. They need to be brought to the understanding that saving faith involves the commitment of the whole man to the whole Christ, as Prophet, Priest and King as he is set forth in the gospel.”
We quote at length from this article because what Martin says of the current concept of faith in the Church is even to a greater extent true of the Venda Church, and because the terms used for communicating that concept in the Venda Bible cannot be expected to communicate anything more than “a mere nodding of assent”. I have during many years of evangelistic work hardly ever come across a Venda who, when confronted with the gospel, would not say, Ndi khou tenda, “I admit the truth of what you say.” What they really mean when saying this amounts to, “I believe that God exists, and I have no objection to the fact that he exists. I suppose that the rest of what you are talking about is also true.” They would often add, Ndi sa tendi hani-hani? “Just imagine my not believing such an obvious fact!” To the experienced evangelist this is a clear indication that his message is rejected in so far as it has been understood at all! To get a negative answer, one would have to press on for a promise that the “convert” will attend the baptism class and come to church on Sundays, and even then he will most probably just tenda in order to get rid of the evangelist, whether he intends to come or not. Isn’t that what u tenda means? So when an inexperienced and gullible white man ventures out on an evangelistic campaign with great enthusiasm, and with great rejoicing returns with a list of hundreds of names of persons who “believed”, he should not afterwards blame the Venda when only one tenth of those who were supposed to be converts actually turn up for baptismal instruction.
Moreover, it is not surprising at all that one often comes across church members of many years’ standing who do not have any assurance of their salvation or even realise that it is possible to have that assurance. They are vhatendi, “consenters.” They have consented to a new way of life, to abandoning (some of) the old customs. Lutendo means to them at most some steadfastness in that new way of life.
The concept of faith in religion is strange to Africa. It is an essential part of a religion of revelation such as Christianity or Islam, but not of a naturalistic religion such as Venda religion, in which not faith and belief are important, but ritual, and not so much the content of the word as the power of it.
The terms employed in the Venda Bible for this vital Christian concept have done nothing to effect a change in the approach of the Venda to religion.
It is a pity that not only in the Venda translation has this been the case, but in all the other Southern Bantu languages. In the Nguni languages the term ukukholwa, “to believe a fact,” has been used for pisteuo, and ukholo, the deverbative of ukukholwa, for pistis. In some of the older Protestant translations in Zulu, but not in the new translation, the term ithemba, “trust”, has been used.
Some languages, including Santali, have two terms — like English (see above) — to differentiate a noun from a verb form. Biswạs is used for “faith,” whereas pạtiạu for “believe.” R.M. Macphail (in The Bible Translator 1961, p. 36ff. ) explains this choice: “While there is little difference between the meaning and use of the two in everyday Santali, in which any word may be used as a verb, we felt that in this way we enriched the translation while making a useful distinction, roughly corresponding to that between ‘faith’ and ‘to believe’ in English.”
Likewise, in Noongar, koort-karni or “heart truth” is used for the noun (“faith”) and djinang-karni or “see true” for the verb (“believe”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
This verse is composed of two rhetorical questions. The expected answer is “No!” but the answer is often not given.
My brethren: this expression is often used in the letter both to call attention to the readers and to mark a transition to new and related subject matter (1.2, 16, 19; 2.1) As it is meant to be inclusive, we may wish to render it as “brothers and sisters” (New Revised Standard Version) or “my friends” (Revised English Bible, Good News Translation). (See also the comments in 1.2 and elsewhere.)
What does it profit signals the beginning of an argument. The word profit is literally “advantage” or “use,” and the clause may be rendered “what good is it” (Good News Translation; so also New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible), or “what use is it” (New American Standard Bible, Phillips). Since this is a rhetorical question, expecting a negative answer, the meaning is “It does not profit” or “It does no good.” What does it profit may also be expressed as “What value is it?” “What advantage will a person get?” or as a statement, “It will gain you nothing if…” or “It will be of no value for you to….”
If a man says: the word says in the present context is best taken in the sense of “claims.” Using inclusive language we can render if a man in two different ways; we can say “if someone claims” or, as New Revised Standard Version has done, change the subject to “you,” thus “if you say.” In English and some other languages, “you” is often used in hypothetical situations in the sense of “someone.” There are other languages that have an impersonal singular or plural third person form that is used in this sense. In some languages it will be necessary to translate this as a statement instead of a rhetorical question and say, for example, “My dear fellow Christians, it will be of no value for someone to claim that…” or “If one of you claims that … it will gain you nothing.”
He has faith but has not works: James goes on to explain that if faith does not manifest itself in deeds, it is not a saving faith, and therefore it is useless. The word faith is perhaps taken in the same sense as in 2.1. There seems to be no need to understand it as a reference to orthodox Christian belief. Here the word is used without a definite article and without a definition, indicating that it refers more to a person’s attitude. This means that faith is a personal trust in Jesus Christ, and in some languages this will need to be stated; for example, “if a person claims that he believes in Christ, but….” This understanding is reinforced by the fact that faith is related to a person’s salvation; it is a saving faith. The word works is not to be taken in the usual Pauline sense of the observance of the requirements of the Mosaic Law. It refers more to good deeds, such as acts of mercy (verse 13), and acts of charity to the poor and needy (verses 15 and 16). In many languages the word is therefore best rendered as “deeds” (so New International Version) or “actions” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible). So we may translate the first part of this verse as “My dear fellow Christians, what advantage will a person gain if he says he believes in Christ but does not do good deeds?” or “If you claim to believe in Christ but do not do good deeds, it will not help you at all.”
Can his faith save him?: what James goes on to say is literally “can the faith save him?” The expected answer is “No.” Faith here has a definite article, and the article is understood in several ways. It is sometimes taken in a general sense, without any defining function, to mean “faith cannot save”; thus “can faith save him?” (Goodspeed, Barclay; similar also New Revised Standard Version.) It is also taken as his, as in Revised Standard Version. It seems best, however, to take it with a demonstrative force, “that faith” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible), “that sort of faith” (Phillips), or “such faith” (New International Version), referring to the faith without actions mentioned at the beginning of the verse. What James wants to emphasize is the fact that faith without actions is impotent; it cannot save. The verb save points to salvation at the final judgment, and the one who saves is God. So we may translate “If that person believes like that, God cannot save him” or “If you claim that you believe like that, God will not save you on that last Day.”
Alternative translation models for this verse may be:
• My dear fellow Christians, what advantage will a person gain if he says he believes in Christ but does not do good deeds. If he believes like that, God cannot save him.
• My dear fellow Christians! If one of you claims that you believe in Christ but do not do kind deeds, your believing will gain you nothing. If you believe like that, God will not save you on that last day.
Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
In this section, James emphasized that true faith in Jesus is a matter of both believing and doing good deeds. There is no such thing as faith without good deeds to go with it. It is the good deeds that demonstrate that there is true faith. Faith without good deeds is not true faith at all.
James used examples from the lives of Rahab and Abraham to show that faith and good deeds always go together.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
Faith and good deeds
-or-
If you really believe/trust you will also do good deeds
-or-
Real faith is proved by good deeds.
Paragraph 2:14–17
In this paragraph, James used three rhetorical questions to emphasize that faith without good deeds is useless.
2:14
What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds?: This is a rhetorical question. James used this rhetorical question to emphasize that faith without good deeds “is certainly no good” or “is no good at all.”
Some ways to translate this emphasis are:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
My brothers and sisters, what good does it do if someone claims to have faith but doesn’t do any good things? (God’s Word)
-or-
My brothers, if a person claims to have faith but has no deeds, what good is it?
-or-
My brothers, if a person claims to have faith but has no deeds, that kind of faith is useless, right?
• As an emphatic negative statement. For example:
My brothers and sisters, if people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. (New Century Version)
Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language to say that something is definitely worthless or useless.
2:14a
What good is it: In some languages, it will be more natural to put the clause What good is it at the end of the rhetorical question. For example:
My brothers, if a person claims to have faith but has no deeds, what good is it?
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
…is that real faith?
-or-
…what use/value is that?
If you translate the rhetorical question as a statement, you can translate this phrase as:
That kind of faith is useless.
-or-
That is not faith that will save you.
-or-
That is not real faith.
my brothers: The phrase my brothers also occurs in 1:2a. For advice on translating this phrase, see the note there.
The Berean Standard Bible places the phrase my brothers after the phrase “What good is it.” This follows the Greek text. In some languages, it is more natural to place it at the beginning of the verse. For example:
My friends, what good is it (Good News Translation)
2:14b
someone: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as someone refers to either a man or woman. It does not refer to any particular person.
Some other ways to translate this word are:
one of you (Good News Translation)
-or-
a person
claims to have faith: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as claims to have faith is literally “says he has faith” (as in the English Standard Version). James did not say whether or not the person was telling the truth.
In some languages, a word like faith requires an object. If that is true in your language, use “Jesus Christ” or “our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
says that he has faith in Jesus Christ
-or-
says that he believes/trusts in our Lord Jesus Christ
-or-
says that he relies/depends on the Lord Jesus Christ
-or-
says that he has committed himself to Jesus Christ
For more help on translating the word faith, see the note on “faith” at 2:5c.
2:14c
has no deeds: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as deeds means “actions.” (Older English versions translate it as “works.”) This word refers to “good deeds.” It refers to good activities that people do out of love for God or for other people. An example of a good deed is in 2:25.
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
doesn’t do any good things (God’s Word)
-or-
actions do not prove it (Good News Translation)
-or-
his actions do nothing to show it (Revised English Bible)
General Comment on 2:14a–c
In some languages, 2:14 may be clearer if the order is changed. For example:
My brothers, 14bif a man says that he has faith 14cbut he does no good deeds, 14awhat good is that kind of faith?
-or-
My fellow believers, 14bif a person says that he believes in Jesus Christ, 14cbut he does no good actions, 14athat type of belief is no good.
2:14d
Can such faith save him?: This is a rhetorical question. James used this rhetorical question to emphasize that faith without good deeds certainly cannot save a person.
Some ways to translate this emphasis are:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
Can that faith save him? (Revised English Bible)
-or-
That faith cannot save him, right?
• As a negative statement. For example:
Such faith certainly cannot save him.
Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.
such faith: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as such faith is literally “the faith.” This phrase refers back to the phrase “have faith but has no deeds” in 2:14b–c. The Berean Standard Bible translates this phrase as such faith because it is more natural in English than “the faith.”
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
his faith (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
that faith (Revised English Bible)
-or-
this kind of faith (God’s Word)
save: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as save means “rescue from danger or trouble.” In this context, it refers to rescuing someone from the spiritual dangers of sin and from spiritual death which is the punishment that results from sinning.
In some languages, it may be necessary to make explicit what the person is saved from. For example:
save him from sin.
-or-
rescue him from punishment for sin.
This word also occurs in 1:21d.
him: The pronoun him refers to any person who has faith but no good deeds. This is the person James referred to in 2:14b as “someone.” It does not refer to a particular person. Consider which pronoun or noun is natural in your language in this context.
Some other ways to translate this word are:
anyone (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
-or-
you (Good News Translation)
-or-
them (New Century Version)
-or-
people
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
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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